How To Take Advantage Of Depreciation

One of the biggest worries for people buying a new car is the depreciation. If you purchase a car that depreciates quickly it is likely that you will not have much residual value left by the time it comes to part exchange or sell it, or you may even be in negative equity.

Whilst most people will look to buy a car that will depreciate as slow as possible, have you ever thought about using depreciation to your advantage? On average a car will lose most of its value within the first 12 months of ownership, after that the amount of money it loses as a percentage of its value decreases until it becomes very gradual after 5 years or so.

By looking at a car that depreciates quickly, you could save a considerable amount of money if you look at a car is 12 or perhaps even just 6 months old, when the biggest drop in value has already happened. Not only that, but in many cases there are cars to be found that have barely done a few thousand miles in that time meaning you are essentially looking at a nearly new car with a huge saving on the list price.

So, following on from our look at the vehicles that have depreciated the slowest so far in 2025, we thought we’d take a look at cars that depreciate quickly. Vehicles that can be found in nearly new condition, yet could save you a small fortune compared to buying the same model brand new.

Maserati GranTurismo

Whilst Maserati have always been known for their style, luxury, desirability, abundance of passion and Italian flair, they have also been known for their depreciation. Whilst a Maserati is often a treat for the eyes and the ears, quite often their ability to lose a considerable amount of value in the time that you’ve owned it is something few others can compete with. They are very much a brand that is bought with the heart rather than with your finance head on.

Whilst the latest model of Gran Turismo is one of the brand’s finest cars in recent years, it is also subject to the same ability to lose its residual value seemingly on a daily basis. It remains better looking, more comfortable and more refined than anything previously bearing the iconic trident on the grille, and for the first time in the brand’s history, is also available as a 761hp 202mph tri-motor fully electric sports car.

Despite this, its starting price of over £160,000 for the sought after ‘Trofeo’ version also means that the values also have even further to fall than before. Whilst those taking delivery of a brand new one may find this alarming, there are some definite savings to be had for nearly new examples. At time of writing, popular automotive marketplace Auto Trader had 15 examples that were 12 months old or newer, and all had covered less than 5,000 miles. One example, a limited edition 1 of 75 Trofeo ‘Primaserie’ has covered just 100 miles, is offered by a main dealer and is currently listed for £80,000 less than its original £195k list price. A further 2 examples are also for sale with less than 100 miles that are offered at £20k-£30k less than they were when new.

It isn’t limited to the Gran Turismo either, the Levante SUV and even the MC20 supercar are also available at a fraction of their cost when new. At time of writing there was a brand-new Levante ‘Ultima’ offered with a third off its £98,000 list price, and an MC20 ‘Cielo’ with 400 miles covered offered at £35,000 less than the base price of the car, despite it having almost £58,000 worth of optional extras.

Porsche Taycan

It doesn’t matter how good a car is, it doesn’t necessarily mean it will escape the ability to lose its residual value quickly. The Porsche Taycan is widely considered as one of, if not, the best electric saloon car money can buy. Since its launch its reputation for being the most dynamic electric car on the market has won countless praise and it quickly became the yardstick that other electric saloons were compared to.

Even Porsche, with their brand reputation for holding on to their residual value much better than others, have shown that not all models are safe from large drops in value. The fact that the model has suffered from a few electrical and reliability niggles, and the well specified models commanding a high start price, has meant that some models lose a reasonable amount of their value over a short period.

The ironically labelled ‘Taycan Turbo’ has a starting price of £134,000, yet Porsche’s penchant for extensive optional extras means that very few leave the factory at that price. At time of writing there were 30 2024 model cars listed, many offered as nearly new or pre-registered cars with some sizeable savings. In particular, one 10-month-old Taycan Turbo that had covered less than 5k miles, and complete with 26 listed optional extras on the listing, was available for just £84,000. And it is the more desirable Sport Turismo version too. There was even a similar model at the same age with just 100 miles covered for under £87,000.

Audi S6

There is a feeling that although Audi are producing their usual high-quality cars at the moment, they’ve somewhat lost their way. They announced that their model line-up was to change nomenclature so that the even numbers were reserved for all-electric cars and the odd numbers were for combustion engines and hybrids. Then changed their minds just a few months later, strange decision. Then there is the ‘flatter’ rebrand that has made the logo simpler, added Audi Sport style badging to all their models regardless of power and removed much of the RS badging from their flagship models. Performance model fans are not happy.

