Near the start of the pandemic, all the car rental agencies sold off a bunch of their cars because the cars weren’t making money. And with the pandemic in swing, car companies were making less cars, because of health restrictions as well as supply chain issues. As the pandemic slowed down, car manufacturers weren’t able to keep up with demand for new cars, and prices on used cars soared. Now manufacturers have decided they like the money flowing in like that and they’ve hiked their prices and are making fewer of the entry-level cars many people bought.