At the start of 2026, used vehicles are more expensive than at the start of 2025 in most categories.
The CARFAX Used Car Index shows prices ended 2025 above the start of the year in six of seven categories, with vans and minivans being the lone exception. Vans and minivan prices dropped $300 or 1.6 percent in the past 12 months to $21,327.
Luxury cars jumped 8 percent or $2,000 in the past year, pickup trucks $1,200 or 3.7 percent and luxury SUVs $850 or 2.6 percent.
But CARFAX noted a change in the market as 2025 drew to a close, with five of seven categories dropping in December. SUVs are down $500 in the past four months, falling to $23,532. Cars fell $300 to $18,266. In the last three months, pickup trucks have fallen $400 to $33,757.
“The used car market is starting to climb out of the hole created when car leasing dropped back in 2021,” CARFAX noted. “It was still low in 2022, but it started picking up in 2023. For used-car shoppers, that means there should be a steady increase in the availability of 3-year-old models with low-ish mileage that shoppers find appealing.”
With the clean vehicle credit expiring at the end of the September, used hybrids and EVs continued to fall in price in December to $30,502.
“Shoppers who are interested in a used EV should see a sizable number of those coming off of leases in 2026, and they might be a good deal,” CARFAX reported.