Thankfully their latest models seem to be much more ‘Audi’. At a time when the abundance of electric cars are all starting to look the same, the S6 stands out as a very good looking car indeed. With its narrow lights, smooth and svelte styling and the very latest technology all thrown in, it has arrived at just the right time to make a difference to the current marketplace. Despite being the not quite ‘full-fat’ RS model, the S6 still uses its 550hp to accelerate to 62mph in under 4 seconds yet still be capable of not far off 400 miles of range.

It may contain the latest technology, impressive capability and a lot of things to get excited about, but that doesn’t mean it escapes the curse of depreciation. Being a large executive saloon, and an electric one at that, means that the S6 e-tron cannot escape from a sizable drop in its residual value so quickly. Being all new, just 4 models were listed on Auto Trader at time of writing, and all had less than 1,00 miles covered. Despite a starting price of just under £100,000 two of the models were listed at £84,000 (1,000 miles) and £78,000 (just 200 miles covered). That’s almost a quarter off the list price for a car that has covered just 200 miles, a relative bargain for a brand-new model car.

BMW M8 Competition

The BMW M8 is one of those incredibly capable cars that often get overlooked amongst performance car fans. As comfortable as any other grand tourer, laden with an abundance of technology and with a twin-turbo charged 4.4-litre V8 under the bonnet, it offers in excess of 600hp. That means that when you want to waft around on the motorway covering large distances it has all the luxury you’d ever need, yet when you need to get a move on it can cover the 0-62mph sprint in just over 3 seconds and with the reassurance of all wheel drive.

But if one thing depreciates as much as a large executive saloon, it is a large executive grand tourer. Especially one that now has four doors as the ‘Gran Coupe’. With a starting price of £142,000 before any options the M8 is anything but cheap, one of the reasons why it depreciates so quickly at first. A search on Auto Trader found 25 examples less than a year old, and plenty of savings to be had.

There were brand new dealership examples with almost £40,000 off, but that’s nothing compared to those listed as ‘nearly new’. There were no fewer than 7 examples showing just 10 miles covered for £84,000. That’s over 40% off the list price just for being pre-registered, it is still a 2025 car, why would you buy new at all?

Mercedes Benz EQS

Mercedes Benz have one of the most extensive EV offerings. If the demand was there for the powertrain they would no doubt be the place to go if you wanted a cutting edge capable EV from a renowned manufacturer that you know and trust. Like a lot of the established manufacturers however, they seem to have been a victim of the lack of demand for EV’s as a whole.

Their EQS saloon was arguably the first mainstream luxury saloon that offered the Mercedes Benz package yet with even more luxury, technology and refinement. As well as that it offers class leading range capabilities, almost 500 miles in fact, bold aerodynamic styling and specification and trim levels that are familiar and easy to follow. Yet as with most large EV’s, depreciation has not been kind to the flagship Mercedes saloon.

Again, the high starting price affects the residual value quite considerably after 12 months or less. A mid-range EQS 450+ with a good specification starts at around £125,000 yet there are examples for sale after a year and 10,000 miles that are for sale at just £76,000. That’s 40% less than when brand new, in just a year. The top of the range EQS 53 AMG fares no better either. A ‘Night Edition’ specification starts at over £160,000 yet there was a single example available on Auto Trader with average mileage for under £83,000. For technology, power, range and refinement, this could be a very tempting prospect indeed.

Abarth 500e

The start of the EV era has been very disappointing for certain types of vehicles. With the majority of electric vehicles these days either being SUV’s, luxury saloons or small economical cars, some motorists have been left out entirely. Trying to find an EV sports car, convertible or hot hatchback has been very slim pickings indeed over the past few years. Thankfully for the latter, Italian performance car specialists Abarth have you covered.

Their 500/595 has been a huge success amongst hot hatchback fans and keen to continue that success they introduced the Abarth 500e. With the same aggressive looks, deeper bumpers and larger wheels, the 500e certainly looks the part. 153bhp from the electric motor and a 0-62mph time of just 7 seconds ensures it also feels plenty quick enough and thanks to an external speaker, can still sound the part too.

