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Used cars priced below $20,000 called a unicorn

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Published  August 14, 2023 1:18pm EDT
Consumer
FOX 5 Atlanta

Breaking down the used car price jump

Since the pandemic, only 12.4 percent of used vehicles are less than $20,000. That number used to be 49 percent of the used car market. Half of today’s used cars also sell with 20 percent more miles than they would have four years ago.

ATLANTA - New vehicle prices are going down, but that’s still not enough for people who prefer a more budgeted and sometimes more practical used car or truck. But the used car market isn't as budget-friendly as it used to be. 

ISEECARS, a vehicle news and shopping search site, studied nearly 11 million vehicles over four years, and that research is distilled down to this headline: "Used Cars Priced Under $20K Are Vanishing."

The average used car price today, according to ISEECARS, is $34,491, up 47.7 percent from 2019. Huge jump. 

Here’s a look at some hard-to-swallow data to go with that. Since the pandemic, only 12.4 percent of used vehicles are less than $20,000. That number used to be 49 percent of the used car market.
In the sub $20,000 range, the average used car mileage went from 43,541 miles to 63,457. Half of today’s used cars sell with 20 percent more miles than they would have four years ago. 

An analyst with ISEECARS aptly pointed out that another casualty of the pandemic is the affordable used car.