Back in December, my colleague Stephanie Wallcraft reported on the demise of new vehicles that cost less than $20,000. Decades of manufacturers’ marketing departments assuring you that you needed to be piloting your living room down the road, combined with consumers agreeing, has resulted in the crumbling of the affordable, entry-level car market. But what happens when even used car prices escalate beyond the budget of those who simply want a reliable vehicle?
Despite reports that there are hints of a pushback by consumers against the oversized trucks and SUVs that have been so stubbornly popular, there may be little relief in sight.
Used car discussions usually focus on two different buckets: the coveted three-year-old lease returns and trade-ins that form the backbone of the used car market, and then older vehicles with a more storied life. New research from iSeeCars in the U.S. is stunning (all in USD):
- “The average price of 3-year-old used cars has increased 40.9% since the pandemic, from $23,159 in 2019 to $32,635 in 2025
- Used cars priced under $20,000 made up 49.3% of the 3-year-old market in 2019, compared to 11.5% of the market today
- Passenger cars saw the biggest price increase since 2019, up 48.7%, with truck prices up 28.8% and SUVs up 15.4%
- In 2019, 42.9% of 3-year-old Honda CR-Vs and 44.3% of Toyota RAV4s cost less than $20,000; in 2025 those numbers have dropped to almost zero.”
Used car stock and prices in Canada
Experts in Canada agree the story is the same in Canada. Baris Akyurek, vice president of insights and analysis with Auto Trader, points out the impact that the pandemic had on used car prices. “In 2019, 57.6 per cent of our used car stock was priced below $30,000. In 2025, at the end of June, that percentage sunk to 22.5 per cent.” For people hunting for an affordable vehicle, that plunge is depressing.
Auto Trader’s latest figures line up with those American numbers: The average cost of all their used inventory (as of last week) is $37,664. “Usually, we see the highest numbers in January and they decline throughout the year. This time, they’re going up, and we’re up 3.6 per cent year-over-year,” says Akyurek. Tariff threats are causing much of that tumult.
Daniel Ross, senior analyst with Canadian Black Book, agrees this American take is reflective of the Canadian situation, as well. “It’s the same scenario; cars are getting more expensive on the new side, buyers are no longer buying but keeping their current vehicles, suppressing supply. Fewer vehicles were sold in 2020-2023, so that’s also dried up the supply. We’ve seen the weighted average wholesale value increase from $20-21,000 in 2020 to $28-29,000 in 2024 (that’s roughly 38%). This has been reflected in the retail market, and with the volatility around new vehicles, the used market is feeling the pressure,” he says. Even as prices softened over the past couple of years, 2019 numbers feel like they’re on another planet.
The hunt for reasonable car prices keeps getting harder | driving. (n.d.). https://driving.ca/column/lorraine/unreasonable-car-prices-used-market