Well, you may have heard it in the news lately, car prices are finally starting to fall, but is there any truth to it?
We did some shopping around on new and used vehicles and prices are still high overall. In the new car market, we were pressed to find anything being offered at the actual MSRP. Even though the cheapest cars were supposed to start at $25k MSRP, dealer stock only had cars hovering around $30k. Good luck trying to knock down those dealer accessories.
For the used car market, things aren’t looking much better. No matter where you shop, prices are higher than expected on anything except very old vehicles. Then again, even those seemed higher than we would want. Whats worse is even on used cars $20k doesn’t seem to get you very far anymore. If you are forced to buy a car right now you might not have a choice but to pay a bit more, or buy something older than you wanted to stay within budget.
A measly couple of percentage points lower price on average equates to virtually no savings to the typical consumer. If this trend continues the rest of the year with prices dropping each month, by 2027 we might see more new and used vehicles hit the ‘affordable’ $20-25k price point, but there is some speculation that tariffs could send prices creeping up a bit more before we see that happen.
Best wishes to anyone buying a car right now. Our advice is to monitor car postings on your site of choice, and setup notifications for vehicles that fit your needs/budget so you can pounce on the right deal.
