Car Depreciation
Estimate a new car's value after years of depreciation.
About Car Depreciation
Depreciation compounds, so value is the purchase price times the annual retention factor to the power of the ownership years. New cars shed a large share of value in the first years, which is the main cost of buying new instead of lightly used.
Formula
Car Depreciation
Value = purchase price x (1 - annual depreciation%)^years
- annual depreciation
- Yearly fraction of value lost, compounding
Worked example
With the default values below, Car Depreciation returns Value After Years of $17,643.78. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.
Inputs used
- Purchase priceminimum 0
- 32,000
- Years ownedminimum 0
- 3
- Annual depreciationaccepts 0–60 %
- 18 %
Results
- Value After Years
- $17,643.78
- Total Value Lost
- $14,356.22
- Average Yearly Loss
- $4,785.41
- Value Lost
- 44.86%
Step by step
- 1Values used
- 2Car Depreciation
- 3Value After Years= 17,643.78
- 4Total Value Lost= 14,356.22
- 5Average Yearly Loss= 4,785.41
- 6Value Lost= 44.86
Assumptions and limits
- The result is derived only from the 3 inputs listed above. Anything not among them is not part of the calculation.
- In particular, this calculator does not take inflation, tax or fees or charges into account.
- Figures are rounded for display to 2 decimal places, so totals built from several rounded parts can differ slightly from the unrounded arithmetic.
How these calculators are built and tested is described on the Methodology page. If a figure looks wrong, please report it.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is Car Depreciation calculated?
Value = purchase price x (1 - annual depreciation%)^years Depreciation compounds, so value is the purchase price times the annual retention factor to the power of the ownership years.
Why does Car Depreciation matter?
New cars shed a large share of value in the first years, which is the main cost of buying new instead of lightly used.
What values do I need to enter?
This calculator takes 3 inputs: Purchase price, Years owned, Annual depreciation. The pre-filled defaults are a realistic starting point — replace them with figures from your own environment for a result you can act on.