Depreciating cars

January 29th, 2010

After spending a fortune on a brand new car, it is frustrating knowing that as soon as you drive it away from the car dealership it loses value. You may be interested in a recent report from Parkers which named and shamed the cars which depreciate the most. Surprisingly the more luxurious cars such as a Rolls-Royce and Maybach were found to depreciate the most; you could lose up to £127,526 over a year- Is it really worth it?

If you are looking for a car that depreciates slowly then the Honda Jazz may be the car for you, as it topped the list for the top 10 performers of 2009, depreciating only £1379 over the year. Other good buys are the Fiat 500 (08 on) or the SEAT Ibiza. If you don’t want to lose so much money it seems the smaller cars are the ones to go for as they took up 35 of the 40 top places.

The figures were calculated by comparing the estimated market value of 10,000-mile car, which was bought new 12 months earlier, against its list price new. Here is a full list of the findings:

Top 10 performers:
1 Honda Jazz (08 on) - £1,379
2 Fiat 500 (08 on) - £1,460
3 SEAT Ibiza (08 on) - £1,552
4 Hyundai i10 (08 on) - £1,650
5 Mazda2 (07 on) - £1,702
6 Kia Picanto (04 on) - £1,760
7 VW Fox (06 on) - £1,781
8 Suzuki Swift (05 on) - £1,900
9 Toyota Aygo (05 on) - £2,148
10 Mitsubishi i (07 on) - £2,271

Bottom 10 performers:
1 Maybach 62 (03 on) - £127,526
2 Maybach 57 (03 on) - £115,253
3 Rolls-Royce Phantom (03 on) - £81,183
4 Bentley Arnage (98 on) - £66,040
5 Ferrari 612 Scaglietti (05 on) - £51,627
6 Mercedes-Benz SL AMG (02 on) - £51,381
7 Bentley Continental Flying Spur (05 on) - £47,080
8 Aston Martin DBS (08 on) - £41,347
9 Bentley Continental GT Coupé - £40,110
10 Ferrari F430 (05 on) - £37,188

Entry Filed under: research, advice, cars