depreciation on new family car ?

We are in the process of buying a new family car. We are looking at an MPV type. Possibly citroen, ford or opel. Do all cars depreciate at the same rate or do some cars hold their value better.

Different car makes and models depreciate at different rates.

Some Models like Alfa Romeo's depreciate at an astonishing rate of knots while others like Toyotas tend to hold their value better.

Buying a brand new car is a very inefficient use of your money. Cars depreciate the most in their first 4 years. On average a new car will lose a few grand just by driving it off the forecourt. Whatever make you buy, and I would recommend a toyota for reliabilty, I would look for a 4 to 5 year old model in good nick with low milage,full service history and of course reasonably priced.

Try looking at the used car lists on here...you can compare make,model, price, location and milage on the one page...I used it to buy my last 2 cars and got a pretty good deal.

http://www.carzone.ie

Shammy

20% in year 1 is a reasonable rule of thumb.

It varies brand to brand and model to model however.

Depreciation is a combination of a number of factors. Colour, Mileage, whether it is a diesel or petrol engine, etc... Top Gear on BBC do a JD Power survey every year and gives scores to cars on a number of areas, reliability, dealer service etc. They judge cars that are 2 years old so it would give you a good idea of what car will give you the least grief if you buy secondhand..