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8 Slow Selling Used Cars To Get At a Low Price Before 2025

By Vance Cariaga,

4 hours ago

The last thing car dealers want is for vehicles to sit on the lot for a long time, taking up space and costing them money . To deal with the problem and free up room for new inventory, dealers will often slash prices on slow-selling vehicles – meaning you can score some great car deals if you hunt for the right bargains.

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If you’re in the market for a used car , a little research can go a long way toward helping you save money . One of the key metrics to look for is how long a particular car model sits on the lot. The longer it sits there, the more incentive dealers have to slash its price.

According to a 2023 blog from Justin Fischer of CarEdge , smart car shoppers will “benefit significantly” from waiting for a car to sit on the lot for at least 30 to 90 days. This waiting period will lead to better deals and greatly improve your chances of negotiating . In some cases, you could save thousands of dollars.

“It’s not about being lucky – it’s about being patient and strategic,” Fischer wrote.

That patience can pay particular dividends in 2024, with used car prices recently pushing higher again. Buyers paid an average of $25,415 per used vehicle in July 2024, Kelley Blue Book reported. That was up $164 from the previous month, though it was still down by about $1,600 from a year earlier.

The latest increase is “likely the first of several,” according to KBB, nothing that dealers have lately been paying higher prices at auction for used cars. You can expect those higher costs to be passed on to shoppers through higher prices in the coming months.

Meanwhile, the nationwide used car supply will likely “remain thin” for years, KBB reported. Because of COVID-era disruptions to the supply chain, automakers built about 8 million fewer cars than they otherwise would have in 2021 and 2022.

“That’s 8 million cars that will never reach the used market, keeping supplies low for a long time,” KBB noted.

The current price environment means consumers must be even more persistent than usual in scouting the best deals – which often means finding slow-selling cars due to big price cuts. Scoring a good deal doesn’t necessarily mean sacrificing quality for price. You can often find decent used cars that have not clicked with consumers for one reason or another.

Here are eight slow-selling used cars you can find for a fairly low price before 2025, according to recent reports from Carscoops and Forbes .