Used EV prices rise 9.8% to $32,533 and pass the average petrol car

iSeeCars analysed more than 1.5 million used vehicles between one and five years old. The 9.8% rise works out at $2,896 a vehicle, taking the average from $29,637 in September 2025 to $32,533 in September 2026. Prices peaked at $33,305 in June and have slipped slightly since.

The comparison with petrol cars has flipped. A year ago the average used EV was $2,227 cheaper than the average combustion car, at $29,637 against $31,864; by the end of September, EVs carried a $579 premium. Buyers who waited for used EV prices to keep falling now pay more, and dealers who held stock through the summer have gained. How long the reversal lasts is open: iSeeCars' analyst says brief fuel spikes do not shift behaviour.

Gas prices and the lag

InsideEVs reported on 3 November that the national average petrol price had reached $3.58 a gallon, more than 50 cents above a month earlier, as the conflict in Iran disrupted oil markets. Edmunds recorded the share of searches for electrified models on its car-shopping site at 22.4% in the week of 2 March, up from 20.7% the week before. Most of the gain came from full EVs.

Karl Brauer, executive analyst at iSeeCars, told Car Dealership Guy News the effect arrives with a lag. "I've always said that gas prices won't change consumer behavior on a short-term basis," he said. Prices went up in March, he added, but EV pricing did not move until June. The 2022 spike after Russia's invasion of Ukraine offers a comparison. Edmunds saw electrified research queries rise from 17.5% to 25.1% of all searches within a month.

Stock moves faster

Turnover is the other half of the story. Used EVs stayed on the market 41.9 days in September, 10.1% faster than the 46.6 days recorded a year earlier. Petrol cars went the other way, from 45.7 days to 54.8 days, a rise of 19.9%. The fastest-selling EV was the Audi Q4 Sportback e-tron at 29.8 days, third overall behind the Lexus IS 500 at 24.3 days and the Audi Allroad at 29.5 days.

The supply side

Supply is the slow variable. InsideEVs reported that more used models should reach the market as leases end, and that most used EVs remain cheap even as used Tesla prices crept up. It also cited Edmunds' warning that affordable cars are scarce and that average prices and amounts financed keep rising, leaving more consumers unable to trade out of their cars.

Not every market is moving the same way. K Car's October price analysis found South Korean used EV prices fell 1.2% month on month, a steeper decline than the previous month's 0.1%. Local governments were drawing up supplementary budgets for new EV subsidies, which pulled some demand toward new cars.

The pipeline feeding future used stock is still growing. Global EV battery installations reached 994.5 GWh in January-September, up 19.7% year on year, according to SNE Research data published by CnEVPost. Every one of those cars becomes second-hand stock in a few years.

What to watch

Brauer cautioned that dealers need to study which models are moving and which are not. He also said the longer fuel prices stay elevated, the higher the share of buyers they will affect. How long the Iran conflict keeps oil and petrol prices up is the variable neither dataset answers.