Again it is the high starting price that means the pocket rocket 500e is going to suffer with considerable depreciation in a short space of time. A list price of over £33,000 means that of the 29 brand new models listed on Auto Trader for sale there were plenty with discounts of £4,000-£6,000 before you’ve even haggled. Those less than 12 months old with barely 1k miles covered are even better value at around £24,000.

Ferrari 296 GTB

Even sought after brands such as Ferrari are not exempt from suffering considerable depreciation within the first 12 months of ownership. Whereas a Ferrari has always been a brand in demand, lately an increase in production numbers as well as the number of models being released has meant that there is more supply than perhaps there previously once was.

The perfect example of this is their latest 296 GTB. On paper and on the road or track, an exceptional car that has won many fans for its blistering performance and fantastic handling. Yet when it comes to its residual value, it seems it is suffering because supply is certainly outdoing demand. In fact, when searching on Auto Trader, there were actually more Ferrari 296 GTB’s listed than there were Abarth 500e models.

The 296 GTB starts at £241,000 yet with an extensive and expensive list of optional features to choose from it isn’t uncommon for cars to leave the factory much closer to the £300,000 mark. Of those 296 GTB’s for sale, there were multiple examples that were less than a year old and had covered a few thousand miles yet were only just above £200,000, some were even below. There was even a model with a very extensive specification that was £100,000 less than its original list price, despite having covered less than 50 miles.

McLaren Artura

The latest creation from one of the biggest names in the supercar business and one of the most impressive performing too. The Artura is technically the entry level model to the range but there is nothing entry level about its statistics. 671hp from a twin-turbocharged V6, a top speed of 205mph and 0-62mph possible in just 3 seconds, there isn’t much that can keep up with that.

Much like the Ferrari, McLaren have also had a reasonably tough time when it comes to depreciation. A reputation for sometimes questionable build quality and reliability means that although they are seriously impressive vehicles, their residual value suffers as a result. The Artura was meant to dispel those sometimes-harsh criticisms, yet the pre-owned values would say it hasn’t worked so far.

With a list price starting at just over £200,000, yet just like the 296 GTB the seemingly endless options list can push that figure towards £300,000. It is certainly possible. At time of writing a search on Auto Trader shows 18 examples for sale, the majority barely having covered 1,000 miles. Some examples less than a year old having covered 90 miles and 300 miles respectively were available for less than £160,000. One just 6 months older with under 400 miles covered was just £145,000. The very definition of a lot of performance for the money.

BMW i7

BMW’s flagship all electric saloon is a demonstration in luxury, refinement and technology. Sharing a lot of its underpinnings, battery technology and motors with the Rolls Royce Spectre shows just how luxurious and refined the ride and performance is going to be. Whilst the abundance of technology includes things you never even imagined like doors with integrated touchscreens, diamond surround sound speakers and a 31” ‘Theatre Screen’ to enjoy in the executive lounge seating in the back.

Whilst large executive saloons have never been the best at holding their value well, the BMW i7 being both a flagship saloon and fully electric means it struggles more than most. Opt for the i7 xDrive60 M Sport Pro and the base price is a fairly considerable £143,430. Add a few extra luxuries such as satin paint, the big rear screen and more comfortable seating and you can easily make that £160,000.

A quick browse on Auto Trader (at time of writing) shows a number of cars available at that trim level that are less than a year old and are priced at under £100,000. One with a particularly extensive specification was £97,500 and was just 10 months old, a drop of around 30% in value since it was new.

Jaguar i-Pace

When the i-Pace was released it was not only Jaguar’s first attempt at a fully electric model, but was highly regarded as one of the best electric cars on sale at the time. Despite being launched way back in 2018, the car was so far ahead of its time that it remains a genuine alternative to many other models despite minimal model revisions over that time period. However, the company’s decision to stop making cars altogether for 2025 means that values for their existing cars, the i-Pace in particular have dropped quite dramatically.

A brand new i-Pace cost just under £70,000, quite a reasonable price point compared to its major rivals from BMW, Audi and Mercedes Benz. A number of examples currently on Auto Trader that are only a month or two over a year old however are priced at around £33,000, a reduction of 53% in just over 12 months.

With such a large depreciation in its first year, it is unlikely to depreciate at the same rate for a further 12 months. So could the Jaguar i-Pace represent a fantastic way into a relatively new car for a huge saving? It could just be.

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