Value My Car
A car will be one of the most expensive purchases you ever make in your life time, second only to a house. Whether they are used for getting to work, running the family around or simply for pleasure, cars have become vital to the majority of households around the UK. Unfortunately, they are also one of the fastest depreciating items that we will ever buy too. If you’ve been shocked at how much your car’s worth and thinking ‘how can you value my car at that?’ then there are lots of things you need to consider.
Depreciation impacts all vehicles and CAP Automotive suggest this will cost you three times as much as you spend on fuel. Essentially, depreciation is the difference between the value of the car when it was bought, to when it was sold. The depreciation rate varies depending on the model and make of your vehicle, but as a rough guide you can expect value to drop 15% to 35% in the first year and 50% over three years. As such, it’s often recommended to keep an eye out for vehicles that hold their value well, rather than focusing on factors such as fuel economy.
As you’d imagine some manufacturers hold their value well compared to the rest of the market:
- Land Rover – 20.3%
- Tesla – 28.5%
- Maserati – 29.8%
- Audi – 31.1%
- MINI – 31.3%
- Jeep – 31.7%
- Lexus – 33.0%
- Dacia – 33.6%
- Mitsubishi – 34.0%
- Mazda – 3 4.2%
These are the top brands for staving off depreciation, but here are five models that hold their value particularly well:
Volkswagen Golf
The Volkswagen Golf is one of the most popular vehicles on the market, with great levels of efficiency, practicality and reliability. The German manufacturer has turned this car into one of the best-selling around the world and its depreciation value is pretty impressive too. After three years a Golf would still be worth 66% of its original value.
Fiat 500
The Fiat 500 is hugely-popular in the UK, as a stylish and fun to drive vehicle packing a punch. It handles well and is a great city car. To make things even better for the 500, this Fiat model holds 67.6% of its original value after three years.
Volvo XC60
The Volvo XC60 is stylish, comfortable and an up and coming rival to the popular Range Rovers and BMW X3. Plus, this SUV is one of the best on the market for holding value; after three years it would have retained 68.1% of the original price.
Audi Q5
Audi has built themselves up as a premium brand and the Q5 builds on this success, with a stylish appeal on the inside and out. This is another SUV to make our list of cars holding their value and the Audi Q5 would still be worth 71.2% after the first three years.
Ford Kuga
You’ll probably be surprised to see the Ford Kuga near the top of the list for depreciation value and this mid-sized SUV is competitively priced right from the start. There’s loads of space with the Kuga and plenty of great tech in recent models. According to the Telegraph, the Ford Kuga retains 71.6% of its value over three years.
There are a number of factors causing depreciation and whilst you won’t be able to impact some, you can minimise the effect others have:
- Buying from new – Brand new cars will drop in value the second they’re driven off the forecourt. When you come to sell five or six years down the line, your vehicle will be worth just a fraction of what you originally paid for it
- Age and mileage – The older your car, the more miles it has likely chalked up. Of course, there’s also the consideration that vehicles with higher mileage than average will also not be worth as much. On average, a car will travel between 12,000 and 15,000 miles a year. Rack up more than this and your car will be considered as high mileage. Old cars are more likely to breakdown and if they have a high mileage to boot this possibility is heightened
- Desirability – If your car has a high desirability, it’s going to be worth a lot more. After all, whoever buys your vehicle will want to sell it on afterwards. If you have a model not in high demand, it’s going to be much more difficult for the dealer to shift. In general, the bigger and more respected brands will be worth more as will more reliable models
- Condition – The better the condition of your car, the more it’ll be worth. That’s a pretty straightforward conclusion. More often than not, it would be worth carrying out all the little repair jobs before selling. This will help top up the value and means the buyer doesn’t need to pay extra for these to be completed. Make sure to fill the oil, coolant and windscreen wash, whilst repairing any scratches sticking out like a sore thumb
- Colours – This is perhaps a little unfair as your car could be in an excellent condition, but the colour is going to have an impact on the valuation. When you’re buying a new car you’ll opt for something you like, but that doesn’t mean the future buyer will feel the same way. It can be difficult to sell a car if the shade’s a little out there and traditional colours will always help retain value
- The buyer – If you go to a dealer, then you’re unlikely to get the true value. However, with Sell My Car Direct we promise a superb price and a quick and easy service to sell your car. Tell us your car registration today and we’ll give you a quote in no time at all
If you want to understand the value of your car let our experts price it up and bid for it to learn how much your car is valued at immediately.