Used car prices held flat in April 2024 while payments increased

Used car inventory improved slightly last month, and while used car price didn’t rise in April 2024, rising interest rates pushed the average monthly payment slightly higher in April. Recent data from CarGurus shows that while some parts of the used vehicle are improving, buyers still face a challenging situation on dealers’ lots.

Car buyers are paying an average of $583 per month for their vehicles, up from $580 in March 2024. While those numbers are significantly higher than 2022’s payment data, they fall far below the average payment in April 2023, which was more than $600.

CarGurus found that average used car prices remained flat between March and April, at $28,600, far less than the same month in 2023 and 2022. People paid an average of $30,800 in April last year and nearly $32,000 the year before. Despite the downward trend in 2024, pricing remains 38 percent higher than it was before COVID-19.