Tacoma vs F-150 depreciation, dead heat per KBB

Checked figures again on KBB as I did when I ordered my Taco. I think over two years ago when I checked into the Tacoma depreciation, Ford may have been slightly better, not much. Tried to compare apples to apples the best I could this time too. This go round, couldn't compare packages, so just checked figures at 30,000 and 60,000 miles, feeling a good apples to apples comparison, both lost $3200 in 30,000 miles. YMMV, depending on where you live.
Duane

 

Pickup trucks in general hold their value quite well.

 

Who cares ‍♂️

 

For the open minded typical truck buyer, none.

But truck buyers are notoriously brand loyal.

And it's a touch of reality for the cognitively dissonant White Knights who immediately point to the Tacoma having the best resale value in the Solar System as proof that they are the reason Toyota dealers have no service departments since they never break.

On any enthusiast vehicle board, there are going to be those that immediately declare that anything other than the focus of their board is junk, with proof stemming from their neighbor's cousin's adopted child's kindergarten teacher's pen pal from Taiwan's experience with a different brand.

Fact is, most all manufacturers make a decent product now and anybody can occasionally get a problematic example.

The worst vehicle made today is probably better than the best in the world from 30 years ago.

But to the point, Ford sells almost a million F series trucks a year so the used lots are full of them, unlike used Tacomas which are more rare.

If you don't like a particular used F150, go across the street to a different dealer and he probably has 3 or 4 more F150s to choose from.

The fact that it retains used value with the market so saturated speaks a lot to the desirability of them.

I put 210k problem free miles on a 2000 F250 Super Duty so Ford can at least occasionally produce a solid truck.

Toyota undoubtedly produces a great truck in the Tacoma as well as the Tundra.

But that doesn't automatically mean that they are the only ones who can.

 

Depreciation only matters if you plan on selling the vehicle in a short period of time or for people taking out loans on a vehicle.

Which to those people if the depreciation mattered then the money they piss away on frequent trading and interest should matter more.

If I can pay cash for the vehicle and get my monies worth I’m fine with depreciation.

By the way did you compare new models or old?
The 3rd Gen Tacoma depreciates faster compared to the 2nd Gen so the 3rd Gen would match Ford better.

 

I used 2016 since that was my first lookup, vehicles might have 60,000 on them by now. Also went with dealer pricing, average price.
Duane

 

This is a tough thing to get a decent comparison on. First off, $$$ values on depreciation are meaningless, you need the original price, then a percentage loss for a good starting point. Next is price itself, KBB will only know the MSRP, or "possibly" the avg purchase price, either way, data that is meaningful to you depends on the price you paid, so if MSRP is the original price, then what you paid out the door, is the comparison start. Then there is the whole issue of trying to determine the actual value if sold, vs. book price.

Even with all this, I also look at this data occasionally just to see what the market thinks overall. But keep in mind, as, someone else said, trucks in general tend to hold a fair amount of value even if they are unreliable PITAs since there is always someone who needs a truck.

I usually get blank stares when I try to explain this, but even though Toyotas, and some others, have good resale value,,, you end up paying more going in, since they have higher resale value..... IOW, your personal cost of ownership on a Toyota may actually be higher, since you paid more going in then if you bought a cheaper one initially. BTW, this is just on purchase price, cost of ownership also includes maint, insur, etc......

 

Yes. I agree about a starting price, but I did my search starting at a point where my truck currently is at, 30,000 miles. I looked at the three values KBB shows. Low, high, average price sold for fair to good condition vehicles. Thank you guys for positive input.
Duane

 

You can buy virtually any new truck and drive it 10 years or 150,000 miles, whichever comes 1st, and get about 50% of the price it cost new when you trade if it is in good condition. In a private sale closer to 60%. That is the actual price you paid, not sticker. Ford and all of the domestic trucks almost always sell for 15-20% off sticker. Toyota comes off sticker much less, especially on Tacoma's and that often leads to confusion since it is hard to say exactly how much someone actually paid.

People look at a $50,000 sticker and panic. They then go out and pay $30,000 for a 3-4 year old truck without realizing they could have bought the $50,000 truck new for $40,000, and the truck they bought used for $30,000 only cost $35,000 when it was new. But they tell everyone they saved $20,000 by buying used.

It is people like that who keep resale value high on used trucks.