The reason why there aren't many affordable used vehicles that aren't ancient, high-miles beaters is because there aren't many affordable new vehicles.

When a new vehicle that sold for $40,000 is four or five years old, it's still going to be a $25,000 or so vehicle – which means it is too expensive for most people to be able to just buy – as opposed to going into hock, via financing. It's a vicious Catch-22, too – because people who can't afford the price of a new car are often stuck with the cost of a loan – at higher interest – on a used car. The lack of relatively new, low-miles used vehicles that can be bought outright has greatly undermined the ability of people who aren't affluent to avoid being impoverished.

They can go into hock for the expensive used vehicle they can't afford to just buy – or they can buy the high-miles, ancient beater that will likely hit them with unaffordable repair bills they'll have to pay to keep the old beater going.

The much better alternative – a low-miles, just a few-years-old vehicle people could afford to buy outright – and so without going into hock – has been all-but-eliminated because inexpensive new vehicles have been all-but-eliminated. I'll use trucks to make the point, because trucks used to cost less than most cars.