Used Car Prices Are Up 21% From a Year Ago

The price of used cars jumped much higher in April, data from the Department of Labor’s Consumer Price Index showed Wednesday.

Used car prices rose by 10 percent compared with March. Compared with a year ago, used car prices were up 21 percent.

The monthly gain is the biggest ever recorded. The prior record was set in February of 1969, when prices rose 7.2 percent.

The year-over-year gain is the highest since December 1981. The record gain was 32 percent, hit in 1975.

The Labor Department said the unusual jump in used car prices was responsible for about a third of the overall increase in the Consumer Price Index, which rose a stronger than expected 0.8 percent in April.

Demand for used cars likely surged in April as a microchip shortage forced automakers to cut back on production of new cars.