Used car prices held flat in April 2024 while payments increased

Used car inventory improved slightly last month, and while used car price didn’t rise in April 2024, rising interest rates pushed the average monthly payment slightly higher in April. Recent data from CarGurus shows that while some parts of the used vehicle are improving, buyers still face a challenging situation on dealers’ lots.

Car buyers are paying an average of $583 per month for their vehicles, up from $580 in March 2024. While those numbers are significantly higher than 2022’s payment data, they fall far below the average payment in April 2023, which was more than $600.

CarGurus found that average used car prices remained flat between March and April, at $28,600, far less than the same month in 2023 and 2022. People paid an average of $30,800 in April last year and nearly $32,000 the year before. Despite the downward trend in 2024, pricing remains 38 percent higher than it was before COVID-19.

Dealers have more used car inventory, and cars have been sitting for shorter periods on lots, helping to hold prices flat. Used vehicles sat for an average of 73.9 days in April, a 3.9 percent decline from March and a 0.6 percent drop from April 2023. At the same time, dealers had almost five percent more inventory in April 2024 versus the same month the year prior. Sales increased between March and April, but CarGurus projects a tapering off of demand heading out of the spring buying season.

While it’s nice to see that prices haven’t increased, EVs are still at the forefront of price drops. The ten vehicles with the steepest price declines on the used market were all EVs or fuel cell vehicles, with the Chevrolet Bolt EUV seeing the largest drop. It declined by almost 38 percent between April 2023 and 2024, while the Toyota Mirai FCEV was not far behind. The Tesla Model S, Ford F-150 Lightning, Tesla Model X, and Tesla Model Y also made the list.