"investigatetv+." (dramatic music) - for many of us, a car is an essential part of life. you rely on it to getto the grocery store, a doctor's appointment,or even work. i'm lee zurik. - and i'm tisha powell. but that necessity isbecoming out of reach for a growing number of people as new and used car prices hit record highs. a 2025 report from iseecars found, for used cars up to five years old, a price below $20,000 is nearly a thing of the past. and 2025 was the first year where no new cars, including economy vehicles, had a starting price below 20,000. at the same time, wages are not keeping up with increasing price tags, and it's an issue leaving people potentially risking their health and safety. - reporter kristin crowley takes a deeper look into the problem and finds how one national nonprofit is trying to fill the gaps. (honks blaring) - in new york city, chicago, and boston, you'll find bustling public transportation. but for most of the country, the only reliable transportation is a car. (rhythmic music) do you remember the very first car you ever owned? - mitsubishi mirage. that was my first one, yep. - [kristin] nancy maxwell's had nine cars in her nearly 40 years of driving. a retired teacher and coach,she didn't know her last car... - a suzuki. - would be her last. you haven't had a car since? - nope. - and that was how long ago? - a year ago. - [kristin] she's gone that long because she says nothing is in her price range. the cars she can afford all need too much work. - that's something i've always dreamed, of having a car again. that's out of reach. - because you can't afford it? - yep. - how do you get around without a vehicle? - most time, i don't. i just stay home tillsomebody gives me a ride. - [kristin] and that's a big problem, because nancy faces a major hardship other than not having a car. she has cancer. - i've got rectal-colon cancer. and my biopsy just came back and it's gotten worse. - how often do you have to go to the doctor now? - well, i'm doing it every week now. - every week? - i'm gonna have to go every week. - when you heard youhave to go every week and you realized, "idon't have a car," what did you think? - i was scared and nervous 'cause i didn't wanna put my family under any more pressure. - and there is a lot of pressure that comes with not having a car. - once transportation goes, you lose that access to employment; you may lose that access to childcare, to education, to your healthcare. - [kristin] that's todd jordan with the united way of greater kansas city. he says nationwide, the charity is seeing a growing need for rides because people can't afford their own car. - a study from a couple of years ago found that only about 13% of low income households live near a majorpublic transit line. so that's a lot of people that maybe don'thave access to a car. - [kristin] roughly 70% of americans rely on a car to take them to work. if they can't afford one, research has shown that means they could lose their jobs, which then leads to unpaid bills and potentially homelessness. jordan says it's a problem united way is trying to help fix. but before we get to that, we need to understand how big the problem of car affordability is and how we got here. - today, there's almost no used cars from one to five years old that are available for under $20,000. - karl brauer is an executive analyst with iseecars, an online auto research platform. why are prices going up so drastically? - so we had, like, kind of the perfect storm over the last five years. - [kristin] that's right around the time the covid-19 pandemic started. brauer says car production dropped, demand went up, then so did prices, onboth new and used cars. (engine rumbling) in 2019, brauer says the average three-year-old used car cost about $23,000. by 2025, that jumped to more than $32,000, a nearly 40% increase. a new 2026 car, he says, on average, costs $50,000. the last ingredient in that perfect storm? (pensive music) inflation. - we have not seen income goup 50% in the last five years, but we've seen car prices go up. - and a growingnumber of households, more than 11 million, have no vehicle. is there any way to move these car prices back down? - you know, price is always ultimately a reflection of supply and demand. it's pretty much demand level on the consumers. there's really nothing else, certainly near term. - that doesn't help people like nancy, who, remember, needs to see her doctors once a week for cancer treatments. so it went from not having a car was an inconvenience to not having a car was the difference of life or death? - yeah. - [kristin] lucky for nancy, that's not a reality she has to face. - [todd] ride united is the ability for somebody who is in need of a ride for a critical need. we will schedule the ride, and it'll take them round trip if they need it, to whatever location they need to go to. - [kristin] united way teamed up with lyft to provide those free rides to people in need who call 211. nationwide, it's provided more than 500,000 rides since 2018 to locations like people's work, grocery stores, school, and doctor's appointments. - they're my breath. they are my fuel. - [kristin] while nancy will likely never own a car again, she is optimistic she can get to where she needs to go so long as programs like ride united exist. - i think without them, i wouldn't be where i'm in front of you now, without that option. - several state and local nonprofits across the country also offer transportation help, whether it be with car payments, repairs, or money for a vehicle. - [tisha] the national consumer law center says there are more than 100 such organizations. you can find that list on investigatetv.com. if you're in need of a ride, you can call 211 to connect you with your local unitedway organization for help.