Ranked: Which Cars Depreciate the Fastest?

Visual Capitalist ^ | 12/18/2023 | By Marcus Lu, Article/Editing: Pallavi Rao, Graphics/Design: Miranda Smith

[SeekAndFind]

It’s a fact of life that vehicles depreciate - some say by almost 50% as soon they’re driven out of the lot. Some depreciate less, but which cars depreciate the fastest?

In the graphic below, Visual Capitalist's Marcus Lu and Pallavi Rao show the top 10 vehicles with the highest depreciation rates over five years, based on data from iSeeCars.

They analyzed over 1.1 million used cars from model year 2018, sold between November 2022 to October 2023. Models no longer in production as of the 2022 model year were excluded.

Luxury Cars Struggle to Hold Their Value

At the top of the list, the Maserati Quattroporte loses nearly two-thirds of its value after five years. First introduced in 1963, the car is Maserati’s flagship, and is on its sixth iteration as a four-door luxury sedan, with a high performance Ferrari–made V6 or V8 engine.

The 2018 version of the car retailed anywhere between $109,000–$140,000, depending on the model.

Here’s a look at the full list of fastest depreciating cars in the U.S.

Rank	Model	Average 5-Yr Depreciation	Average Difference from MSRP
1	Maserati Quattroporte	65%	$90,588
2	BMW 7 Series	62%	$72,444
3	Maserati Ghibli	61%	$58,623
4	BMW 5 Series (Hybrid)	59%	$37,975
5	Cadillac Escalade ESV	59%	$63,885
6	BMW X5	58%	$44,828
7	INFINITI QX80	58%	$47,399
8	Maserati Levante	58%	$55,858
9	Jaguar XF	58%	$39,720
10	Audi A7	57%	$48,917
11	Audi Q7	57%	$41,731
12	Cadillac Escalade	57%	$59,093
13	Audi A6	56%	$38,252
14	Volvo S90	56%	$35,365
15	Nissan Armada	56%	$36,875
16	Mercedes-Benz S-Class	56%	$70,563
17	Lincoln Navigator L	56%	$57,224
18	Mercedes-Benz GLS	56%	$54,523
19	Tesla Model S	56%	$60,145
20	BMW 5 Series	55%	$39,856
21	BMW X5	55%	$39,992
22	Lincoln Navigator	55%	$53,582
23	BMW X5 M	54%	$66,277
24	Land Rover Range Rover	54%	$68,874
25	Cadillac XT5	54%	$31,737
N/A	Overall	39%	$17,221

Note: MSRP stands for Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price, the price recommended by a product’s producer to retailers. Furthermore, MSRPs from 2018 were inflation-adjusted to 2023 dollars.

BMW’s 7-series and 5-series also lose value quickly (nearly 60% of their retail price), ranking second and fourth respectively.

Another Maserati car, the Ghibli comes in third (-61%), and the Cadillac Escalade ESV (-59%) rounds out the top five fastest depreciating vehicles.

From a quick glance through the ranks, the cars that depreciate the fastest are luxury vehicles, specifically luxury sedans. These types of cars are often leased, and supply increases dramatically once the lease period expires. Meanwhile, most owners who can afford a luxury car would prefer to buy a new model, while used-car owners would prefer not to pay a high premium on an already outdated model.

However, there’s another segment of the market that also drops in value quickly—electric vehicles. Analysis found that EVs lose roughly 49% of their value on the resale market, the worst amongst the categories specified.

Rank	Segment	Average 5-Yr Depreciation (%)
1	EVs	49%
2	SUVs	41%
3	Hybrids	37%
4	Trucks	35%
N/A	Overall	39%

A lack of larger demand appetite, as well as a plethora of government incentives pushing people to buying new electric vehicles could explain their faster than average depreciation rate. Trucks on the other hand are the slowest depreciating segment of all vehicles in the U.S.

[occamrzr06]

My Yugo has to be one that list somewhere.

[Tuxedo]

And the brand not on this list..... LEXUS.

It’s the brand name of the last four SUVs I have owned. And they hold their value quite well and reliable as hell. Not the most exciting things to drive, but very comfortable and quiet.

[cymbeline]

The luxury cars depreciate more quickly because buyers pay extra for their “newness”, and they ain’t new but for that first year.

[cymbeline]

The luxury cars depreciate more quickly because buyers pay extra for their “newness”, and they ain’t new but for that first year.

Notice that Mercedes isn’t on the list. Neither is Rolls Royce. Those cars, when new, are more than just new.

[redfreedom]

“Is there a Pickup Truck depreciation report?”

That would be interesting. In 2018 we bought a brand new F150. Paid $56,000 for it. A few months later I just couldn’t stand the thing, cussed every time I got in it, so decided to trade it in on a new Ram. The best they’d give was $38,000. I went to several dealers, including Chevy and that $38,000 is a general ball park figure given by most.

We still have the POS F150, I still cuss every time I get in it which ticks the wife off.

[where's_the_Outrage?]

My Thai wife and I were looking to upgrade our Ford Escape to an Edge, we had about settled on the top of the line. As we left the Ford dealership I told her we should compare with Lincoln, same car but luxury.

So we went to the Lincoln dealership and looking at us they tried to put us in the basic Nautilus, I said no, I want the high end. Wow, what a difference. The Nautilus is way above the Edge. So we bought it, no regrets about getting the Lincoln over the same ford (for about $15K more).

The reason I highlighted “my Thai wife” was because she had no idea that Lincolns existed. They don’t sell Lincolns in Thailand.

So 3.5 years later our only regrets are that we didn’t special order and didn’t upgrade to the Aviator (Explorer).

[Texas resident]

My wife and I buy used vehicles: 3-5 years old and hang on to them for a long time. I let someone else suck up the depreciation.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

You are fortunate about your Escape. Each of our kids bought one. All three have had lots of problems, the worst is two transmission failures and a cracked engine block. It’s now sitting at home ready for the junkyard.

[Vaduz]

Glad I kept my Maxwell

Jack Benny

[minnesota_bound]

My 2016 Honda Accord Sport is worth $12,000+ to $18,000+ when I did a recent search on used cars. I bought it in May 2019 for about $18,000 and now paid off. It has just under 50,000 miles now.

[Pelham]

“Losing 20% of what was borderline acceptable range to begin with over 7 years is not great.”

Well he’s never once complained about the battery range of his Teslas but what would he know after only nine years of daily driving.

I have seven friends who own Teslas. Two are on their second Tesla. They charge them at night in their garages. When they drive distance to Vegas or San Diego they fast charge at a Tesla Supercharger. The only people I ever hear bitching about Teslas are people who don’t drive them.

[MountainWalker]

People who buy EV’s are well-aware of the range limitations before making the purchase. So, it’s unsurprising that they don’t complain much about that which they’ve long accepted.