When you buy a new car, its value begins to depreciate — but not as nearly quickly as in the past.
For example, 5-year-old used cars sold in 2022 had lost an average of just 33.3% of their value by that point, according to a new analysis by iSeeCars. That’s down from 40% in the 2021 analysis.
Meanwhile, 3-year-old used cars sold in 2022 had depreciated by 17%, the smallest drop on record.
Pandemic-related supply chain woes are slowing the depreciation of car values. Because new and used cars are harder to find, many vehicles already on the road are holding their value better.
Today’s soaring price of gasoline means fuel-efficient cars are especially likely to hold their value, iSeeCars says.
However, some vehicles still lose value far more quickly than others. These tend to be large luxury vehicles or full-size SUVs. The vehicles that lose the most value after five years are:
- BMW 7 Series: Loses 56.9% of its value after five years, on average
- Maserati Ghibli: 56.3%
- Jaguar XF: 54%
- Infiniti Qx80: 52.6%
- Cadillac Escalade ESV: 52.3%
- Mercedes-Benz S-Class: 51.9%
- Lincoln Navigator: 51.9%
- Audi A6: 51.5%
- Volvo S90: 51.4%
- Ford Expedition: 50.7%
In a summary of the findings, Karl Brauer, executive analyst for iSeeCars, says:
“Just as higher gas prices increase demand for fuel-efficient vehicles, they also decrease demand for full-size SUVs like the extra-large Cadillac Escalade ESV and Lincoln Navigator. Luxury vehicles … also tend to depreciate at higher rates because used car shoppers don’t value their premium features as much.”
The cars that hold their value the best are the Jeep Wrangler (7.3% depreciation over the first five years), Jeep Wrangler Unlimited (8.7%) and Porsche 911 (14.6%).
Other cars on the list that held their value well include the Toyota Tacoma (14.9%), Honda Civic (16.3%) and Subaru BRZ (18.2%).
In its analysis, iSeeCars looked at more than 3 million 3-year-old and 5-year-old vehicles sold in 2022.
