Are Luxury Cars Worth Your Money?

ARE LUXURY CARS WORTH YOUR MONEY? Do you assume that higher-priced cars are more expensive because they're actually superior products, or do you concede that luxury, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder? With a little bit of help from the likes of Consumer Reports and J.D. Power we can, at last, identify the ways that luxury cars are - and aren't – worth your hard-earned cash. POTENTIAL REASONS TO BUY A LUXURY AUTOMOBILE The following is a step-by-step comparison of luxury vs. non-luxury brands across a number of categories SAFETY IIHS TOP SAFETY PICKS ( 2014 ) These 9 vehicles "aced" the front, side, and crash tests. They are the only cars to have done so. TESLA MODEL S 1 $69,900 AUDI S4 2 $48,100 IM 12 +100 FORD FOCUS ELECTRIC 3 $35,117 VOLVO S60 4 $33,300 CADILLAC ATS 5 $33,065 HONDA ACCORD COUPE 6 $23,625 CHEVROLET CAMARO 7 $23,555 KIA OPTIMA 8 $21,500 SUBARU LEGACY 9 $20,295 CONCLUSION 4/9 top cars for safety are in the "luxury threshold" RESALE VALUE KELLEY BLUE BOOK'S TOP-RANKED CARS FOR RESALE VALUE ( 2014 ) Percentage based on value retention for each car TOYOTA FJ CRUISER 81.0% I$27,680 70,0% 73.7% 61.9% TOYOTA TACOMA I$18,125 70.3% 59.1% JEEP WRANGLER $22,395 | 66.6% 56.2% TOYOTA 4RUNNER $32,820 67.5% 53.5% CHEVROLET CORVETTE I$53,000 | 63.7% 52.3% TOYOTA TUNDRA I$26,200 CHEVROLET CAMARO 123,555 63.7% 51.9% 63.0% | 50.7% HONDA CR-V I$23,120 59.0% 50.6% CHEVROLET SILVERADO I$25,575 60.8% 50.5% DODGE CHALLENGER I$26,495 CONCLUSION 1/10 of the top cars for resale value are over the "Tuxury threshold" of $35,000 INITIAL QUALITY J.D. POWER'S INITIAL QUALITY STUDY ( 2013 ) Ranked by problems per 100 vehicles (PP100) 80 94 (97 90 95 PORSCH GMC LEXUS CHEVROLET INFIN ITI Industry Average: 113 JAGUAR ACURA TOYOTA HONDA HYUNDAI (102 (104) (102) (103) (106 CONCLUSION 5/10 of the top cars for initial quality are luxury brands CUSTOMER SERVICE SATISFACTION Spending time and money getting your car serviced is inevitable no matter what make or model you drive. So how do luxury and mass-market brands compare in terms of service satisfaction? TOP 5 LUXURY BRANDS Cadillac LEXUS JAGUAR INFINITI ACURA 862 858 856 852 848 Luxury Brand Average: 846 Customer Service Index (out of 1,000) TOP 5 MASS-MARKET BRANDS GMC MINI CHEVROLET BUICK 819 810 809 804 789 Mass-market Average: 789 Customer Service Index fout of 1,000) WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT? There's a direct correlation between service satisfaction and brand loyalty. 38% of car owners who gave a service satisfaction Score of more than 900 "definitely will" buy/lease their next car from the same brand HOW MUCH DO THESE MAINTENANCE AND REPAIR VISITS COST ( ON AVERAGE ) ? Dealers Independent service stations $198 $108 $31 $45 Luxury brands Mass-market brands CONCLUSION LUXURY BRANDS offer better service satisfaction and cheaper independent service station visits COST OF OWNERSHIP 1ONETINA Best-ranked 2014 sports cars: What does your need for speed really cost? Expenses over time include: Fuel, Insurance, Financing, State Fees, Maintenance, Repairs, and Depreciation Ranked by Cost of Ownership MASS-MARKET SPORTS CARS SUBARU BRZ FORD MUSTANG 5-YEAR 6-YEAR COST OF OWNERSHIP SCION FR-S MAZDA MIATA MX-5 COST OF OWNERSHIP $43,966 $41,104 5-YEAR COST OF OWNERSHIP 5-YEAR COST OF OWNERSHIP COST PER MILE $0.59 $43,689 $42,104 COST PER MILE $0.55 COST PER MILE COST PER MILE HL 167 $0.56 BhorzAnS $0.58 LUXURY SPORTS CARS PORSCHE 911 PORSCHE CAYMAN 5-YEAR COST OF OWNERSHIP 5-YEAR COST OF OWNERSHIP CHEVROLET PORSCHE BOXSTER $151,524 $75,515 5-YEAR CORVETTE STINGRAY COST PER MILE COST OF OWNERSHIP COST PER MILE $2.01 TO $76,382 5-YEAR $1.00 COST OF OWNERSHIP $80,570 COST PER MILE $101 COST PER MILE $1.06 CONCLUSION 5776902 E OLLARS Luxury brands cost an average of $.70 MORE PER MILE to own than mass-market brands COST TO INSURE What are the most and least expensive cars to insure overall? 5 MOST EXPENSIVE NISSAN GT-R BMW M6 $3.169 $3,065 MERCEDES-BENZ CL550 $3.019 MERCEDES-BENZ SLS AMG PORSCHE PANAMERA 2,986 $2,970 5 LEAST EXPENSIVE = JEEP COMPASS $1140 HONDA CR-V JEEP PATRIOT $1115 $1.104 HONDA ODYSSEY $1103 JEEP WRANGLER SPORT $1080 CONCLUSION 4/5 "Most Expensive Cars to Insure" are luxury brands CONCLUSION How do luxury cars really stack up? $4 SAFETY RESALE VALUE INITIAL QUALITY 4/9 1/10 5/10 top cars for safety are over the "luxury threshold" of $35,000 of the top cars for resale value are over the "luxury threshold" of $35,000 of the top cars for initial quality are luxury brands CUSTOMER SERVICE COST OF COST TO INSURE SATISFACTION OWNERSHIP 4/5 Luxury brands offer Luxury brands cost an average of BETTER $70 "Most Expensive Cars to Insure" are luxury brands service satisfaction and cheaper independent service station visits more per mile to insure than mass-market brands Sources: TM OPom CIPony Parts Consumer Reports Insure.com J.D. Power Kelley Blue Book