Toyota Tundra and Tacoma have best retained value of all pickups

A recent study published by the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) provides an interesting look at just which pickup trucks actually have the highest resale value, or value at the end of a lease. This is a very important factor in the overall cost of ownership of a pickup truck, or any vehicle for that matter. The depreciation of a vehicle is the single most expensive part of cost of ownership. NADA looked back all the way to 2001. Going that far back, the study includes the older Ford Ranger and Chevy Colorado mid-size pickups as well as all the current half-ton pickups. Toyota took the top spot in both size categories by a landslide.

In the full size pickup (half-ton) category the highest rated truck in terms of retained value is the Toyota Tundra years 2007 to present. NADA says that the Tundra retains 71.6% of its value over 3 to 5 years. The Chevy Avalanche and Silverado are the next two on the list with retained values of 65.3% and 63.4%. Ford was the number four vehicle. When one considers that a truck can easily sell for $40,000, the 6.3% value difference can mean as much as $2500 in the trade-in value between a Tundra and the number two vehicle, the Avalanche, if both had the same initial cost.

In the mid-size pickup category the Toyota Tacoma, from years 2005 to present, absolutely dominated the class. It retains 80.7% of its value according to NADA. That is head and shoulders above the category average of just 61.1%. The 2004 to 2012 Chevy Colorado only retains 57.9% of its value according to NADA. That is a disparity of about 23% between the leading Tacoma and the Chevy. Toyota should enjoy this advantage through the rest of this year. The new Chevy Colorado will be re-launched as a completely new design for model year 2015.

The mid-size category is dominated by the Asian brands, Toyota, Honda, and Nissan. It is not much of a stretch to say that the “domestic” automakers gave up on that category over the last decade. Over that period Toyota has sold hundreds of thousands of Tacomas at high margins of profit and solidified its loyal customer base. Something it will desperately need given that the new 2015 Colorado looks to be a fantastic new truck.

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