Estimate how much your vehicle will be worth in the future and how much value it will lose.
Cars lose value every year through wear, mileage, and market factors — this is called depreciation. Most vehicles lose the most value in their first few years, then depreciate more slowly. This calculator uses the declining balance method: each year, the vehicle loses a fixed percentage of its current value (not its original price), so the dollar amount lost gets smaller over time even though the percentage rate stays the same.
Future Value = Purchase Price × (1 − Rate) Years
Total Depreciation = Purchase Price − Future Value
A car purchased for $30,000 depreciating at 15% per year would be worth roughly 30000 × (0.85)5 ≈ $13,311 after 5 years — a total loss of about $16,689, or roughly 56% of its original price. Notice most of that loss happens in the first two to three years.
Actual depreciation varies by make, model, mileage, condition, and local market demand. Use this tool as a general planning estimate rather than an exact appraisal.
It typically applies an annual depreciation percentage (often higher in year one, then leveling off) to the car's original value over the years you specify.
New cars commonly lose around 20-30% of their value in the first year alone, with depreciation slowing in subsequent years.
Yes significantly — some brands and models hold resale value much better than others due to reliability reputation, demand, and market trends.