Shopping for a used car with up to $15,000 to spend? You better move quickly.
Cars at that price have become scarce, and the ones that do reach dealer lots are selling far quicker than the average used vehicle in the States.
Figures published at the end of July put total used-vehicle inventory across US dealerships at 2.15 million units, or 46 days’ supply.
That’s up 0.8 percent year over year and 0.2 percent on June, but inventory remains below where it stood in July 2023 and July 2024, and it’s a long way short of the roughly 2.4 million cars sitting on dealer lots in July 2022.
Limited Options for Budget Shoppers
Those shopping with a firm budget of $15,000 are facing limited options.
In July, there was just 32.2 days’ supply of used cars priced below this mark.
Interestingly, this isn’t because demand for these vehicles has shot through the roof, but rather because there’s simply limited availability of lower-priced options.
As Cox Automotive reports, the supply of used cars priced below $15,000 is down 20 percent year over year and now accounts for 16.4 percent of all used-vehicle inventory.
A year ago, it accounted for 20.6 percent.
Average Prices Rise
Average used vehicle prices have climbed from a year ago, even if July went almost nowhere against June.
For the second consecutive month, the average listing price sat above $27,000, landing at $27,028, up 6 percent year over year and just $12 above June’s revised $27,016.
In June last year the figure was $25,450, and through March 2026 it held between $25,207 and $25,973.
The price increases have been especially significant for older models.
In fact, listing prices for vehicles 15 years and older rose 13.9 percent, compared with a 3 percent increase for vehicles under 5 years old.
Certified pre-owned volume bounced back in July, up 6.6 percent from June to an estimated 223,676 units from 209,800.
However, set against July 2025, it barely moved.
CPO accounted for 15.5 percent of total used retail sales, up from a revised 15.1 percent in June.
Year to date, CPO sales are running roughly 1.8 percent behind where they were at this point in 2025.
