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-   -   Which Indian cars have the best resale value? (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/233054-indian-cars-have-best-resale-value-2.html)

When it comes to resale value, I have seen 4 cars which hardly depreciate:

• Resale value king - Toyota Innova D-4D, even Crysta also never commanded as high a resale (But Crysta also has a fantastic resale value too) as the Innova did.
• Small but fun - Swift Diesel, well maintained examples command a good resale, Swift DZire commands even better resale IMO
• Old and faithful - Bolero Uncle, especially the older 2.5. I would say that the only UV that is probably as reliable, and commands as good resale as an Innova, or maybe 10% lower. Even the 1.5 too, at times people demand insane money for it - and still manage to sell it off.
• Comfy family van - Ertiga Diesel, very reliable, has a decent demand in used car market. I have seen them fetch some impossible looking numbers. Adding to it, the Parag's Ertiga thread is a testimony to its reliability too

Lot of aspects go in to helping a car fetch good resale. Few observations from my end:

1. Good sales doesnot enjoy good resale always. My Kwid was a good seller but used market doesnot have much preference. Poor FE compared to competition and higher maintenance is to blame. Same holds true for i20, though it sells well, resale is nowhere close to say a Baleno.
2. Car don't fetch same resale across country. Depending on registration, area where you reside plays a significant role. In current scenario, an Innova might not fetch good resale in Delhi but in Bangalore you can be guaranteed of very good resale.
3. Brand is a significant contributor. Your car might be successful, but if brand is not perceived well in market, don't expect good resale. For example, Skoda/VW don't enjoy good name in used car market. Even if the model is successful, resale will not be good.
4. There will always be exceptions, especially if you are willing to wait. You might have a flop model, the car is well maintained and here will be someone sharing same taste as yours who is looking out for a well maintained car.
5. If car offers utility, resale will be good for a long time. Sedans are dying breed and not many wants to buy in used car market too.

However if you are to take average, below are the cars with good resale value

1. Suzuki/Swift/Dzire.
2. Suzuki Baleno
3. Toyota Innova
4. Toyota Fortuner
5. Hyundai Creta
6. Ford Endeavour
7. Suzuki Ertiga
8. Mahindra Scorpio
9. Honda City(Not as good as Crossover/SUV)
10.Mahindra Bolero.

Above cars will get sold immediately and after posting an Ad you will be bombarded with phone calls almost immediately.

I don't know if everyone have forgotten the resale value king Toyota Qualis. When my cousin was looking for one in Kerala some years back, the asking prices were so high. Remember the myst model in green shade??!! the asking prices were almost 1 lakh more than other colours in used car market. My cousin was so obsessed with Qualis that finally he got hold on to one but in blue colour which is being used till now and he has no intention of selling it anytime soon. Also this may not apply to other states, as you know Kerala is a little different when it comes to love of cars.

EcoSport diesel owners who I have talked to have always said that they got a good price if sold to the right person.

When we picked up our Creta in 2017 just to get an idea we asked the Hyundai dealer to evaluate our 14' Petrol EcoSport 9-10k kms run (genuine) and the price they said was 4L :Frustrati. Either selling individually is better or exchanging the car with the same brand is a better idea. But before buying the EcoSport I knew that Ford petrol cars resale value is not good, but then I didn't buy it to sell it :). But I can definitely say that diesel EcoSport's command a much better price in the used car market

Wagon R is the only car we have sold in the last few years. We had a 2007 Wagon R which we sold in 2019 at about 75k mileage. We got ~2 lakhs for this. The car was purchased for ~ 5lakhs if I remember correctly. Served us well without any major troubles.

The other car we sold was a 2013 Ecosport 1.0L in 2018 after the Kerala flood. The car was pretty much underwater for 2 days and hence it was a distress sale. The engine was completely gone and spending lakhs to repair wasn't something we were keen.

Apart from popular sellers, limited run great cars have a tremendous resale.

Few top of the mind cars:

Zen carbon & steel
Jetta
Skoda vRS - Laura/Octavia
Fiat Padmini (legend says that people have sold it at higher than buying cost even when it was in production)
HM Ambassador & Contessa
GM Cruze
Palio S10

I am sure that All-space, Hexa, T-roc, Karoq, will join the list.

