When you’re out car shopping, you may be focused on a vehicle’s mileage or safety features, but there’s another factor worth considering: resale value.
Cars are notorious for their rapid depreciation, but the pace at which your ride loses value depends on what you purchase in the first place. Kelly Blue Book crunched the numbers to predict which new 2016 vehicles are projected to have the best resale value.
SLIDESHOW: 10 Vehicles with the Best Resale Value
“As much as you might love your car, at some point you’re going to sell it, and the results can be either a big win – high resale value – or a tragic loss – low resale value,” the company that wrote the book on vehicle pricing says. “The difference can be thousands of dollars that you either keep or toss out the window.”
The analysis reveals that if you’re really concerned about resale value, look for a Subaru, which topped the company’s brand rankings, or a Lexus, which topped the list of luxury vehicles.
Trucks and SUVs dominate the list, taking eight of the top 10 spots.
The average 2016 car will retain just 35 percent of its original value after five years, so a $50,000 new car will be worth about $17,400 five years later. By contrast, the cars on KBB’s top 10 list are projected to hold onto an average 55 percent of their value in the same period.
The list is based on KBB research and analysis of various factors, including current vehicle data, sales data, market conditions, competition and expectations of the future economy. The list looks at the projected value of a vehicle over the first five years, which tends to be a good indicator of its overall value retention.
Click here to see the 2016 cars projected to have the best resale value.