This Is How Much A 10-Year-Old Car Costs Now
The average age of light vehicles in use in the U.S. hit 12.6 years this May, according to S&P Mobility, continuing an upward trend that’s been going on since the turn of the century.
A combination of increasingly high prices for cars and trucks and improved reliability have seen owners keeping their vehicles longer and older vehicles making up a larger share of the used car market. And that includes very old ones.
According to a new report from iSeeCars, the used vehicle market share for vehicles at least 10-years-old hit 22.7% in June, which was up from 21.3% last year and 15.1% in 2020.
Part of the large spike over the past four years can be attributable to the new car shortages that were caused by the coronavirus pandemic and semiconductor chip supply issues, which significantly drove up the prices of both new and used vehicles. Production is largely back to normal, but new car prices haven’t dropped dramatically just yet. The previous high water mark over the past decade was 18.3% in 2015.
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The study looked at 169 million used vehicle sales covering models in continuous production from 1994 through 2023 and also found that the average price paid for vehicles 10-years-old or older was $12,194.
That’s down from a high of $12,549 in 2021, but significantly higher than the 2020 figure of $9,135. Going back to 2014, the average was $7,583 when vehicles this old made up 17.2.% of the used car market.
One notable point in the data is that the nine individual models with the largest growth in market share were all sedans and wagons, which have fallen out of favor in the new car market. Tenth on the list was the Honda Odyssey minivan, which was followed by the Jeep Wrangler. Sixteen of the top 20 vehicles fell into the traditional “car” category.
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“While not as popular with new car buyers, older sedans, wagons, and hatchbacks are gaining market share in the used car market,” Karl Brauer, iSeeCars’ executive analyst said.
“Their lower cost, lighter use, and higher fuel efficiency make them an excellent alternative to larger trucks and SUVs that cost more up front and more to fuel and insure.”
