A 2009 Car Costs More Than a 2010. The Recession Is Still Doing It.
Cars get cheaper as they get older. Except for one model year, where the car that's twelve months newer is the one that costs less — and the reason happened in 2009.
The Worse a Car's Title, the Less Likely the Seller Shows You the VIN
A missing VIN usually means a lazy listing. But sorted by title status, the pattern is too clean to be laziness — and the cars hiding it hardest are the expensive ones.
Cars Described as "Like New" Are More Likely to Have Been Rebuilt Than Cars Described as "Fair"
We already showed that the words sellers pick describe mileage rather than condition. Cross them against title status and they describe something worse — in the opposite direction to what you'd expect.
You Can Tell a Dealer From a Private Seller by the Last Three Digits of the Price
Two numbers in every listing carry information the seller never meant to give you. Neither is the price itself or the mileage — it's how they were written.
We Found 209 Cars Whose Odometer Went Backwards Between Two Listings
Odometer fraud is usually discussed in the abstract. We track the same VINs across listings, so for once here is what it looks like in the raw data — including how far the numbers moved.
Salvage Titles Aren't in the Cheap Listings. They're in the $15–25,000 Ones.
Everyone assumes written-off cars sit at the bottom of the market where the bargains look too good. The data puts them somewhere far more awkward — right in the middle, where most people shop.
Two Thirds of Car Listings Don't Say What Condition the Car Is In
I went through every field in 329,674 used car listings to see how much was actually filled in. The average listing is missing more than it contains — and the fields that vanish are not random.
Every Extra $1,000 of Budget Removes 3,300 Miles From the Odometer
Budget conversations are usually vague. I sorted every listing into price bands to find out exactly what each one buys, and the exchange rate between dollars and miles turns out to be remarkably steady.
Cars on Sale in Maryland Are Five Years Older Than the Ones in North Dakota
Two buyers in different states searching the same model see completely different cars. I averaged listing age by state and the spread is five years — with a pattern behind it that affects what you should be inspecting.
2,426 Cars for Sale Wear a Badge That No Longer Exists
Six brands that stopped selling cars in America are still on the used market in numbers. They're the cheapest vehicles you can buy with a real badge on them, and there's a specific reason to check one before you do.
One Model Year Dominates the Used Market, and It Isn't Recent
I counted every listing in our data by model year expecting a smooth slope down from new. It isn't smooth. There's a clear peak, it sits about a decade back, and that's the single best place to negotiate.
In Colorado, 61% of Used Cars Have Four-Wheel Drive. In Georgia, 31%.
The same model is on sale in every state, but not in the same configuration. I split our listing data by drivetrain and the map that came out explains why the car you want is easy to find in one place and impossible in another.