Used Cars

Depreciation on Used Cars

Most new cars experience significant depreciation as soon as they’re driven out of the lot. It’s an unfortunate fact of the industry if you’re looking to sell a car and there isn’t much any of us can do about it, but different makes and models do depreciate differently over time and one or two premium models may actually appreciate in value - although it’s often hard to say in advance what cars these will be when they’re released.

In general, the cars that depreciate least retain about 75% of their original value after 3 years or 36,000 miles. The worst offenders can drop to 30% after the same time and mileage. This can result in a few surprises when someone wanting to sell a car gets it valued, so we thought we’d say a few words on the subject.

As you’d expect, those cars that depreciate less are the ones that are in high demand as second hand vehicles. The BMW Mini is the classic example - depreciation on these is very low, so if you have an old one it may still fetch a very good price should you ever decide to sell your car for whatever reason. Some premium manufacturers like Ferrari deliberately make less than they think they can sell of each new model. That way demand stays high and depreciation low. On the other end of the scale are premium models made by manufacturers of everyday vehicles, which tend to depreciate badly.

At Sell Car UK we stick strictly to market values, so you can be sure of a fair price whenever you want to sell a car. Spend a few minutes with our online valuation tool. If your car depreciates well you could get a very pleasant surprise, even if it’s quite old.