All cars on the road are used. At the moment a vehicle is driven off a dealer’s lot by a proud new owner, that vehicle becomes a used car. This document illustrates some key facts about the size, scope and economic impact of the used car industry in this country.

There are more than 278 million vehicles on U.S. roads, and every one of them is used. But even if one were to consider the 17.1 million new vehicles retailed in 2017 as still “new,” the number of used vehicles on the road today still dwarfs the number of new.