--- title: Used Car Prices Are Down for the Fourth Straight Month — but Costs May Soon Rise Again description: 'Used car prices are down four months in a row: The average list price for a used vehicle has fallen to $26,510.' authors: - name: Pete Grieve role: Lead News Reporter url: https://money.com/author/pete-grieve/ bio: Pete Grieve is a personal finance reporter. In his time at Money, Pete has covered everything from car buying to credit cards to the housing market. education: University of Chicago, BA Political Science at_money_since: 2022 articles: 601 covers: - Economy and Politics - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes social: - https://twitter.com/pete_grieve - https://linkedin.com/in/pete-grieve-b5aa02138 - https://www.facebook.com/petegrieve4 editors: - name: Brad Tuttle role: Senior Editor url: https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/ bio: Brad Tuttle is a former senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals. education: Columbia University School of Journalism, MS at_money_since: 2014 articles: 366 covers: - Economy and Politics - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://twitter.com/bradrtuttle - https://linkedin.com/in/brad-tuttle-834b225 former_staff: true published: '2023-02-21T19:39:33.000Z' modified: '2024-01-10T13:10:48.000Z' section: Economy and Politics tags: - cars - News word_count: 370 canonical: https://money.com/average-used-car-prices-down/ type: NewsArticle source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Used Car dealer showing cars to customers](https://img.money.com/2023/02/News-Used-Car-Prices-Down.jpg) The average price of a used car dropped by $633 in the past month, but some industry experts say the recent stretch of declining prices could be coming to an end. List prices for used vehicles averaged $26,510 at the end January after falling for four consecutive months, according to [Kelley Blue Book](https://www.kbb.com/car-news/average-used-vehicle-price-falls/) and parent company Cox Automotive. In September, the average list price was $28,266. [Used car prices soared](https://money.com/used-car-prices-auto-insurance-book-value/) throughout 2021. They then continued to rise for most of the early part of 2022, before they began their fall. A year ago, the average price for a used vehicle was $27,606, which is about $1,100 more expensive than the current average. (Towards the end of 2020, mind you, the average [used car cost less than $22,000](https://money.com/new-used-car-prices-december-2021/).) According to the latest [report on consumer inflation](https://money.com/rising-rent-home-costs-high-inflation/), used vehicle prices were down 1.9% in the past month and down 11.6% over the past year. ## What experts say Jonathan Smoke, chief economist at Cox, says the “retail price trend will reverse soon” because [wholesale prices](https://www.kbb.com/car-news/wholesale-used-car-prices-fall-sort-of/) for used cars have risen so far in 2023. Used vehicle inventory declined in January, and the availability of lower-priced used cars is relatively low, according to Kelley Blue Book. - At the current selling pace, the days’ supply for vehicles under $10,000 was 35 at the end of January. For vehicles between $15,000 and $20,000, the days’ supply was 46, and there was a 53-day supply of vehicles over $35,000. - Overall, the inventory of used vehicles was 2.21 million at the end of January, which is 14% lower than the level a year ago of 2.56 million. - Wholesale used vehicle values, which are based on the prices dealers pay at auctions, increased by 2.5% in January. That could be an indication that retail prices will soon rise. ## Bottom line Used car buyers are benefiting from lower prices. While there are some indications that the used market could get more competitive, high [auto loan interest rates](https://money.com/best-auto-loan-rates/) will likely continue to stifle demand. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/average-used-car-prices-down/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Economy and Politics", "item": "https://money.com/economy-and-politics/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Auto Industry", "item": "https://money.com/auto-industry/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Used Car Prices Are Down for the Fourth Straight Month — but Costs May Soon Rise Again" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/average-used-car-prices-down/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/average-used-car-prices-down/", "name": "Used Car Prices Are Down for the Fourth Straight Month — but Costs May Soon Rise Again", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2023-02-21T19:39:33.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/average-used-car-prices-down/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/average-used-car-prices-down/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-01-10T13:10:48.000Z" }, { "@type": "NewsArticle", "headline": "Used Car Prices Are Down for the Fourth Straight Month — but Costs May Soon Rise Again", "articleSection": "Economy and Politics", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2023/02/News-Used-Car-Prices-Down.jpg", "width": 2880, "height": 1920, "caption": "News-Used-Car-Prices-Down" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Pete Grieve", "url": "https://money.com/author/pete-grieve/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/pete-grieve/#author", "description": "Pete Grieve is a personal finance reporter. 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