By Chester Dawson | Bloomberg
Most cars lose value the moment they leave a dealer’s lot. The RAV4 hybrid gains it.
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Used, late-model versions of the RAV4 hybrid often list for more than their original sticker prices, even with thousands of miles on their odometers. In some cases, they cost more than a new 2026 model fresh from the Toyota Motor Corp. factory.
The price inversion seems to defy a natural law of used-car economics. But it illustrates some of the most powerful forces driving the US auto market this year.
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The Iran war sent gas prices surging, with the national average for regular well above $4 per gallon. Some car buyers have responded by snapping up used electric vehicles, which often sell at a steep discount from their original price. Others who are either unwilling or unable to go fully electric have turned to hybrids, which pair an electric motor with a gas-burning engine. Long considered a niche product in the US, they’re now highly coveted.
And for the moment at least, there aren’t enough new hybrid RAV4s to go around.
Production hit a lull last year as Toyota stopped building the fifth generation of the compact SUV and started making the sixth. With fewer new RAV4s reaching showrooms, many would-be buyers have been stuck on waiting lists. Used versions — as long as they’re from a recent year and in good shape — command a premium, even topping the list price of a new car.
The hybrid RAV4 gets upwards of 40 miles per gallon, well above the US new-car average of 27.2 mpg. It’s popular enough that Toyota discontinued all non-hybrid versions of the RAV4, starting this model year. And Brandon Wingate of Albany, Georgia, decided it was just what his family needed.
He and his wife were sold on its roominess, Toyota’s reputation for reliability and the hybrid’s promise of savings at the pump. Wingate paid $32,000 in February for a 2024 RAV4 with 44,000 miles on it — a car that listed for $38,735 when new. He drove about five hours across the state to test-drive it after spotting it online and was only able to haggle the dealer down $500 to compensate for a small window crack.
“There’s no negotiating anymore — you basically pay the asking price,” said Wingate, 42, an IT technician. “I’m just glad to have bought when we did, because prices for the same vehicle are up anywhere from $6,000 to $8,000 since then.”
Indeed, CarMax recently advertised a 2024 RAV4 Hybrid XSE with 29,000 miles for $46,998, which is higher than that trim’s original $38,735 sticker price.
Carvana listed a 2025 RAV4 Hybrid Limited with 5,606 miles for $48,590. That’s a cool $6,040 above the manufacturer’s suggested retail price when it was new. It’s also more than the $43,300 sticker price of a 2026 Limited model.
Toyota, which began offering Americans a hybrid RAV4 option a decade ago, kept gas-electrics to a relatively low percentage of overall production volumes. That shortage helping to fuel high prices should end as Toyota scales up output of the new all-hybrid RAV4. “We have a very methodical cadence of ramping up to ensure high quality,” Cooper Ericksen, Toyota’s North American head of product planning and strategy, said in an interview.
For now, however, Toyota has less than five days’ worth of new RAV4 hybrids in its US showrooms, far below the company’s overall inventory of about 15 days.
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“We’re selling every one we have in stock and have quite a few pre-sales” said Ryan Redding, general manager at Jim Norton Toyota in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Customers unwilling to wait often look for used RAV4s, he said, which means they’re also in high demand. “Most of the time, we don’t sell above the original MSRP,” Norton said.
Consumer Reports warns that new 2026 RAV4s are selling for about 4% more than their sticker prices. Managing Editor Jeff Bartlett, in a recent blog post, wrote that prices should edge down as production revs up, but “because elevated gas prices may keep interest in the RAV4 high, don’t expect discounts any time soon.”
With the average transaction price of a new car in the US now around $50,000, used cars have surged in popularity. So too have hybrids, which not only cut fuel costs but let drivers use highway carpool lanes in at least 12 states. Once limited to a handful of models like the original Toyota Prius — with a shape often compared to a cheese wedge — hybrid drivetrains are now available in most every class of passenger vehicle, including the Ford Motor Co. Maverick pickup, the Kia Corp. Carnival minivan and Stellantis NV’s Jeep Cherokee SUV.
Some of those hybrids command high prices used, although not as consistently as the RAV4.
Carvana, for example, lists several Honda Motor Co. hybrids with asking prices near their prices when newly sold. It recently advertised a 2024 CR-V Hybrid Sport Touring version with 14,000 miles for $40,590, just below the original base sticker of $41,595. Data from CarGurus, a website that lists vehicles for sale by dealers, show that two of the three types of 2025 CR-V hybrids list for at least 90% of their original MSRP, and all three trims of the 2024 model year retain 80% of their initial value.
All used RAV4 hybrids from the 2024 model year onward command prices of at least 90% of their initial MSRPs, according to CarGurus. Of the seven hybrid trims offered in the 2025 model year, four now list for more than their original sticker prices.
“Toyotas are in general tough to find, and hybrids are tough to find,” said Kevin Roberts, director of economic and market intelligence at CarGurus Inc. “If you’re struggling to find a new RAV4 hybrid, you might pay more for any used one you can get your hands on.”
While unusual, Roberts said that’s not unprecedented. Used-car prices spiked during the Covid-19 pandemic, when automakers cut new car production and removed certain features like heated seats due to chip shortages.
Prices for used hybrids, however, have climbed high enough this year that some buyers say they can’t justify the expense — even knowing they’d save on gas.
Peter Aviles, a retired home inspector based in Fort Lauderdale, tested a 2021 RAV4 hybrid in April but instead bought a gas-only 2022 version for his vacation home in Puerto Rico. He wanted a RAV4 because of its reputation for quality and high resale value, but he wasn’t willing to pay the premium for a hybrid.
“It gets good enough fuel economy,” Aviles, 75, said. “And it can handle the potholes.”
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