Vehicles under $15k are 1.6% of the market, and their share of the market has dropped over 90% since 2019. The old advice that you can get a beater and drive it in to the ground for $5k hasn’t been true for years but it still seems pervasive in personal finance spaces.
I’ve been looking for a second vehicle for a while now and used market where I am is selling 15+ year old vehicles with well over 100k miles on them for $15,000 - $20,000. New isn’t much better since I’d be stuck with a monthly payment of anywhere between $600-$800 before insurance