Avoid These Cars If You Don't Want To Lose Money

With a few rare exceptions, every car is going to lose value as the years pass.

According to iSeeCars.com’s latest report on residual values, the average car loses exactly 45.6% of its initial value of its first five years on the road. But would you believe that there’s one specific car in the United States that has lost a shocking 72.2% of its original MSRP over the last half decade? Or, if actual dollars are more interesting to you, that there are a handful of vehicles that have lost $70,000 in value over that same time period

As you can see from the list above, the biggest depreciation, as they always have been, are European luxury cars. “Both the percentage and dollar value drop of luxury vehicles need to be considered for new car buyers,” said iSeeCars Executive Analyst Karl Brauer. “While a premium badge and the increased performance or luxury features that come with it are often sought out by new car buyers, the used car market doesn’t prioritize those traits to the same degree, thus the consistently higher depreciation for luxury models.”

While Jaguar leads the list with its I-PACE electric crossover, BMW, Tesla, and Maserati all have multiple models in the bottom 10. Three of the worst offenders are electric cars, with the Nissan Leaf joining the aforementioned pair from Tesla.

Some of the depreciation seen by owners of the Tesla Model S and Model X can be attributed to the fact that the American automaker has reduced the MSRP of its pair of EVs several times over the past few years. As new prices drop, those who paid the earlier higher price see an immediate and painful reduction in value. The Nissan Leaf is one of the earliest electric cars to hit the road, and it’s since been replaced by more advanced models with much more range, so its inclusion isn’t surprising.

Down in 19th place on the worst-performing list sits the Mercedes-Benz S-Class sedan. Even though it has lost, on average, 60.7% of its original value over the past five years (not enough to push it into the top 10 above), its total loss in actual dollars of $71,460 is the highest of any vehicle. In this case, its high initial price plays a major factor in its overall loss.

Another vehicle worth highlighting that isn’t in the bottom 10 is the Porsche Taycan. Generally, vehicles from the German automaker hold their value quite well. In fact, the Porsche 911 (19.5% in five years) is the top-performer in resale overall. The Taycan, however, loses 60.1% of its initial value (for a drop of $59,691) over its first five years on the road, bad enough to land Porsche’s otherwise excellent EV in 23rd place on the naughty list.

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