The average price paid by car shoppers for a new vehicle was $47,542 in the third quarter of 2024, according to the latest report from Edmunds.
That was down $324 from a year earlier, but an increase of $98 from the prior quarter, which suggests the new vehicle market has largely leveled out in recent months.
However, used vehicle prices saw a much larger drop of 6.2% from $28,960 to $27,177, which created an interesting dynamic.
The spread between the new and used vehicle averages was $20,365, marking the first time it has been more than $20,000 for as far back as Edmunds data goes, which is Jan. 2004.
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Ever since the pandemic shortages, automakers have been focusing on aligning supply to demand, rather than oversupplying the market and selling vehicles with costly incentives.
Competition has been creating price pressure and the average new vehicle discount has increased from $828 in Q3 of 2023 to $1,744 in Q3 this year.
Used vehicle prices remain far more inflated than before the Covid pandemic and are up 34% since Q1 of 2019, while new vehicle prices are 30% higher.
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