Innova and Fortuner hold their value really well, especially in TN and Kerala. Even the very old Qualis still commands a good value. In fact, there is a huge demand for well-maintained Qualis which is rare now. We have a used 2012 Innova (bought in 2014 with 54k km) and it'll sell for almost the same price we paid with 130k km in the odo now, lol.

Most entry segment Maruti's, in general, have decent resale in TN. they don't lose much value and that's another key reason why people blindly go with Maruti. Omni is another vehicle that has huge demand in 2nd tier cities and towns. The fact that new Omni's aren't available anymore helps with the value in second-hand market.

From my experience, I have observed the resale varies a lot across states. Some of it is due to the road tax structure and others due to local preference for certain brands, car models and dealership presence. Small cars hold their resale value much better too as the buyer pays less (relatively) to own a car.

Again from experience, I would say the following cars retain their resale value well. More so because of demand for such models and relatively less availability in resale market:

1. Maruti Alto

2. Maruti WagonR

I have seen 12 year old Alto LX, 1.12L km run go for Rs. 1.2L and another 16 year old Alto LX, 1.25L km run, sold for Rs. 85k. Similarly, the Fortuners and new-gen Endeavors have slightly lesser resale value in my home state, when compared to other states.

Last generation Swift Diesel (white/silver especially) and last gen Innova diesel command the best resale value in India. Hope the trend still continues. We have got experience of selling both in our family in 2015 & 2019. I personally saw direct customers came to my home with money in their bag to buy my white swift VDI :D.

These cars in general don't find buyers. Selling to dealer is an uphill task. On the brighter side, some of these cars were sold in limited numbers and if you are willing to wait(which may run into months), you may find someone who shares similar taste and might be willing to buy at a premium if the car is well maintained. This might not work for majority as once the car is listed for sale, they want this to be disposed sooner. Once a car production is stopped, getting parts is a big concern and is a major deterrent to a prospective buyer.
For instance Chevy Captiva was a great car however once production stopped resale tumbled and many could not dispose as it got older.

This video makes me feel really good as I bought the number 1 least depreciating car in this video a month ago for less than the depreciation drop mentioned. Was my first ever pre worship purchase!
Case in point, this video does not hold true for the Indian market lol:

Rather than basing the decision of preowned vs new on just value, I would base it on usage. I would not buy workhoses like the Innova, Fortuner, Honda City,etc preowned as usually they have been chauffeur driven and abused on potholes etc.
I would rather buy a pre worshipped car that is more self driven and even if it is chauffeured it is done with care.
For example, a chauffeurs outlook and care of driving a Skoda Superb is very different from his driving pattern in a Fortuner even though they are similarly priced. SUVs and MUVs in that segment and below are treated worse off as they are perceived to be indestructible tanks while sedans are considered delicate by the chauffeur community.

My relative bought a one year old Maruti 800 around 30 years back, for almost the same price as a new one. The reason for the insane resale value was that there was a 1.5 years waiting period for a new car that time!
I also know some people who have sold their Toyota Qualis for more money than they actually paid for the new car.

The 'good' resale value thing isn't true across all the locations.
For example: A Nov 2011 make MS Swift ZDi (Mint Condition) gets a resale value of just 3L at best! This is in Goa. Whereas, I see that people have sold their 7-8 years old Swift VDi's for prices touching 3.5L in other prominent cities.

So yeah, even though the Swift diesel for example is a hot selling car, the resale value varies statewise in general.

The answer to your question depends on your location. Living in a B-town surrounded by villages, I see a lot of Altos, WagonRs, i10s and Omnis in the used car market. The MS Omni has a huge demand here even if its preowned by 3 or 4 owners.

We don't have True Value or any other authorized preowned car showrooms in towns like ours. As far as I have witnessed, Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai hatchbacks have takers, rolling out within days of entering the used car showroom. Though ocassional sedans and SUVs are available, they are put out for show for atleast 2-3 weeks.

Innova & Swift seems to be the general consensus.

I also found that generally low end cars of maruti's stable retain their value quite well.

For instance I bought an Alto for approx. 2.6L in 2006 and sold it after about 10 years and 1.2L km for approx. 1.5L which is about 60% of the value