Those of us who work in or adjacent to the used-car business have likely been asked some form of this question numerous times by our friends and family outside the industry:

“When are used-car prices going to come down?”

Well, finally, it seems there might be an inkling of an answer.

An analysis from Edmunds on Tuesday shows that seasonal price declines have started to return to the retail used-car market, and that while there won’t be any “doorbuster bargains,” the pre-owned car market is showing some softer prices heading into Labor Day weekend.

“Car shoppers can’t expect to find anything close to the doorbuster bargains of pre-pandemic Labor Day sales, but they can at least look forward to used-car prices softening across the board heading into the holiday weekend,” said Jessica Caldwell, Edmunds’ executive director of insights, in a news release.

“Although these price drops are not earth-shattering, they should be a welcome reprieve for consumers compared to the continued higher cost of new car purchases or leases,” she said.

Here’s how that used-car price relief has been shaking out.

Edmunds analyzed more than 200 3-year-old vehicle models, and found that July’s average transaction prices for 92.8% of those cars were lower than peak levels.

All told, the average 3-year-old vehicle had an ATP of $31,302 last month. That’s down 4.6% from January, the peak month for ATP.

Following market disruptions in 2020 and 2021, seasonality is finally being spotted in the used-car market, Edmunds said, and this is the key driver for softer prices.

ATPs of 3-year-old vehicles would “consistently” fall 4.8% between January and July each year between 2015 and 2019.

However, they climbed 0.4% during this time frame of 2020 and jumped 13.1% during the January-July time frame last year.

This year is a return to more pre-pandemic patterns.

“As more of the calendar year passes by, used vehicles are getting older and gaining in mileage — and therefore commanding less than they did earlier in the year,” Edmunds said in the release.

“Additionally, an uptick in the volume of near-new used vehicles (2 years old or newer) making their way to the used market as trade-ins also places downward pressure on prices of 3-year-old vehicles,” the company added.

Among mainstream 3-year-old vehicles, the one the largest decline in July ATP since its peak was the Ford Fusion Energi, whose prices in July was down 17.7% from its March peak, according to the Edmunds data.

Next was the Toyota Prius, whose ATP in July was down 16.5% from its peak in January.

On the luxury side of the market, the Audi A6’s ATP in July was down 17.4% from its February peak, the largest drop among luxury rides, followed by the BMW X7 (down 16.6% from a January peak), Edmunds said.