The Used Car Market has indeed been very difficult the last two years, with 2024 wrapping up showing signs of light. Used Vehicle Retail volume was up 4% over 2023 but inflation, high interest rates and surging insurance premiums have driven the cost of ownership skyward. The average price of a used car jumped to $25,565 in 2024. Affordability is “the wall” that prevents people from purchasing a new or later model pre- owned vehicle, so they just keep driving what they have.
The average vehicle on US Roadways is now a 2014 with 145,000 miles. Post Covid19, the average number of miles driven dropped to a low of 12,500 and is now back up to almost 15,000 miles per annum in 2024. According to NHTSA, the average person will have 3-4 vehicle accidents in their lifetime. While cars have become increasingly safer with collision avoidance, airbag protection systems and modern technology to protect the occupants, the price of new and hence used vehicles has sky- rocketed. More expensive cars, driven more miles will ultimately result in more vehicular accidents. In 2024, there were 6 million accidents on US Roadways. So, count yourself as lucky if you have yet to have your first of the 4 you are due statistically in your lifetime .
For the less fortunate souls, an accident is a trying experience physically, emotionally and financially. CarBuyerUSA purchases thousands of cars with and without accident history and we want to share our findings on vehicles with accident history. Once a vehicle has been in an accident, it will never be the same – not even used anymore. Vehicles with accident history are in essence “refurbished”. All you can refer to is the vehicle history that records the date and time of the accident with a general location. You will also see the point of impact, along with a severity of: minor, moderate or severe. There are notations for Airbag Deployment and also free-hand notes where law enforcement officials may choose to add comments like: vehicle towed from scene, functional damage reported, etc.
To summarize, vehicle history is great – if you are the buyer! If you are the seller, it’s like your college transcript and it doesn’t lie. It will tell you how many owners there were, where the vehicle was registered and driven, miles driven, maintenance performed, recalls that are open, accidents, damage claims, title brands, etc. So, if you take really good care of your vehicle and keep it accident free your reward will be that the car is worth the average book value whenever you decide to sell it or trade it in for a new vehicle. That is the best you are going to get! If you have an accident or accident(s), you are facing an immediate loss in value because the vehicle has been repaired. The best way to explain this is to use the refurbished TV Example. If you went to BestBuy to purchase an 85” QLED TV for $10,000 and they had none available for your big SuperBowl party – except for the floor model which is “refurbished” and you could buy it for full price, would that make sense? Well, what does refurbished mean? Open Box? Dropped off a truck?, damaged power button?, broken screen?, scratched body? They can’t tell you that, but it’s the same price as brand new. It makes no sense to buy that TV for full price, but what if they knocked off 10% - that’s $1000! Still not interested? What about 20% that’s $2000! The truth is, you probably won’t take a chance on a $10,000 item without a 30% discount. The savings justifies the risk that the TV won’t last as long as a brand new one with a sealed box. Congratulations! You just graduated from your first class in Diminished Value. Let’s see what this means in terms of dollars and cents.
Minor Damage Wreck = 10%
Moderate Damage Wreck = 20%
Severe Damage Wreck = 30%
Airbag Deployment = 10% additional
If someone rear-ends your car at a stop light and there is minor damage, odds are that the “at fault” party’s insurance carrier will be handling your claim. They won’t offer you a settlement for the loss in value caused by their policy holder but if you don’t ask for a diminished value allowance, you won’t get one. The key here is “noise”…the squeaky wheel will get oiled – everytime. All you have to do is ask until they say no, then escalate. Nobody wants their boss to get a call from a disgruntled claim holder. Keep asking for another boss and be ready to send emails to substantiate your claim. Yes it’s work, but it beats hiring an attorney which gets very expensive. If you are not at fault, it’s a slam dunk but you will have to fight for a substantial amount. Insurance companies don’t get rich by paying claims. They have a host of excuses why they cannot pay, including some half-truths and tricks like paying 10% of the repair cost in Diminished Value compensation which is a joke. When you go to sell your vehicle with minor damage you are going to lose more than half the audience of potential buyers for it. Less buyers means less demand, the price will be impacted and the time it takes to sell it will go way up. Days to market a vehicle with accident history is 3 times greater than selling a car with a clean CarFax.
CarBuyerUSA made offers on $4B worth of vehicles last year! 45% of the vehicles we buy have accident history – we are your go to source for wrecked vehicles. Whether your car is worth $2000 or $200,000 CarBuyerUSA is your buying source & America’s Top Ranked Car Buying Company.
