Cars Should be Carefully Maintained, as New and Used Car Prices are Not Declining Any Time Soon

By Yehudit Garmaise

While the car industry continues to repair its supply chain issues and the economy continues to cool, used car prices have started to go down in small increments, reported CNN, which added that new car prices have not yet started their downward descent.

While the average price of used cars remains nearly $9,000 higher than what that price was in February 2018, the average price of a new car has spiked nearly $12,000 in the past five years, according to data from auto website Edmunds.com. 

“[Prices are] coming down a bit, but not coming down nearly as fast as one would hope,” said Ivan Drury, the director of insights at Edmunds.com. “If you look back, or if you’ve ever done a transaction before in your life: all of these numbers are bad.”

Consumer tastes, which have shifted towards larger and more expensive SUVs and pickup trucks and SUVs, which include higher markups than midsize cars have also driven up car prices. In 2022, while the average midsize car was priced at $31,381, the average price of a large pickup truck nationwide stood at $62,430, according to Edmunds.com. In addition, more and more new car buyers also tend to want to buy cars that are “fully loaded,” which means that cars come with pricey extras, such as touchscreens, push-button starts and gears, and blind-spot monitoring: all of which incentivize automakers to create rides that are pricier compared to the more no-frills models that were available just a few years ago. 

“We’ve got a few things that are really hindering the US market,” said Drury, who added that the used car market is still affected by the decline in customers who lease trade-ins. “I don’t see those going away anytime soon.”