Car Resale Values Explained

Have you ever wondered how Kelly Blue Book and Edmunds determines the resale value of a car?

According to Jesse Toprak, senior analyst for Edmunds, in Santa Monica, Calif., there are four major factors that determine the value of a trade-in. The first is simple: supply and demand. High-volume production vehicles like the Ford and Chevrolet pickup trucks are so numerous they generally don’t hold high resale value.

Another important factor, according to Toprak, is brand image. Some brands, like Toyota, Honda, and Porsche, have it, which is why those brands show up at the top of the resale value table year after year. “Deserved or not,” says Toprak, “brand image is still one of the biggest determinants of the resale of a vehicle.”

Of course, this makes even better reading since the MINI scores near the top of all the charts.

n the Edmunds study of 2004 model year vehicles, which would be ripe for trade-in or lease rollover right about now and are therefore very good indicators, the top passenger car in the study was the $440,000 Porsche Carrera GT supercar, at a used car trade-in value of 71.8 percent, followed by the much more affordable 2004 Mini Cooper at 69 percent. The Toyota Prius hybrid, oddly enough, came in third with 67.7 percent.

While this isn’t really news to any of us, it is still nice to see BMW and MINI getting recognized for the best resale value by brand overall.

[ Edmunds & KBB Car Resale Values ] Autos.aol.com