CNN —It has almost never been as hard to buy a new or used car in the United States as it is today, despite improving supply issues and inflation beginning to steady. But used cars have a long way to go before approaching 2019 sales prices and new car prices have yet to slow down. What makes the 2020s unique is how much car prices rose in a short period of time. Over the used car market’s worst 12 months of the pandemic, the index rose 45%. There’s never been a 12-month period since the BLS began keeping records in 1947 when used car prices have inflated more.

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