Finding A Cheap Used Car Got Tougher

Chevrolet dealership showroom (Credit: Chevrolet )

If you’re in the market for a reasonably priced used car that isn’t a complete clunker, good luck. As The Detroit News is reporting, finding such a vehicle is getting tougher, and we have the Great Recession to blame.

Back in 2009 when the global economy melted down, automakers stopped producing as many cars, This slump lasted over two years.

With few new cars sold during the recession, the used car market was refilled like normal. That means vehicles falling in the $8,000 to $10,000 range are becoming rare. The Detroit News partnered with Edmunds to analyze the market, and it doesn’t look good.

But wait, there’s more bad news. Thanks to people leasing at higher rates these days, there’s a deluge of vehicles that are only 1 to 3 years old.

This hurts people who are on a tight budget the most, like kids straight out of college looking for a reasonable vehicle. Not everyone knows how to wrench, so getting something old with potential issues is a huge risk, and could cost quite a bit in repair bills.

New cars a steadily becoming more expensive. You can blame inflation. You can blame advanced technology. You can blame Trump. The point is still the same – people are getting squeezed. Something’s going to give at some point, the question is what?