10 Vehicles With the Worst Resale Value

Tom Appel

6 years ago

Purchasing a luxury or electric vehicle new may not always be the best financial decision.

Vehicles With Worst Resale Value — Purchasing a luxury or electric vehicle new may not always be the best financial decision.

When considering the cost of a new vehicle, most consumers take into account the initial purchase price of the car or truck, and maybe the cost of fuel, insurance, and maintenance.

10 Vehicles With The Best Resale Value

Far fewer shoppers consider the eventual resale value of their chosen vehicle when making a new-car purchase. Yet it is resale value that can have the most profound impact on the overall cost of owning and operating a vehicle.

For example, consider that a $25,000 compact car that depreciates only 40 percent over five years will bring $5000 more at trade-in time than will a similar car that depreciates 60 percent. Trade-in-value spreads of that magnitude are not uncommon.

We recently looked at the ten vehicles that were worth the most–as a percentage of the acquisition price–five years after having been purchased new. You can read that story here.

Here, we’ll look at the worst resale-value performers, as reported by ISeeCars.com. ISeeCars calculates the new-car value of vehicles it analyzes by looking back on the average asking price for a given brand-new model as listed on its site five years ago. Those values are compared to prices of the same model-year vehicles now listed as used on the site.

In this manner, ISeeCars avoids having to allow for the impact of incentives or dealer discounting, as those factors would be represented in the vehicle’s asking price.

You can read the entire ISeeCars resale-value report here.

If you’ve ever owned a car that you thought held its value especially poorly, please tell us about it. The place to leave comments is down below.

Notes:

As you often hear in commercials for investment products, past performance is no guarantee of future results. While the vehicles on this list are likely to remain weak performers in the used-car market, factors such as gas prices, changing consumer tastes, and/or a redesign of the vehicle could cause the resale value of these model lines to rise in the coming years.
Per the ISeeCars.com report, the average car retains 50.2 percent of its value after five years.
Prices for the BMW 6-Series include all variations of the 6-Series model lineup, including the coupe, convertible, and Gran Coupe sedan.
Prices for the Chevrolet Impala do not include the previous-generation Impala Limited (which was available to fleet customers), or any law-enforcement variations of the model.
Purchases prices seen here for the Chevrolet Bolt and Nissan Leaf electric vehicles to not reflect the available $7500 federal tax credit, nor any state or local tax incentives–as they are generally not applied at the time of purchase. The Ford Fusion Energi, which is a plug-in hybrid, qualifies for a $4007 federal tax credit. These initial-purchase inducements have a considerable impact on the total cost of ownership of these vehicles.

10 Vehicles With The Best Resale Value