The average asking price across our used car listings was $16,260 in July and $16,476 in the first half of October. Going by that number, prices went up slightly.
They didn't. We grouped 596,222 listings by model, model year, mileage band, state and type of seller, then tracked how prices moved inside each group. Compared like for like, the same car was 1.4% cheaper in August than in July, 2.9% cheaper in September and 4.3% cheaper by mid-October.
| Month | Like-for-like price index | Change vs July |
|---|---|---|
| June | 103.3 | +3.3% |
| July | 100.0 | — |
| August | 98.6 | -1.4% |
| September | 97.1 | -2.9% |
| October (1–18) | 95.7 | -4.3% |
On the median listing, which asks $11,500, that is about $500 in three and a half months.
Why the average missed it
The cars on sale changed. October's listings skew newer than July's: the share from model year 2021 or later rose from 15.9% to 16.7%. Four-wheel drive went from 36% of listings to 39%. Both cost more, so a more expensive mix of cars at lower like-for-like prices produced an average that crept up.
Any price report built on a simple average has this problem, and it gets worse at the turn of the seasons, which is exactly when people want to know where the market is going.
Every body style fell
| Body style | Change, July to mid-October |
|---|---|
| Pickups | -3.2% |
| Cars | -4.4% |
| SUVs | -4.4% |
| Wagons | -4.7% |
| Sports cars | -5.4% |
| Vans | -5.6% |
| Minivans | -6.3% |
Pickups held up best and minivans worst, but the spread is narrow. Every category lost between 3% and 6.5%, and the weekly figures show a steady slide rather than one sharp drop: no single week after mid-July moved the index by much more than a point.
Is the car just getting older?
Only partly. A 2018 model is three months older in October than it was in July, but at the same mileage one model year is worth about 6% in our data, which works out at half a percent a month. The decline we measured ran at nearly three times that pace. That fits the usual seasonal pattern, where demand peaks in spring with tax refunds and softens through autumn into the holidays. This is the first autumn in our data, so we can't yet say how it compares with previous years.
Age matters much less on old cars. Depreciation all but stops at around sixteen years, so a 2009 car drifts down mainly because the market does.
If you are selling
Waiting costs you about 1.4% a month at the moment. If the car is going this winter anyway, listing it now beats listing it in January, and pricing it right on day one beats chasing the market down. Check where yours sits with our free value estimator before you write the ad.
If you are buying
Time is on your side, but only slightly. A 1.4% monthly drift does not justify passing on a good car with a clean history in the hope of a better deal at Christmas. Whatever the market does, the history of the specific car matters more, and a VIN check costs nothing.
Frequently asked questions
Are used car prices falling in autumn 2026?
Yes, like for like. Matching 596,222 listings by model, year, mileage band, state and seller type, asking prices were 4.3% lower in mid-October than in July. The simple average rose slightly over the same period because the listings skewed newer.
How much does it cost to wait before selling a car?
At the current pace, about 1.4% of the asking price per month — roughly $160 a month on an $11,500 car. Only about a third of that is the car getting older; the rest is the usual autumn softening of demand.
Which used cars held their value best since summer?
Pickups, down 3.2% from July to mid-October. Minivans fell the most at 6.3%. Every body style declined, and the drop was steady week to week rather than sudden.
Denis Kataev is a serial solopreneur and the founder of ForCar. With 15+ years in software engineering and 10 years in SEO, he builds data-driven products end to end — backed by a sharp eye for design. At ForCar he mines proprietary vehicle datasets, turning raw numbers into buying advice you can actually trust.
Keep reading
All articles →
Models With 500+ Complaints Sell for $13,292. Models With Under 50 Sell for $23,599.
Two datasets that never meet: what owners report to a regulator, and what the same models sell for today. Putting them side by side gives a consistent answer and a caveat worth understanding.
2,964 Complaints Come From Leased Cars. They Are Filed Earlier Than Anyone Else's.
Ownership changes what people report. Somebody who will hand the car back in two years has no resale value to protect and no repair bill to face, and it shows in the record.
62,142 Complaints State the Exact Mileage. 19,999 Mention the Warranty in the Same Breath.
Nobody asks for the mileage. A sixth of complaints supply it anyway, usually to the exact thousand, because the number is doing a job in the argument the owner is making.
Mark ForCar as a preferred source and our data shows up first in your Google results. One click, no account.