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(NAPSI)-It may be a good idea to look down the road, past the sticker price, when buying a new car.
That's the advice from experts who say car buyers would be well advised to think about resale value when shopping for a vehicle.
Depreciation, or loss of a car's value, is often the greatest expense incurred by drivers during the first five years of vehicle ownership. In fact, an average vehicle will only retain about 35 percent of its original value after a five-year ownership period, meaning that a $20,000 new car today could only be worth about $7,000 after five years.
While vehicles with average or below-average resale values are generally plentiful in the marketplace and easy to find, certain vehicles are projected to hold their value well into the future.
To help car buyers make better purchase decisions, Kelley Blue Book recently named the top 2007 model-year vehicles that will best hold their value after five years. These vehicles are projected to retain closer to 50 percent of their original value after a five-year ownership period. It can be accessed at www.kbb.com.
Choosing A Vehicle
So what drives resale value? Often it has to do with certain features available on new cars today that will be desirable by a majority of used-car buyers three or five years down the road. These features will help a vehicle maintain more of its original value. Consider the following options in your next new vehicle to help better retain its value:
First, choose a popular exterior color, such as black, white or silver. Then select equipment that many buyers want. Included on this list are anti-lock brakes (ABS), alloy wheels, CD player/CD changer, parking sensors, navigation system, sensing cruise control and leather-covered seats. At the same time, avoid less popular colors and go easy on customization.
"Vehicles that are painted in odd colors and vehicles that have been overly personalized will be desired by a smaller group of people down the road," said Jack R. Nerad, executive editorial director and executive market analyst with Kelley Blue Book's kbb.com. "That will negatively affect their resale value."
Many of the vehicles with the lowest resale values are vehicles with long life cycles, high-production levels and those models that populate the fleet market. A number of this year's vehicles with the lowest retained value include a host of minivans.
Those vehicles with the lowest resale value include the Chevrolet Uplander, Chrysler Sebring, Dodge Caravan, Ford Crown Victoria, Ford Freestar, Isuzu Ascender, Kia Sedona, Lincoln Town Car and Mercury Monterey.
"The cars that do not retain their value well are falling victim to decreasing demand even as production levels continue at relatively high levels," said Nerad. "These vehicles often end up being heavily discounted at the dealership or pushed into fleets. That, in turn, sends their value as used vehicles plummeting."
For more information about new or used-car values, vehicle purchasing advice and more, visit www.kbb.com.
Best Bets-Consumers can access a list of best-projected car resale values online.