- American consumers are increasingly turning to older cars, driven by the high cost of newer models.
- The market share of cars 10-years-old or older has increased by 30 percent since 2014.
- Older sedans, wagons and hatchbacks are leading the drive in old-car sales.
Old used car sales have experienced a sharp rise in the US. That’s the takeaway from a new study that found that the used-vehicle market share held by cars that are at least a decade old has increased by 30 percent since 2014.
ISeeCars spotted the trend while analyzing 169 million used cars sold between January 2014 and June 2024, suggesting that the shift was caused by high prices making new and nearly new cars too expensive for many buyers.
Related: These Are The Fastest And Slowest Selling Used Cars On The Market
“Consumers seeking relief from high vehicle prices are turning to older cars,” said Karl Brauer, iSeeCars’ executive analyst. “But even going back a decade or more isn’t shielding buyers from the massive used car price hikes in recent years, with the average older car now costing more than $12,000.”
The study reports that average price of an older car increased more than 60 percent, from $7,583 in 2014 to $12,194 today. Normal inflation accounts for some of that increase, but not all of it. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics consumer price index, $7,583 in 2014 is the equivalent of $10,064 today.
A graph showing the market share taken by older cars over the past decade reveals a fairly flat line between 2015 and 2018, followed by a sharp dip and another period of stability, and then a dramatic rise from 2020 to today.
Sedans, wagon and hatchbacks are the vehicles most commonly bought by buyers looking for older metal. IseeCars’ analysts think this isn’t only down to those vehicles’ lower price points compared with trucks and SUVs, but also because they have often aged more gracefully and are cheaper to fuel and insure.
Examples include the Hyundai Sonata and Elantra, Subaru Legacy and Impreza, Mercedes C-Class and E-Class, and BMW 3-Series. The Sonata in particular appears to have attained almost viral popularity judging by the figures, its share of the 10-years-old-and-older club jumping 484 percent between 2014 and 2024.
Looking at how the demand for older cars changes across the country, the study’s authors discovered that oldies were most popular in Seattle-Tacoma, where they held a 23.2 percent of the local car market compared with a 17.2 percent national average, and just 7.7 percent in San Antonio.