The average price of used cars in the United States increased 6.2% in March compared to the same month in 2025, the Cox Automotive firm said on Tuesday, highlighting the strong demand.
March prices were 1.4% higher than the previous month.
The firm’s Manheim Used Vehicle Value Index, one of the main indicators of the used vehicle market in the US and which measures the evolution of wholesale prices, reached the figure of 215.3, the highest since the summer of 2023.
The general average price stood at $19,692 in March, which is very low compared to the years between 2021 and 2024 when it exceeded $28,000 and reached $35,000 for several months in that period.
For the electric vehicle segment, the figure was $28,511.
Jeremy Robb, chief economist at Cox Automotive, said in a statement that “as soon as the year began, Manheim Index prices began to rise as dealers anticipated strong demand due to consumers receiving larger refunds on their tax returns.”
Vehicles sell faster
Robb also explained that dealers are anticipating that consumers will show greater interest in used electric vehicles due to the sharp increase in gasoline prices caused by the war in Iran.
“Right now, the data is clear: demand for used vehicles is healthy and inventory levels are relatively tight,” he concluded.
Data from Cox Automotive indicated that benchmark prices for three-year-old vehicles rose 2.2% in March, with prices for vehicles in the luxury and mid-size car segments increasing the most.
The days of inventory indicator, which measures how many days it would take to sell out of available vehicles at the current sales rate, stood at 24.5 days, a very low level historically, which means cars are selling quickly.
Cox Automotive expects around 15.8 million used vehicles to be sold in the US this year.
