Want a cheap used car with a warranty? Forget about it
New cars have hit an average of almost $50,000. That’s straight-up inaccessible for many buyers. The solution? Turn to the newest, cheap used car possible. Unfortunately, though, the pool of pre-owned cars under three years with an intact warranty is shrinking rapidly.
The number of cheap used cars in warranty range under $20K has plummeted from almost 50% to around 10% in just 6 years
The segment of cheap, new cars under $20,000 has all but shriveled up over the years. And with the departure of the Nissan Versa next year, it’s set to disappear altogether. But now, the number of cheap used cars under that same price point is dwindling, too.
According to iSeeCars, the share of used cars three years old or newer under $20,000 was 49.3%. Nearly half of the used market.
Today, however, that number has dwindled to just 11.5%. If that wasn’t troubling enough, the higher-price brackets have also swelled over the last six years.
For instance, just 5.6% three-year-old used cars were priced at $40,000 or more in 2019. Today, that price point accounts for almost 20% of three-year-old used cars.
| Price range | 2025 | 2019 |
|---|---|---|
| $20,000 or less | 11.5% | 49.3% |
| $20,000 to $30,000 | 43.0% | 32.7% |
| $30,000 to $40,000 | 26.1% | 12.4% |
| $40,000 or more | 19.4% | 5.6% |
Of course, there are exceptions. If it’s a warranty you’re after in a cheap used car, Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis all offer five-year, 60,000-mile basic warranties.
That’s instead of the industry-standard three-year, 36,000-mile basic warranty coverage. As such, as long as a pre-owned option from one of those marques hasn’t exceeded either of those criteria, it’ll remain under warranty.
The pandemic strikes again
COVID-19 did more to the auto industry than you might recall. Executive Analyst Karly Brauer with iSeeCars maintains that it’s contributing to the squeeze in the cheap used car market today, years later.
“The pandemic may be a fading memory, but the lack of new car production five years ago has created a ‘pandemic hangover’ effect for today’s used car market,” Brauer said. “Many car buyers are now priced out of late-model used cars, forcing them to consider older models with more miles to fit within their budget.”
