Data study · 73 years of BLS data

Used car prices since 1953, in one chart

A twenty-year flat stretch, a 54% pandemic spike, and a slow retreat: the whole American used-car market in a single public series.

Seven decades in one line

Three eras live in that line. A long postwar climb. Then a stretch most people have forgotten: the index first touched its December 2019 level in November 1993, and its pre-pandemic maximum came in February 2001 — above where it stood on the eve of the pandemic. In index terms, used cars got no more expensive across a quarter of a century while nearly everything else did. And then the break: between February 2020 and February 2022, prices rose 54% — the sharpest move in the series’ history, produced by a chip shortage that choked new-car production and pushed buyers into the used market.

Where prices sit now

As of July 2026, the index stands 17% below the February 2022 peak — well off the top, still far above the pre-pandemic plateau. For a seller the practical meaning is blunt: a car bought before 2020 is very likely still worth more against its purchase price than the old rules of thumb suggest, and the correction from the peak has been slow, not a crash.

Methodology

One series, drawn as published: the seasonally adjusted used cars and trucks CPI (CUSR0000SETA02), monthly, February 1953 through July 2026, fetched from the BLS public flat files on 2026-08-25. The index is set to 100 at 1982–84; every percentage on this page is a ratio of two published index values, and the unadjusted twin series (CUUR0000SETA02) tells the seasonal half of the story on our best-time-to-sell page.

Sources

• BLS Consumer Price Index — used cars and trucks, U.S. city average, series CUSR0000SETA02
• BLS public data files — fetched 2026-08-25; public domain

Related: the best month to sell, from the same data · the scrap index under junk-car offers · what the paperwork costs when you do sell.