Smaller Cars Hit Hardest in Depreciation

According to recent reports by Black Book, smaller car segments are feeling the heaviest depreciation while pickups, SUVs, and crossovers are at the opposite end of the spectrum.

“While car segments continued their steeper decline, luxury cars retained value better than other segments last week. Compact Pickup and Compact SUV segments were bright spots,” said Anil Goyal, VP of Automotive Valuation and Analytics at Black Book. 

Over the past 12 weeks, volume-weighted, overall car values decreased by 0.45 percent, similar to the average depreciation rate over past 12 weeks but three-quarters of the depreciation rate seen same time last year.

Additionally, smaller cars have dropped in value the most over the past three months, with the entry level car segment dropping by more than 9 percent in value during that period same period.

Volume-weighted, overall truck values decreased by 0.19 percent this past week, similar to the average depreciation over the past 12 weeks but two-thirds of the depreciation rate seen this time last year. 

Finally, compact pickup, mid-size pickup, and full-size SUV segments have retained their value the best over the past three months, changing less than 1 percent.