The residual value of a car can vary slightly from country to country, but it still says a lot about Dacia that this brand dominates the top three in France when it comes to cars with the least depreciation. Popular city cars are lagging behind, according to the research.
A new French ranking of cars that depreciates the least puts the Dacia models in the spotlight: the Sandero (gasoline and diesel) and the Logan. This is not surprising, as these models are already priced so sharply when new that there is little to lose in the long term.
More striking are the cars that finish behind Dacia. Names appear that show that the reputation of a brand still weighs heavily. It underlines again: buying a car is not an investment, unless you put your money into rare (often expensive) models that increase in value.
For the average motorist, a car is simply a commodity, and you want to lose as little as possible. And Dacia has been unbeatable in that area for years, according to a comparison by Le Parisien , based on data from the largest French sales site Leboncoin.
Second-hand cars of five years old
The analysis looked at the price difference between new and second-hand after five years, on average and per segment. The outcome: the affordable Dacias lead the list. On the one hand, because they do not do so badly in terms of reliability given their low new price, but also because the new price of cars has risen so sharply in recent years that even the new prices of five years ago now seem low.
Strikingly, foreign cars in particular do better than French brands. This has been the case for some time. Popular city cars from Peugeot, Citroen and Renault are on the market in large numbers, making it difficult to maintain their value. Especially if they have to compete against models with a stronger reputation, especially in the area of reliability.
Dacia therefore remains a safe choice, partly thanks to the low purchase price. How a more expensive model such as the announced Bigster will perform in the long term remains to be seen.
Volkswagen and Toyota
It is also noticeable that cars with a good name score high: such as the Volkswagen Polo thanks to the model itself and the Suzuki Swift and Toyota Yaris because of their reliable image.
It is also striking that the Renault Clio holds up better than the Peugeot 208. The question is whether the fuss about the PureTech engines is now affecting the residual value.
The recipe for low depreciation seems simple in any case: a compact, reliable gasoline car. Diesel is clearly falling out of favor. Some models in the list are no longer for sale, such as the Logan and the diesel version of the Sandero, but they were still in the showroom in 2020.
Mercedes-Benz at the top
The differences are also large in the so-called ‘premium’ market for more expensive vehicles. The French seem to have particular confidence in Mercedes, as that brand dominates the list. Only the BMW 2-series makes the top ten. Models such as the CLA, GLA, GLB and A-class retain their value best.
On the other hand, the BMW X2, Audi A5, Mercedes C-class and BMW 3-series, among others, fall in value more quickly.
Electric cars
With electric cars, the picture becomes more cloudy, because only the period 2020-2025 was looked at, when electric cars were still relatively expensive. In addition, the calculation method used is doubtful.
For example, an average new price of more than 60,000 euros is used for the Tesla Model 3, while the cheaper rear-wheel drive version was by far the most sold. As a result, the depreciation comes to 59 percent.
For the Peugeot e-208 even 61 percent, and for the Renault Zoe 63 percent. In practice, these percentages are probably lower, especially because many buyers were able to use subsidies when purchasing, which significantly reduced the actual purchase price.
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