The cost of a used vehicle the year you turned 16
The first car is almost never the dream car. It's probably not the color you preferred, nor did it feature the sexiest trim. But it was appropriately priced, and it was going to get you from point A to point B.
That's the beauty of the first car. It never needed to be much more than four wheels and a gas pedal that can be pressed any time our teenaged selves wanted a small taste of freedom: the freedom to visit the shop down the road, run errands for the parents, or meet with friends for milkshakes after class.
Stacker analyzed price index data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and used vehicle price data from Edmunds to compile this timeline of used vehicle prices from the year you first got behind the wheel. The BLS Consumer Price Index measures the price of goods and services relative to a point in time. The BLS index for used car and truck prices is indexed to the years 1982-1984.
Used cars went up in value during the COVID-19 pandemic, driven by inventory shortages, but consumers are finally seeing some relief these days. According to a September 2024 analysis from iSeeCars, the average price of a used vehicle has gone down to $32,672 in 2024, a 4.7% decrease from the year before.
While that price tag is 40.1% higher than in 2019, there's still a ray of hope for used car buyers. More vehicles with lower mileages have hit the market, allowing customers to buy more miles for less money. Plus, three popular car models are available for less than $20,000 as of 2024, compared to just one popular model in the same price range in 2023.
It's not unheard of for used vehicle prices to fall in real dollars. The last time new drivers saw the average cost of used vehicles decline year over year was from 2012 to 2016—during the aftermath of the Great Recession.
Whether you're in the market now and gawking at used car prices today, or reminiscing on the times when a solid used ride went for $4,000, take a spin through this look at the average price of a used vehicle from the year you got your license.
