Used Car Prices Are The Highest They’ve Been Since COVID

Happy Friday! It’s November 14, 2025, and this is The Morning Shift — your daily roundup of the top automotive headlines from around the world, in one place. This is where you’ll find the most important stories that are shaping the way Americans drive and get around.

In this morning’s edition, we’re looking at the climbing prices of used cars, and South Korea’s latest response to U.S. tariffs. We’ll also look at Japanese auto worker unions, and Jeep’s latest recall. 

Doesn’t everything feel like it’s too expensive now? It’s not your imagination; used car prices are the highest they’ve been since the chip shortage of the COVID lockdown era, and cars are sitting on lots unsold for longer periods than they were back then. From the Detroit Free Press:

The prices of new and used cars have been stubbornly high for a while.

…

Ivan Drury, director of insights at Edmunds, said there’s something unusual about the price of 3-year-old used cars, which saw average transaction prices above $30,000 in the third quarter of this year, at $31,067, up 5% from the same period last year. It’s the highest third-quarter average transaction price since 2022, when the average hit $31,259, according to data supplied by Edmunds.

…

The last time used car prices were so high for an extended period was a number of years ago. They crossed the $30,000 threshold in the fourth quarter of 2021 and stayed above that mark until the third quarter of 2023, when average transaction prices dropped to $29,697, according to Edmunds.

Granted, we’re coming out of a chip shortage now, but one far more minor than the era when we actually cared about curtailing COVID spread in any way at all. The Free Press speculates that used cars are sitting on dealer lots longer because customers are getting pickier, and weighing used cars against deals on new vehicles, but I posit there’s another reason: Car buyers are broke, and making do with what they have in the face of a looming U.S. economic collapse. 

United States tariffs have played hell with the global car market, but South Korea is stepping in to help its automakers out. The country will be increasing subsidies for carbuyers in the nation, especially for EVs — a market where every other nation is flailing in comparison to China, which jumped on the subsidy train far earlier. From Bloomberg:

South Korea plans to increase financial support for its automakers and raise car-buyer subsidies on electric vehicles next year to help offset the costs from US tariffs and ease pressure from Chinese and other rivals.

The government is earmarking more than 15 trillion won ($10.2 billion), including low-interest-rate loans and guarantees, for domestic car and auto parts makers in 2026, the country’s industry ministry said Friday.

Subsidies for buyers of EVs are set to be increased by more than 30% to 936 billion won, and consumption and acquisition taxes will be waived for all-electric, hybrid gas-electric and hydrogen-powered vehicles. South Korea also plans to introduce a trade-in subsidy of up to 1 million won for new EV buyers who scrap their old cars.

Remember when everyone complained that China was cheating because it used government funds to help its car companies develop EVs? Is South Korea cheating here, or can we all just admit that putting government funds towards your nation’s companies to establish an early lead in a nascent but growing market is a pretty normal thing to do?

Japanese auto workers are preparing for union negotiations with their employers, and one point of disagreement between the two parties is likely to stick: Wages. Automakers want to pay out less, because of tariff-induced hits to profits, while the workers have their expectations set as reasonably as ever. From Reuters:

Japan’s top automobile industry union group has no plans to scale back its wage demands at labour talks next year despite a heavy drag on the sector’s earnings from U.S. tariffs, its chief told Reuters on Friday.

The comment from Akihiro Kaneko, president of the Confederation of Japan Automobile Workers’ Unions (JAW), underscores the determination of Japan’s most influential industrial umbrella union to keep wage momentum going into a fourth year.

“With inflation persisting and real wages still lagging, there’s simply no option to go into next year’s wage talks with a weaker stance than last year,” Kaneko said in an interview.

“We do recognise that the auto industry is in a critical situation, with the severe hit to automakers’ earnings from U.S. tariffs,” Kaneko said, as the industry braces for a profit plunge of about 30% this year.

“But to keep the positive cycle turning, with higher wages driving consumption, consumption fuelling growth, we need measures that push demand, and wage hikes are a key part of that,” he said.

Kaneko is right here — if you don’t pay your working class anything, there will be no one who can afford your products. Hard to make sales when no one’s buying, no matter how low you slash your cost of goods sold. 

Toyota recalled its turbo six-cylinders the other day for engine issues, and now Jeep has joined in on the trend — though only for hybrids. The company is recalling 112,859 Grand Cherokee 4XEs and Wrangler 4XEs for possible engine debris that could lead to fires. From Reuters:

Chrysler-parent Stellantis is recalling 112,859 U.S. vehicles over possible engine failure or compartment fire, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said on Friday.

The NHTSA pointed to debris inside the engine as a cause but did not offer more details.

The U.S. automaker was recalling some 2023-2025 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4XE and 2024-2025 Jeep Wrangler 4XE Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV), NHTSA said.

Hey, it’s not Ford for once!

New York City brought public transit to the U.S., and we’re still the best at it. In the States, anyway. Europe still has us beat. 

Sometimes it’s just a Mountain Goats day.