Used car buyers must consider resale value

When buying a used car, one of the most important considerations is resale value. By their very definition, pre-owned cars have already been driven, and many drivers only expect used vehicles to be serviceable for a few years before trading it in for something different. When that time comes, no driver wants the vehicle’s value to have been completely depreciated.

There are many factors that contribute to the resale value of a car, including maintenance history, mileage and even aesthetics like color and interior trim. But the most important consideration is make and model.

Resale or residual values also contribute to the leasing of a vehicle. A car with higher resale capabilities will be worth more at the end of the lease, which means drivers have to repay less. That leads to lower overall monthly payments.

With these important considerations in mind, Cars.com helps potential used car buyers by maintaining lists of the cars with the best and worst resale values. While these values are for late-model used cars, those values generally dictate the value of older models within the same generation as well.

BMW‘s Mini brand is the big winner in overall resale value, with the Mini Cooper and Mini Cooper S taking the top two spots. Both models retain a whopping two-thirds of their value. BMW also takes the third spot as well with its 1 Series Coupe. In general, used BMW vehicles have high resale value because of the prestige of the brand name and the high standards of engineering that comes with it.

The Ford Mustang, Mazda3, Toyota Prius Hatchback and Honda Insight take spots seven through 10 on the list, with each of them keeping 60 percent of their residual values.

The news provider also organizes resale values by class. Those looking for utility vehicles might be interested to know that the Toyota Sequioa, Ford F-150, Honda Odyssey and Toyota Tacoma all placed at tops of their class. Other class winners include the Range Rover Sport, Lexus LS460 and Nissan Maxima.

However, there are also a few pitfalls in the used car market, which the news source lists on its Worst Overall Resale Value list. Generally, cars with 2WD have a much lower residual value than their 4WD counterparts. The 2WD models of the Mitsubishi Endeavor, Jeep Commander and Dodge Dakota, for example, all made the list.

The worst resale value in America is currently the Cadillac DTS, a full-size sedan. Other passenger cars that placed on the list include the Lincoln Town Car, Mercury Grand Marquis and Chrysler Sebring, all of which retain less than one-third of their initial value.

Considering the current state of vehicle prices, the difference between a car with great resale value and one with poor resale value can be thousands of dollars. In addition, resale value is often a pretty good indicator of the general quality of the vehicle. The point is that those in the market for a used auto should do their research before committing to any vehicle, and sticking with models with a high resale value is always a good decision.