JOHANNESBURG - TruePrice has been crunching the automotive sale price numbers again, but rather than comparing competing models, the company’s latest analysis looks across entire brands - in this case Germany’s ‘big three’ premium marques - Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz.
The company attends hundreds of auctions each year to record the actual sale prices of used vehicles at auction, and in this latest study it analysed its entire database of vehicles from all three brands to determine which one holds its value the best.
And the winner is… Mercedes-Benz.
TruePrice calculated that Mercedes-Benz vehicles retained an average of 70.10 percent of their value, versus the new list price, while Audi came in a distant second with 62.49 percent and BMW trailed with 58.65 percent.
TruePrice managing director Darryl Jacobson attributes Mercedes-Benz’s success to its widespread appeal across the age groups, and he also noted that there had been in increase in younger buyers bidding on Mercedes cars in the last few years.
“Based on our analysis, if you’re shopping for a German car, it would be prudent to buy one with the three-pointed star. You will minimise your risk of the vehicle depreciating too much,” he added.
As for BMW, Jacobson points out that the 3 Series is still a very sought after car at auction, but the 5 Series and 7 Series sedans can be challenging at resale, while the X3 and X5 are often perceived as being too expensive.
In a separate analysis published back in August, TruePrice compared the auction prices of the Audi A3, BMW 1 Series and Mercedes-Benz A-Class, and it was the latter that took the lead, retaining 76.69 percent of its original selling price, versus 68.74 percent for the BMW and 66.46 percent for the Audi.