The most popular used cars in the US

Not too long ago, buying a reasonably used car was the ticket to a cheap, reliable form of transportation. But nowadays, it's a different story. The market was roiled by chaos in 2025 after President Donald Trump took office and imposed steep tariffs on car parts and auto imports, sending consumers scrambling to buy used vehicles before higher costs kicked in. A year later, the average listing price of a used car has exceeded $27,000, according to July 2026 data from Kelley Blue Book. While the average new car costs almost double that number at $49,758, used vehicle prices are still more than many Americans can or want to pay.

With these kinds of prices, anyone buying a used car wants to ensure it will see them through at least a few years on the road. To help start your search, Stacker used data from iSeeCars.com to identify the 20 most popular used cars sold nationwide in 2024. Cars are ranked by market share, rounded to the nearest tenth of a percent; though some appear the same, the more precise percentages are not equal. The iSeeCars.com analysis included more than 7.7 million used car sales from the most recent five model years, 2020 to 2024.

It's important to note that no matter how used car prices may change, customers must still pay close attention to interest rates. As of August 2026, interest on a loan for a used car could rack up as much as an additional 22% depending on the buyer's credit score, according to Nerdwallet. Naturally, that can add up significantly over time.

Before shopping for a used car, you may also want to see if any brands or models have been recalled due to a failure of safety protocols. Check out the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's website to see if there's a recall on a used car you may want to buy.