The share of used cars listed under $20,000 has dropped from pre-pandemic levels. Buyers who find one act like they won a lottery. They didn't. They bought a 2015 Dodge Dart with 140,000 miles that smells like cigarettes and regret.
These cars sell quickly because people think $19,999 is fundamentally different from $20,001. It's not. But the human brain sees that number and releases the same dopamine hit as finding a quarter in the couch. Congratulations on your financial acumen.
The trade-off is simple. You pay less money. You get a worse car. This is how markets work. This is how everything works. But buyers treat it like a secret they discovered by scrolling through Autotrader at 2am while eating cereal in their underwear.
High inflation pushed prices up. Shocking development. Turns out when the money supply explodes and supply chains collapse, cars cost more. The Fed printed trillions of dollars and somehow a 2016 Honda Civic with a salvage title now costs what a new one did in 2019. Economics professors everywhere are taking notes.
The real comedy is watching someone negotiate for three hours to save $400 on a car that needs $2,000 in repairs within six months. They check the Carfax like it's a crystal ball. It's not. It's a list of whatever the previous owners bothered to report. That grinding noise in third gear? Not on the Carfax.
People want cheap cars that run forever. They want filet mignon at McDonald's prices. They want a financial system that rewards their impatience and ignorance. What they get is a check engine light that turns on before they leave the lot and a monthly payment that still somehow exists despite buying used.
The market cleared this inventory fast because desperation moves faster than common sense.
Photo by Koons Automotive on Unsplash
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