Seriously, I've spent like an hour searching and there appear to be absolutely no used cars in the US or Canada priced at or under $500. In fact, they're not even really close. I can only find a handful of cars under $1000, and they all seem to be parts cars that have major issues that are insurmountable for all but experienced mechanics who happen to have a spare engine laying around.
Am I just searching in the wrong places or what? Where have all the cheap-ass cars gone in this car-mandatory society?
in addition to things others suggested, I think there is an additional squeeze on the used car market due to the larger transition from ICE -> EV.
few people want to be the bozo that buys the last ICE vehicle, while manufacturers certainly don't want to eat a ahitload of inventory leftover from the ICE paradigm once EVs become the default. hence their hesitation in being transparent about a transition timeline.
additionally, apart from bazinga brains, most people are waiting for more generations of EVs, more diverse offerings, and experiences with reliability and maintenance. including the prospect of EV maintenance/repair that is not connected to car dealerships as they are NOTORIOUS for a long history of crooked behavior with ICE vehicles.
so all this means, if you are not bazinga & your current ICE vehicle is trashed, are you going to buy a brand new ICE vehicle that you might be stuck with for a while? or are you gonna try to find something used to reduce your total sunk cost and keep your options open over a shorter window?
I didn't invent this logic. some guy published a white paper like 6 years ago predicting this crunch to happen around this time. I think COVID and the general state of the economy (unstable) made more people risk averse, hence tightening the market for an affordable vehicle even further.
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