Twenty percent of the time, dealers have cut the retail price of a used car an average of nearly 7 percent by the time it gets in the hands of a consumer. That’s according to iSeeCars, which came to this conclusion after analysis of 30 million used cars.

The company’s analysis also determined that prices on used cars are reduced between one and six times throughout the period in which they’re listed for sale.

Breaking that down, the first reduction by the dealer typically happens after the car has been listed for 15 days and is, on average, a shade higher than 5 percent. Following that initial price cut, about two-fifths (38 percent) then see their prices cut again.

The average reduction then is about 6 percent higher than the first trim.

Interestingly enough, cars that were priced low to begin with usually can’t escape price reductions. The company found that vehicles with below-market-value prices “eventually” have their prices reduced by 5.8 percent, on average. As for cars whose prices are above market value, the reduction climbs to 7.7 percent.

Phong Ly, co-founder and chief executive officer of iSeeCars, said: “The longer a car stays unsold, the more price reductions occur.”

And, as iSeeCars points out, reductions aren’t necessarily equal across the board for all models.  Price cuts for some vehicles approached 15 percent, like the Nissan 300zx, whose average reduction was 14.7 percent, and the Chevrolet Cavalier (13.2 percent).

The company indicated that price reductions for the “most popular” models — citing the Honda Accord, Honda Civic and Toyota Camry — were usually in the neighborhood of 7 percent.

For more information, visit www.iseecars.com.

Joe Overby can be reached at joverby@autoremarketing.com. Continue the conversation with Auto Remarketing on both LinkedIn and Twitter.