Woman And Wheels Automotive website dedicated to women
It is a very well-known fact that cars depreciate. We’ve heard it time and time again, cars are not an investment and as soon as you leave the dealership, that will lose a rather scary percentage of their value.
Yes, it’s true, some cars ultimately gain value, but they are an exception and often, they are exclusive cars that were expensive to begin with and whose owner is probably not concerned too much with depreciation.
For most consumers however and the vehicles that are available to them, there will be a drop in value. So how can you avoid seeing your car lose 50 % or more of its original value after only a couple of years? Here are a few tips.
- Buy a car that is popular
A popular car will be easier to sell and therefore, will keep more of its value over time. Avoid models that are being discontinued or cars that are at the bottom of their segment in terms of sales. Make sure you get a fairly popular color too (avoid yellows, oranges and other flashy colors unless it’s a sports car) and opt for the most fuel-efficient engine.
- Buy a car without too many rebates
If a car comes with thousands of dollars in manufacturer rebates when new, you can expect its resale value to go down. So if you see aggressive promotions and rebates on a vehicle when it is new, it is probably a sign that you will see sharp depreciation over time.
- Buy a car that is known to be reliable
It is fairly easy to learn about a car’s reliability. There are plenty of studies out there on the subject, and plenty of owner blogs. If a given car has a poor reputation in terms of reliability, you can probably expect its resale value to be poor.
Thank you to Morrey Nissan Burnaby for their help with this article.
