Fastest depreciating cars

Depreciation is steepest in the first year of a car's ownership – especially when it comes to electric car depreciation.

Different cars lose value at different rates. It varies by fuel type, body shape, manufacturer and even colour. We've used bespoke Motorpoint pricing data to create this list of the fastest depreciating cars.

Remember, Motorpoint only sells nearly new and used cars, so we often see barely-used cars selling for a big discount over the new list price.

Vauxhall Corsa Electric

The Corsa Electric makes it onto the list partly by virtue of being horrendously overpriced as a new car, with top-spec versions of this electric city car costing over £35,000 when it first launched. Vauxhall has since made dramatic price cuts to the Corsa Electric, which has had the double whammy of making it more affordable but also tanking prices on the used market. New models now start from under £27,000, but we've seen used Vauxhall Corsa Electric models under a year old with £15,000 off that list price. 

Fiat 500e

Launched back in 2020, the electric version of the Fiat 500 is undoubtedly an excellent case for electrification – it's small, quiet and perfect for urban driving. It's also an absolute bargain on the used market. While a brand-new, entry-level Fiat 500e with the smallest battery will cost £25,035 at the time of writing – £3,000 more if you want a bigger battery – we've seen delivery-mile examples on the market at £19,000 or less. Aggressive discounting by Fiat hasn't helped residuals either.

 Vauxhall Astra

A second entry for Vauxhall on the list, and this time it's the Focus and Golf-rivalling Astra. We've seen a flurry of barely-used examples hit the market for around £20,000 – just nine months after they were registered at a list price of £34,000. That's impressive depreciation, and makes a strong case for buying a used Vauxhall Astra rather than a new one. You'll find that PHEV and electric models have even steeper first-year depreciation than petrol models.

Audi A8

Audi would probably rather we were talking about how the A8 executive limousine has always been a trailblazer for comfort, in-car technology and Autobahn-crushing speed, but it's also a cornerstone of any self-respecting 'fastest depreciating cars' list. Luxury saloons always drop in value like a Munich Pilsner down the gullet of a thirsty tourist, and the latest A8 is no different. Buy one brand-new and it'll cost from £85,000, up to £95,000 for a mid-spec diesel (though we do have a soft spot for the £118,000 S8 with its 571hp V8). 

But no one pays list price for an A8 (we hope). Dealers routinely slash up to £30,000 off brand-new models, meaning the A8 is one of the best cars to buy nearly new… or at least with a chunky discount.

Peugeot e-208

Like the Corsa Electric with which it shares most of its components, the Peugeot e-208 is another victim of early small electric cars that were optimistically priced when they were launched. It's undoubtedly a more premium offering than its Vauxhall sibling, but the e-208 will still lose lots of value very quickly. Entry-level e-208 Allure models cost from £30,150, up to £34,900 in top-spec with the bigger of two battery choices. Give it a year and used Peugeot e-208 prices will be well under £20,000, or closer to £10,000 for three-year-old examples.

BMW i5

The BMW i5 ticks a couple of big depreciation boxes. Posh German saloon? Tick. Electric car? Tick. The result is that the i5 drops rapidly in value – from a sky-high starting price of £67,695 for an unpopular Sport model at the time of writing (the more popular M Sport is £74,205). We've seen used three-month-old examples sell for a whopping £37,000 off the list price, and brand-new examples have £18,000 taken off the price before leaving the forecourt. Often a used BMW i5 will drop 50% in value in the first year. 

Audi A6

We're deep into the Bavarian end of the list now. The A6 is available as either a saloon or an estate, but it doesn't hold its value especially well. At the time of writing we're just seeing the first of the latest-generation A6s hit the market, but late last-generation cars are depreciating rapidly – we're seeing £19,000 off list price after 6 months and 8,000 miles on some used Audi A6 models. Stand by for nearly new versions of the new A6 e-tron to appear – we imagine this electric estate and saloon will follow the BMW i5 into steep depreciation.

BMW 330e

The BMW 3 Series is a lovely thing, offering sharp driving dynamics that can't be matched by an equivalent SUV. Most 3 Series depreciate fairly steadily, but a used BMW 3 Series plug-in hybrid (called the 330e) is an outlier, shedding value faster than it accelerates (0-62mph in 5.8 seconds isn't to be sniffed at). New models cost from about £48,000 at the time of writing, but tend to lose about £20,000 in the first year.

Polestar 4

Love big, luxurious electric cars with a touch of Swedish style? Hate rear windows? You'll love the Polestar 4. You have to use a camera to see out the back (the rear window has been bricked up in the name of efficiency), and you pay £60,000 for an entry-level model if you're buying new. Nearly new Polestar 4 models with less than a year's worth of driving under their wheels already start at about £38,000 at the time of writing, making a huge saving if you buy nearly new.

BMW iX2

Take a BMW iX1, pull the roof lower to the ground and give it a nice curve and you've got the iX2. Less roomy for rear-seat passengers and more stylish than the otherwise identical iX1, but the iX2 is taking a similarly big hit on the used market. This electric coupe-SUV costs from £50,000 new, but the first owner tends to lose about £17,000 in less than 12 months. Maybe it's time to browse our range of used BMW iX2 models?

Find your perfect used car

Check out a huge selection of nearly new and used cars for sale at Motorpoint – including a wide choice of used SUVs and used estate cars. For inspirations, check out our picks for the best SUVs on sale and the best estate cars on sale.