7 Trucks With Great Resale Value

Buying a new vehicle is not simply just purchasing a box that you enjoy driving. While it may be stocked with convenience features that make the driving experience very fun, that does not necessarily mean that the vehicle will be good in the long term for you. Vehicles are more than a product. They are an investment, and over time, just like the stock market, some vehicles will prove to be better bets than others when you decide that you want to sell your current vehicle in order to purchase a new one. When it comes to pickup trucks, this predicament can become even more complicated because even though they seem like the sturdiest vehicles upon first glance, not all pickup trucks hold their age very well.

When I was in high school, I knew I wanted a pickup truck and had my preconceived notions about which were the coolest. I had to learn these lessons about investment and reliability before ultimately choosing what that first pickup truck was going to be. Those lessons served me well, and that truck is still the vehicle I drive 14 years later. Plus, I know I would be able to sell it for a very good price if I chose to do so. Through consulting various publications and institutions on various models reliability scores, reviews of particular trucks, and keeping an eye on the used vehicle market, I have been able to keep up to date on which trucks have been able to best keep their value. Here are seven that have proved to be great investments.

That first pickup truck I was able to get back in high school was a Toyota Tacoma. Out of all the pickup trucks out there, this one from the Japanese automaker is probably the best at keeping its value over a long period of time. CarEdge estimates that a Toyota Tacoma, on average, will still be worth about 67% of its original price after five years and barely dips below 50% after nine years. For the 2023 model, MotorTrend has that five year value estimation all the way up to 73.1%. J.D. Power gives every model year a score based on its resale value out of 100, and since the 2014 Tacoma, every year has scored in the 90s that has been rated. Before that, the scores were still in the high 80s.

The biggest reason that the Toyota Tacoma is able to still cost a good deal of money on the used market is because of just how reliable these pickup trucks are. On the whole, Toyota is renowned for its ability to create reliable vehicles, and the Tacoma is no exception. The truck regularly receives high reliability scores from both Consumer Reports and J.D. Power, and the owner satisfaction scores are generally on par to match them. The scores may not be as glowing as the company's smaller cars like the Camry, but pickup trucks will rarely be able to match them due to their size and power. From pure personal experience, my 2010 Tacoma has over 150,000 miles on it and runs just about as well as it did 14 years ago.

If one Toyota ranks as arguably the best resale value pickup truck out there, then it only makes sense that the company's other big time pickup would be a worthy investment as well. The Toyota Tundra is the larger alternative to the mid-size Tacoma, and in a rather impressive fashion, it has been able to steadily increase its resale value in the last few years. Take the 2021 models of the two trucks. J.D. Power gave the Tacoma a 94 out of 100 resale value score, whereas the Tundra received an 87 and had been in the 80s prior to that. However, since 2022, the Tundra has pushed itself into the 90s, right alongside its smaller brother. MotorTrend has the 2023 model retaining 65.1% of its value after five years, and CarEdge gives it an even better estimation at about 72.3%, which outpaces the Tacoma.

Over at Consumer Reports, the reliability scores for the Tundra over the years are possibly even more consistent, though no specific year reaches the high of the 5 out of 5 score that the 2021 Tacoma received. J.D. Power's reliability scores for the truck exist in a similar space to the Tacoma, though perhaps a few digits lower that maybe place it within the margin of error. The Toyota Tundra demonstrates once again that it makes a vehicle that will be able to hold up over time. Despite it being about as reliable, the Tundra may not be as good of a bet as the Tacoma is that the latter is a more popular vehicle, being the 11th best-selling vehicle of last year. The Tundra, meanwhile, doesn't crack the top 25.

With both the Toyota Tacoma and Tundra, they have been able to build up a reputation over time as reliable vehicles that have allowed them to remain amongst the best pickup trucks out there when it comes to resale value. However, not every single pickup on the market has that history to draw from in order to make it coveted on the used market. Instead, other factors have to push it ahead and show that there are reasons why it would be a valuable commodity. This is where a pickup truck like the Jeep Gladiator comes into play.

This pickup truck that is based on the famous Jeep Wrangler design first hit the marketplace for the 2020 model year, and its success on the resale market can basically be attributed to two main things: aesthetics and novelty. The Jeep Wrangler itself already holds its resale value incredibly well, so the Gladiator already has a great jumping off point, as it is able to give you the experience of that SUV with the added benefit of a truck bed.

So, not only are you getting that, but you also have the newness factor, which can't be understated. This is a vehicle that has only been around for a couple of years, and considering it really hit the market just as the COVID-19 pandemic was taking off, people truly haven't had much time to admire it. MotorTrend estimates that the 2023 Gladiator will hold about 70% of its value after five years. The truck is still in its honeymoon phase, and people are willing to pay for that, even if it's not a particularly well-rated pickup.

