Which cars hold their value best on resale?

[EDZ649]

According to Auto Trader these are the top ten cars for holding their value, notice that MB and BMW are nowhere to be seen!

Audi A3: best used car values - Auto Trader UK - News and Reviews Hub

 

[renault12ts]

In a year!! This suggests any new Mercedes is going to be less than half price in one year. Vauxhall Insignias are available new to-day at about 20% discount.

 

[davidjpowell]

The only thing that I am certain is that it will not be the car that I buy!

 

[MOCAŠ]

These surveys always compare the second hand sale price with the original list price, so cars like the A3 that tend to be sold with options will always appear to have depreciated less. The other more mainstream cars listed will tend to have been sold at or below list price when new.

Bear in mind also that most 1yo Audis will have been sold within the Audi dealer network, where the price will have reflected any options fitted. I wouldn't be surprised if many of the A3s that formed the sample were actually changed hands for more than their original list price. I know I paid more than list for my year-old SLK when I bought it, which basically meant that I got around £8k worth of options for free.

This suggests any new Mercedes is going to be less than half price in one year.

That's what I thought at first (along with every other car on the market), which would have undermined the validity of the whole article, but when I re-read it it states that it only covers the ten top-selling cars in the UK.

 

[markjay]

Hold value - good news if you buy new, very bad news if you buy second hand.

Depreciates like a free-falling lift - bad news if you just bought one new, great news if you are in the market for a second hand one...

Some years ago I bought an 'undesirable' V6 Vauxhall Omega which was 4 months old and had all the toys - Auto, leather, Xenons, CD-Changer, Climate, sunroof, heated seats etc - for 10k less than the list price. And that was on a 4-months old car with 6k miles! I ran it for 7 trouble-free years and then sold it for next to nothing, but I still think it was a very good deal.

 

[markjay]

These surveys always compare the second hand sale price with the original list price, so cars like the A3 that tend to be sold with options will always appear to have depreciated less. The other more mainstream cars listed will tend to have been sold at or below list price when new.

Bear in mind also that most 1yo Audis will have been sold within the Audi dealer network, where the price will have reflected any options fitted. I wouldn't be surprised if many of the A3s that formed the sample were actually changed hands for more than their original list price. I know I paid more than list for my year-old SLK when I bought it, which basically meant that I got around £8k worth of options for free.



That's what I thought at first (along with every other car on the market), which would have undermined the validity of the whole article, but when I re-read it it states that it only covers the ten top-selling cars in the UK.

Yes, but these sites compare depreciation to the RRP, and not to the actual purchase price paid when new (which, in case of fleet buyers, will be kept secret anyway).

Company and lease-hire cars are typically bought by fleet managers at way below RRP, and are therefore flogged accordingly later on (usually after 1,2, or 3 years) causing huge over-supply of some models.

Other things to consider is that some manufacturers have great offers on specific models of new cars (dealer contribution, nought percent finance etc). This in fact means that the actual buying prices is far less than RRP (for example, if you factor-in 3-years nought percent finance) which in turn makes the car seem as if it depreciates heavily compared to RRP.

 

[Simon_M]

Porsche used to always come top of these kind of thins because options were never factored in. So a 911 C4S listed at 68K (back in the day) was sold at 80K with the options and then 3 years later was back on the dealers forecourt for around 60K, when in actual fact the poor punter had probably lost around 30K between list and part ex.

 

[renault12ts]

As Mocas said, and on re-reading, this is not the top ten least depreciating cars, just the depreciation on the top ten selling cars. In other words the A3 is as common as muck.

 

[MOCAŠ]

Yes, but these sites compare depreciation to the RRP, and not to the actual purchase price paid when new (which, in case of fleet buyers, will be kept secret anyway).

Company and lease-hire cars are typically bought by fleet managers at way below RRP, and are therefore flogged accordingly later on (usually after 1,2, or 3 years) causing huge over-supply of some models.

Other things to consider is that some manufacturers have great offers on specific models of new cars (dealer contribution, nought percent finance etc). This in fact means that the actual buying prices is far less than RRP (for example, if you factor-in 3-years nought percent finance) which in turn makes the car seem as if it depreciates heavily compared to RRP.

I think we're making exactly the same points here, markjay.

 

[markjay]

I think we're making exactly the same points here, markjay.

Err... yes

 

[A1GSS]

I'll propose the W124 E class cabriolet as (one of) the better bets today - OK it was dear when new so its initial depreciation was probably pretty serious, but now that they're all about 15-20 years old they seem to be holding pretty steady - you could buy one now, use it for 5 years and probably get most of your money back?

 

[flango]

As Mocas said, and on re-reading, this is not the top ten least depreciating cars, just the depreciation on the top ten selling cars. In other words the A3 is as common as muck.

