Prices of used cars are constantly fluctuating, which can make it difficult to find out how far your funds are going to stretch when you’re on the hunt for a new vehicle. Fortunately, you can break it down into different price ranges to make the search a lot easier. Figuring out the different price brackets of “used cars near me” is a helpful way to see what kinds of vehicles would fall into your possible price ranges.
For example, certain newer model trucks and SUVs might be priced out of your budget. You may also find that there are more types of vehicles available than you’d first assumed within your price range. Overall, getting a general idea for what types of vehicles fall within each price range will only help you in your used car search.
Under $10,000
The under $10,000 bracket is normally seen as the lowest price range for any used vehicle. Of course, the actual price can still vary widely within this range since $1,500 is vastly different than $9,500. However, most people will generally skew towards the higher or lower end of this range.
Within this range, you can expect to find the majority of vehicles to be at least five years old, although many will be six, seven, or more years old as well. If there are any SUVs, they will generally be older than the cars that are available.
Common cars in this range may include ones like the Mitsubishi Mirage, Ford Fusion, Ford Focus, Dodge Dart, and many more. Common mileages will normally range from 70,000 and on, but you can find often find low mileage (under 50,000) Mitsubishi Mirages in this price range.
Many SUVs in this range will typically have a lot of miles attached, usually over 100,000. As you get closer to the high end of the price range, you will see mileages drop below the 100,000 mark. Typical SUVs can include vehicles like the Nissan Murano, Volkswagen Tiguan, Nissan Rogue, Hyundai Santa Fe, and more.
Between $10,000 – $15,000
As you move into the $10,000 – $15,000 range, the vehicle selection opens up a bit more. Here, you’re going to find more mid- and full-size cars with lower mileages, more SUVs, and maybe some vans. A lot of the vehicles here will have less than 100,000 miles on them.
You should expect to find many newer model vehicles in this range, including some that are from within the past two years (such as 2018). Common cars will include ones like the Kia Forte, Nissan Altima, Ford Taurus, Nissan Sentra, Toyota Camry, Honda Accord, and Toyota Corolla. Many of these cars may have mileages under 50,000, although it will depend on the model year and brand of vehicle.
Common SUVs will include ones like the Mitsubishi Outlander, Kia Sportage, Toyota RAV4, Ford Escape, Kia Soul, and Volkswagen Tiguan. Common vans may include ones like the Dodge Grand Caravan and Chrysler Town & Country.
Between $15,000 – $20,000
Moving into the $15,000 – $20,000 range, you will see a large increase in the number of upgraded trim levels (for all vehicles) and SUVs that are available. This means you may start to see a lot more cars with additional features. For example, a Hyundai Sonata Sport instead of the base model Sonata. You may also see some vehicles with mileages under 10,000, although 20,000 and on would be a more common occurrence.
Many of the vehicles in this range will be from the past two to three years (2016 – 2018) and have mileages ranging from 20,000 – 45,000. You can expect to find cars like the Ford Fusion Titanium, Toyota Prius, Toyota Corolla S, Volkswagen Jetta S, and Nissan Altima SR.
Common SUVs may include ones like the Jeep Renegade Latitude, Jeep Cherokee Latitude, Toyota RAV4, Kia Sportage, Mitsubishi Outlander Sport, Ford Edge, and Mazda CX-5 Sport.
Of course, you can still find all manner of other vehicles, especially starting within this price range. Many brand new cars and SUVs will start in the $20,000 – $28,000 range, so it would be no surprise that a few years and tens of thousands of miles later, they would be sold used in the $15,000 – $20,000 range.
Between $20,000 – $25,000
The $20,000 – $25,000 range is where you can start to find a lot of bigger vehicles, like larger SUVs and even some pickups. You’ll also be able to find cars and other SUVs that can be slightly more expensive than average when bought brand new, like some of the more luxury brands or just models that are at a higher trim level and have additional features.
The vast majority of cars in this range will have under 100,000 miles. Since you can actually buy a lot of cars brand new in this range, it wouldn’t make sense to go for something used that had really high mileage. Of course, it may still depend on the type of vehicle you’re looking for. A good example of a vehicle with a lot of mileage that may fall within this price range is a pickup truck. Pickups tend to have an excellent resale value, so they aren’t depreciating in price as quickly as some other vehicles might, even many years later. However, you should still expect pickups to have under 100,000 miles in this price range.
Common pickup options may include the Chevrolet Silverado 1500, Ford Super Duty F-250, GMC Canyon, Nissan Frontier, Ford F-150, and Ram 1500. Common SUV options may include the Chevrolet Traverse, Subaru Crosstrek, Audi Q3, Acura RDX, Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk, Nissan Pathfinder, Infiniti QX50, Jeep Wrangler, Ford Flex, Toyota Highlander, GMC Acadia, and Cadillac Escalade.
As mentioned, there may be a lot more luxury brand options in this range, which goes for the car options as well. Common car options may include the Cadillac CTS, Cadillac XTS, Subaru Legacy, Toyota Camry, Nissan Maxima, Infiniti Q50, Chrysler 300 S, Mazda6, Honda Accord Sport, BMW 5 Series, Mercedes-Benz C-Class, Audi A3 Premium, Dodge Charger, and Subaru WRX.
Over $25,000
The over $25,000 range normally means you’re looking for something specific, but you don’t want to pay full price for a brand new vehicle. This could end up being a pickup, a large SUV, and adventure vehicle, or a luxury vehicle.
The majority of cars in this bracket will either be luxury or sport vehicles, ranging from the low-end Subaru WRX and Kia Stinger to the high-end Chevrolet Corvette and Porsche Panamera. Really, this range covers hundreds of thousands of dollars, although the average buyer would typically find themselves looking in the lower end of the spectrum, for cars like the Toyota Camry XSE, Audi A6 Premium Plus, Infiniti Q50 Luxe, and others.
Other common vehicles in this range may include the Toyota Highlander Limited, Honda Pilot EXL, Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited Edition, Jeep Wrangler Sahara/Willys Wheeler/Rubicon, Land Rover Discovery Sport, Land Rover Range Rover Evoque, and more.
Of course, each vehicle and dealership is unique, but these are some general guidelines that can assist in searching for used cars near you.
