New car prices are still rising, but used car prices are on the way down.
The average used car in America sold for $28,012 in June – down $300 from May’s figure.
“The used-vehicle market is doing just fine,” said Chris Frey, senior Industry Insights manager, Cox Automotive. “While the used market has been a bit softer than usual this year, it is not experiencing stress. In fact, the market is moving toward pre-COVID 2019 conditions.”
Cox Automotive is the parent company of Kelley Blue Book.
Supply of Used Cars Improving
Prices remain 12% higher than one year ago. But as recently as April, they were nearly 30% higher than 2021 numbers.
The news comes just a week after new car prices set a record, averaging $48,043 in June.
The supply of used cars available for sale increased slightly during the month.
Car dealers measure their stock of cars in a metric they call “days of inventory.” It reflects how long it would take for them to run out of cars to sell at the current rate if they couldn’t acquire more.
The nationwide average days’ supply at the end of June stood at 49, compared with 48 at the end of May. That’s 27% above year-ago levels, showing significant recovery.
Least-Expensive Cars Still Hardest to Find
It’s still difficult to find an inexpensive used car. Dealers ended June with just 33 days’ supply of cars priced under $10,000.
The $15,000 to $25,000 segments had days’ supply in the 40s. Price categories between $25,000 and $35,000, one of the largest for available inventory, had in the 50s for days’ supply. The above $35,000 category had a 62 days’ supply.
