Age of second hand cars

[MistySkiesAfterRain]

Prices of second hand cars have now gone up massively.

Whereas before I was looking at a 2017 onwards model, for my budget I am looking at 2009-2014.

If the mileage is low does the age matter? Obvs will look into history.
Would a good older second hand car with low mileage need more servicing? Should I bite the bullet and get a newer second hand car?

Experiences welcome.

If it helps I am looking for

Budget around £5k
Under 25k miles
Hatchback
Low insurance group
No accidents

They have gone up. When I bought my 3 yr old focus it was £9k. Its now 7 yrs old and ive been looking at another focus and a 3 yr okd car would cost me £11-12k😨 most now are titanium spec with satnav built in so it does cost more. But I haven’t the cash at the moment to buy one so with each mile on my car the price gradually goes down.

Wow. I read its because of lack of car parts (covid/brexit etc). I wonder if its a spike and will go down again. I've been waiting so long (for my driving license and still waiting) another three months won't hurt.

I'd go higher mileage and newer, as long as full service history. The average is around 10k per year I think so 25k is pretty low!

Ah ok will try and be a bit more flexible about mileage thanks.

I did a national search on autotrader and filtered on £5k budget and 25k miles and it's not unreasonable but a lot are older cars with very low mileage (probably been a 2nd car or owned by an older person), or basic model small cars. e.g. there's a 2017 Hyundai i10 with less than 18,000 miles for £5k, a 2014 Peugot 107 also £5k......
There won't be many 2017 cars on the market with less than 25k miles, although with having spent most of a year in lockdown that will have reduced a lot of people's mileage.
If you go older you'll probably find you get a better make/model of car for your budget too.