What Determines A Car’s Resale Value?

One of the main deciding factors on the car you’ll drive is the resale value. The only thing better than getting a fair price for your new vehicle is getting a fair price on it when you decide to sell it. If you’re a driver who likes getting a new car every two or three years, you’ll most definitely want to pay attention to the car’s resale value. But what factors determine how high or how low the resale value will be on your car?

Deciding Factors
The very first thing you’ll want to pay attention to when shopping for a Scion or any other type of vehicle is a proven history of low depreciation rates, or at least lower than a majority of other car models.
The part of the country you live in is something else that will determine how much you’ll be able to sell your car for. Look up popular vehicles in your area before you buy a new car so that you can determine how easy it will be to sell it later and how much you’ll most likely be able to sell it for. For example, if you live in Cornwall you’ll probably have a harder time selling your sports car and an easier time of selling a camper van. Cornwall residents will have a harder time of selling their two-seater convertibles.
Automobiles with all-wheel and four-wheel drives will be more valuable in areas like Cornwall and other areas that are known for their countryside location. You’ll also probably have an easier time of selling a four-wheel or all-wheel drive vehicle in the winter than in the spring or summer. Timing is everything.
Pay attention to the color of a car while you’re shopping for a new one. Fad colors might look absolutely fabulous at the moment, but they might be all but undesirable in a few years when you’re ready to sell.

Upgrades
Before you go crazy with adding upgrades and extra options to your car, you’ll want to make sure they’re the ones that will add value to your vehicle rather than add to its depreciation. While you might be quite excited about the £1,000 you spend on your window-pulsing sound system, it might not fetch you very much extra money when you’re ready to take it off of your hands four or five years from now. Consider getting an automatic transmission instead of a manual one since automatic transmissions are the more popular option. Other options and upgrades that can add to your car’s resale value include CD changers, sunroofs and leather seating. Navigation systems are something else that you’ll want to leave out when you’re customizing your car as they won’t bring you much value when you’re ready to trade your car in or sell it.

Timing
Your timing will also play a part in how much your vehicle sells for. Don’t be too hasty and make sure that you check the used car market before you put out an ad. If the market is soft, you’ll want to wait at least six months before selling your vehicle when the demand will be higher. You’ll also want to take the current price of petrol into consideration. If petrol is high, wait until it’s lower before you sell or trade in your car.
The time of day you go to a dealership will also affect how much you can get for your trade in, so you’ll want to go when they aren’t busy and are more willing to bargain with you about the price. Think about going on Wednesday morning as opposed to Saturday afternoons when most people are off and have some free time on their hands to stop by the car dealership.  


Related Reading:
Edmunds.com Used Car Pricing Guide 
Scion Pure Pricing Model