While traveling around Oahu, Hawaii, my boyfriend and I have been renting a Honda Fit because it was the cheapest option we could find. However, we found ourselves marveling at the tiny commuter while cruising the scenic H-1 Freeway. My boyfriend kept saying that the Honda Fit was a lot of fun — and felt zippier than he expected. I have a Lotus Elise and Mazda Miata at home, and I almost didn’t wish they were here for the ride instead.
Whether it’s been squeezing into tight parking spots on busy, narrow streets or driving across the island in pursuit of a far-off beach with fewer people, the Honda Fit has honestly been perfect. For this reason, a peculiar sale on Bring a Trailer caught my attention. A low-mileage 2015 Honda Fit sold for $18,000, almost the same price it was when new.
While even collectible, special-edition supercar killers are losing value rapidly and selling for surprisingly low prices at auction, the Honda Fit has barely depreciated.
Subcompact cars are the new collectibles in 2026
While previously discussing the dramatic depreciation of supercars, I mentioned that most of those models are purchased to fulfill a dream or to show off one’s success. These vehicles often have value to their owners due to strong emotional connections and experiences, but they generally lose value each year relative to the rest of the car industry as performance and technology change rapidly.
However, a Honda Fit was usually purchased for its practicality. It’s a reliable way to get around every day, can maneuver city driving with ease, and has great fuel efficiency while doing it. As America continues to move away from subcompact cars in exchange for massive, obnoxious SUVs and pickup trucks, it has become harder and harder to find these traits in a new vehicle.
Maybe that’s why some drivers are willing to pay new car prices for a decade-old Honda Fit: it’s like buying a new subcompact car, which they are more than willing to do if they had the option to do so. The final $18,000 selling price was just $1,180 less than what it originally sold for, meaning it has barely depreciated over $100 a year.
What makes the 2015 Honda Fit special? That it’s not special
The Honda Fit that sold on Bring a Trailer was from 2015 with just 1,558 miles on it. That’s really the only standout thing about it. Everything else about the car is exactly as expected — which is part of the reason it sold for $18,000. It’s a mid-range EX trim and automatic with a 1.5-liter SOHC inline-four engine that produces 130 horsepower.
It’s clearly not a performance-focused Honda Fit. It’s just stock and not even manual. So you can’t claim this Honda Fit sold at such an unexpectedly high price due to its track potential. It’s truly this Honda Fit’s basicness that fetched it such an impressive selling price. Wrote the auction winner: “This will be my daughter’s first car and I just got the biggest hug ever! Worth every penny all around.”
Makes total sense. If you want to get your kid a reliable small car, you’re not going to find any new subcompacts anymore. The Nissan Versa has left us and we are still missing the Toyota Yaris. If you look at the next category, compact cars, you’re going to spend $23,000 as new car prices continue to increase in the United States. Buying a barely driven 2015 Honda Fit for $18,000 seems like a great alternative for a first-time driver.
In the end, it’s the Honda Fit’s complete basicness that made it worth the cash — and made it into a collectible as the industry moves to electric SUVs for commuters. Comments left on the surprising auction have reflected how special the Honda Fit is in a sea of chunky commuters.
Said one driver: “Literally one of the best cars ever made. Was in Turks and Caicos for the past week and no joke, one out of four cars was a Fit. Cant break them. This has to be one of the best left super cool!”
Added another: “Small outside, big inside, built well, cheap to buy and own, we love our ’09 Fit. I always say if cars were just invented, we’d all be driving Fits. And now it’s a collectible! Enjoy!”