That survey falls down on 2 counts according to the SMMT the following cars were the top 10 in the Uk in 2009

Ford Fiesta … 117,296
​

Ford Focus … 93,517
Vauxhall Corsa … 84,478
Vauxhall Astra … 67,729
Volkswagen (VW) Golf … 57,187
Peugeot 207 … 48,037
Mini … 39,866
BMW 3 Series … 39,029
Vauxhall Insignia … 36,040
Ford Mondeo … 34,418

Audi A3 is never mentioned and it has never ever figured in the top ten of UK sales. In fact production of the A3 has been suspended since January as there are so many cars in stock accross the dealer networks.

As is the case with AT and surveys, never let the facts get in the way of a good story.

Incidently thats the reason the A3 is cheap to insure there aren't many of them so the statistics that insurance companies base premiums on look brilliant for these cars.

 

[A1GSS]

... the reason the A3 is cheap to insure there aren't many of them so the statistics that insurance companies base premiums on look brilliant for these cars.

Um? I respectfully propose the view that the industry's a tad more scientific...

 

[219]

I'll propose the W124 E class cabriolet as (one of) the better bets today - OK it was dear when new so its initial depreciation was probably pretty serious, but now that they're all about 15-20 years old they seem to be holding pretty steady - you could buy one now, use it for 5 years and probably get most of your money back?

Probably make a profit in numerical terms , if not in real terms .

25 years ago I could have bought a W113 , any flavour , for £3K-£5K , now they change hands for £30K upwards ; W111 Cabriolet ( closest ancestor to the W124 Cabriolet ) for a similar amount or perhaps a bit less , nowadays they can go for £50K upwards .

Once cars are past 20 years old you can forget depreciation and maybe look forward to a nice bit of profit

 

[flango]

Um? I respectfully propose the view that the industry's a tad more scientific...

No its not IMHO, my 17 year old daughter learner driver VW Polo 1.0 litre cheapest insurance quote over £1200. Audi A3 1.6 £804. Polo is a group 2 insurance Audi is group 10. The reason the Insurer (not the broker) gave. Polos are crashed and stolen a lot more than the Audi and as such this is reflected in the premium.

If they were scientific about it then there would not be the big difference between premiums for boys compared to girls, as the latest accident statistics provided by our local traffic cops, show that the majority of accidents in which young drivers are involved, for every 100 accidents 53% are caused by boys 47% by girls (UK National statistcs) So if it were scientific why are boys premiums loaded so much? Rip off Britain ? Money grabbing Insurance Companies?

 

[renault12ts]

That survey falls down on 2 counts according to the SMMT the following cars were the top 10 in the Uk in 2009

Ford Fiesta … 117,296
​

Ford Focus … 93,517
Vauxhall Corsa … 84,478
Vauxhall Astra … 67,729
Volkswagen (VW) Golf … 57,187
Peugeot 207 … 48,037
Mini … 39,866
BMW 3 Series … 39,029
Vauxhall Insignia … 36,040
Ford Mondeo … 34,418

Audi A3 is never mentioned and it has never ever figured in the top ten of UK sales. In fact production of the A3 has been suspended since January as there are so many cars in stock accross the dealer networks.

As is the case with AT and surveys, never let the facts get in the way of a good story.

Incidently thats the reason the A3 is cheap to insure there aren't many of them so the statistics that insurance companies base premiums on look brilliant for these cars.

I was right about the 3 series and the Mondeo.

 

[flango]

I was right about the 3 series and the Mondeo.

You certainly were

 

[tpwuk]

Only car I ever made money on was an L322 Range Rover. Bought it for £11K, ran it for 18 months and sold it only a few weeks ago for £14K

On the flip side to this, I once bought a brand new Jaguar X-Type 3.0. It was £37K new but I got a nice £6K discount. Kept it for 4 years and sold it for £6.5K!!

 

[iscaboy]

My last car I paid £450 for, drove it two years, and sold it for £465.

The one before that I paid £500 and sold for £550.

The one before that I took a loss on, paid £195 and sold it 3 years later for £60, the two before that I paid £265 and £250 for and sold for £600 and £575 respectively.

Breakdowns / fails to start over all those vehicles precisely zero.

Once you get away from the new car depreciation it's hard to lose money.

 

[renault12ts]

My last car I paid £450 for, drove it two years, and sold it for £465.

The one before that I paid £500 and sold for £550.

The one before that I took a loss on, paid £195 and sold it 3 years later for £60, the two before that I paid £265 and £250 for and sold for £600 and £575 respectively.

Breakdowns / fails to start over all those vehicles precisely zero.

Once you get away from the new car depreciation it's hard to lose money.

There's no denying that.