Depreciation is a fact of life and it can be either helpful or hurtful.
When it comes to new cars, depreciation can be especially bad as some models lose most of their value within the first few years of ownership. As part of a study, iSeeCars analyzed more than 7.7 million vehicle sales to determine which models had the best and worst depreciation after five years.
Given the popularity of trucks and SUVs, it comes as little surprise that many of them have low depreciation. The previous-generation Jeep Wrangler and Wrangler Unlimited topped the list as they only lost 31.5% and 30.0% of their value after five years.
Toyota nabbed the remaining top five spots as the Tacoma (32.0%), Tundra (35.9%) and 4Runner (36.5%) kept a lot of their value. The only cars to break into the top ten were high-performance models such the Porsche 911 (37.2%), Nissan GT-R (39.4%) and Subaru Impreza WRX (40.0%).
On the flip side, the vehicles with the worst depreciation were all cars that fell into two distinct categories – luxury and eco-friendly. The Maserati Quattroporte was the worst overall as the model loses 72.2% of its value after just five years. That’s 22.6% worse than average and the company says it amounts to $95,393.
Speaking of large luxury sedans, the BMW 7-Series wasn’t far behind as it loses 71.3% of its value after five year. Other flagships sedans with high depreciation include the Acura RLX (69.2%) and Jaguar XJL (68.9%).
On the eco-friendly side, the Nissan Leaf and BMW i3 have dismal depreciation rates of 71.0% and 70.9%, respectively. This makes them slightly worse than the Ford Fusion Energi (69.1%) and Chevrolet Volt (68.1%).
Savvy shoppers can use this information to select a new vehicle that will likely hold its value better than the competition. Conversely, used car shoppers can get a deal if they select a model with high rates of depreciation.
