Toyota, Honda and Porsche retain value best: Canadian Black Book

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It’s an argument that’s been around ever since Augustus took his new whip off the lot at Caesar’s House of Chariots: the instant one drives a shiny new car away from the dealer, a significant chunk of its value evaporates like water on a sunny morning.

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From that day forward, wear and tear – not to mention the relentless march of time – all conspire to scupper the value of your pride and joy.

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Toyota, Honda and Porsche retain value best: Canadian Black Book Back to video

This depreciation is inevitable, just like death, taxes and the interminable tedium of the upcoming Conservative leadership race. Fortunately, not all vehicles shed their value with the speed of our family cat headed towards her bowl at feeding time.

The boffins at Canadian Black Book keep meticulous track of this data, analyzing the value of cars and trucks in no fewer than 23 different categories. In addition to those individual measures, there are also three ‘Overall Brand Awards,’ presented to car companies that hold the most value amongst their full product line.

Simply put, the Canadian Black Book Best Retained Value Awards acknowledge vehicles that retain the highest percentage of their original MSRP after four years. This is extremely valuable information for consumers, given that depreciation is the single largest expense of vehicle ownership, outstripping maintenance and insurance costs.

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Here’s some good news: vehicles are hanging on to more of their worth than ever before. This year saw an all-time record for overall industry average retained value at 57 per cent, an increase of 5 per cent over 2019 valuations. This exceeds 2018, which posted the previous best ever result of 53 per cent.

“Overall we are seeing a very positive trend in vehicle depreciation over the past few years. That is simply to say, in general, vehicles today are better at holding value than they were in years past,” says Brian Murphy, VP Research & Analytics at Canadian Black Book.

For 2020, the ‘Overall Brand Awards’ for Car go to Toyota; for Truck & Crossover/SUV to Toyota; and for Luxury Brand to Porsche. It is important to note this does not mean these brands necessarily took the most first place awards in each of those segments. Rather, it reflects the fact they held the most value across their entire product line.

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A random sampling of category winners show the Honda HR-V taking top honours in the subcompact crossover class; the Toyota Tacoma winning the small pickup group; and the Porsche Macan victorious in the compact luxury crossover/SUV group. Full results are shown in the table above.

This year’s edition of the Best Retained Value Awards are highlighted by Japanese brands taking 10 category wins and 32 total mentions (placing 1 ^st , 2 ^nd or 3 ^rd ). European models took eight wins and 22 total mentions; domestics accounted for five wins and 21 mentions; while Korean models went home with a trio mentions.

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While the industry average value retention was found to be 57 per cent, some models blew that number right out of the water. The aforementioned Toyota Tacoma, for example, managed to hang on to a stunning 77 per cent of its original MSRP over a span of four years. This helps to explain why used Tacoma pickups sometimes seem to rival new ones in terms of asking price. Elsewhere, the Mercedes-Benz GLE held 75 per cent of its original sticker; while the popular Jeep Wrangler kept 73 per cent of its value.

“Our awards can help Canadian consumers to make educated vehicle purchase decisions by illustrating which brands and models hold value the best,” says Murphy. “This is crucial information when considering what to budget for, negotiating a loan, knowing the value of your trade-in or understanding the equity position of an existing vehicle loan.”

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Sound advice, as no one wants to get ripped off when making decisions about their fleet. Smart shoppers should consider this when making buying decisions and, if practical, select the rig projected to be the most valuable down the road. Depreciation is unavoidable, but taking this approach will minimize the future financial dents.

Speaking of dents, these estimates for retained value assume a person has taken reasonable care of the thing over that four-year span. Keeping up on maintenance and generally making sure its interior doesn’t look like a frat house after Spring Break go a long way to maximizing a vehicle’s worth.

Even Caesar Augustus had that one figured out.