Family cars 'depreciate quickest'

German cars hold their value best

Family cars lose their value quickest, while prestige brands such as BMW suffer the least price depreciation, a report claims.

The Alliance & Leicester report said family cars lost nearly two-thirds of their value after three years.

But compact executive cars and 4X4s had lost only a fraction of their value after one and three years.

The report suggests that buyers looking to keep total costs down pay a little extra for cars with high resale value.

"Careful buyers can make sure their investment continues to hold its worth over the years - factoring in depreciation is key to saving money in the long run," Andy Bayes, head of personal loans at Alliance & Leicester, said.

German car brands dominate the list of cars suffering the smallest loss in value.

The BMW 3 series and the Volkswagen Polo are both worth around 70% of their new price after three years.

The Mercedes C-Class is worth 86% of it is initial purchase price after one year according to the report.