Speaking of pickup trucks that are not exactly the best reviewed or rated vehicles on the market, we have the Ford F-150. If you look at Consumer Reports, you would be shocked at how few model years of the F-150 are able to get above a 40 out of 100 reliability score. For vehicles that the publications likes, it gives them a "CR Recommended" stamp of approval, and not a single F-150 that has been covered by Consumer Reports, which goes all the way back to 2000, has been given that stamp. The owner satisfaction scores are just as poor as the reliability scores. So, why would a pickup like this make it onto a list where the resale value for them is good?

Well, the Ford F-150 happens to be the best-selling vehicle in the United States, and frankly, it isn't close. It has been this way for years and years and years, and there really seems to be no changing of that guard anytime soon. The F-150 has become an American institution, and in the popular consciousness, it is probably what everyone thinks about when they picture a pickup truck. When I was going to get my first pickup all those years ago, the F-150 was obviously my first choice, until its reliability turned me away.

However, because it is such a popular vehicle, it has managed to keep its resale value pretty high despite all its faults. CarEdge estimates that an F-150 will still be worth about 76% of its original value after 5 years. The truck has entered the zeitgeist, and people will pay to be a part of it.

The F-150 is not the only Ford that retains its resale value well, and in the case of this one, there is actually some correlation to its reliability and performance. I am talking about the Ford Maverick, the company's latest compact pickup truck. Unlike the larger F-150, the Maverick has actually received pretty good scores from both Consumer Reports and J.D. Power for its reliability, with the former placing it firmly in the 70s and the latter in the 80s (both out of 100). Because it is a smaller truck, it naturally won't be driven as hard, allowing it to not incur wear and tear at such a rapid rate.

Another reason why the Maverick currently has a good resale rate, which MotorTrend estimates to be at about 65.6% after five years, goes back to the Jeep Gladiator. This is a pickup truck that has only been around since the 2022 model year. Ford has been a pickup truck institution in the United States for decades, so it creating a brand-new truck to join that legendary lineup will be able to generate a ton of interest. In turn, that interest helps keep the prices for the Maverick fairly high. Its newness does make it a somewhat risky investment, though. The Ford Maverick may be enjoying a surge of interest now, but it can be tough to determine if that interest will continue for many more years into the future. Luckily, it has a reliability factor on its side, so even if the novelty sheen wears off, it still has an inherent value on the open market.

All of the pickup trucks mentioned thus far are not particularly large vehicles. Yes, a truck like the F-150 is a full-size pickup truck, but it still exists on the more moderate end of that spectrum. That being said, there are still some larger trucks out there that are still able to retain their resale value quite well. You need to look no further than the larger variant of the second best-selling vehicle in the United States, the Chevrolet Silverado HD. If the F-150 is the poster boy for the American pickup, then the Silverado is probably the runner-up for that distinction, and the larger HD package holds up surprisingly well in keeping up its resale value.

There are two different versions of the Silverado HD, the 2500HD and 3500HD. Both hold their value well, but the 3500HD slightly outpaces it, with CarEdge estimating it to keep roughly 73% of its value after five years, while the 2500HD is more around 70%. Meanwhile, MotorTrend has the estimate of the aggregation of all Silverado HD models and trims for the 2023 model year holding nearly 68% of its value. The reliability of the Silverado HD tends to range of decent to pretty good, according to Consumer Reports, particularly with the two most recent generations of the vehicle that began with the 2015 model year. J.D. Power rates it highly as well, with quality and reliability scores in the 80s and resale scores in the 90s throughout the 2020s so far. It goes to show you that there are large trucks out there that can prove to be a good investment.

If the Chevrolet Silverado is on this list, it only makes sense that its sister model, the GMC Sierra HD, also finds a place on here. For those who may be unaware, the Sierra and the Silverado are essentially identical vehicles, as both Chevrolet and GMC are both owned and operated by General Motors. They are built on the exact same platform, but each one does have its own aesthetic and material individualities that make it worthwhile to continue making both vehicles rather than just one. Considering that the Sierra also lands within the top 10 best-selling vehicles in the United States, there are plenty of people looking to the Sierra rather than the Silverado.

Because of its mechanical sameness to the other vehicle, you can also surmise that the GMC Sierra HD also has received quite good reliability scores for both the 2500HD and 3500HD models over the last decade from both Consumer Reports and J.D. Power. However, the consensus resale value of the Sierra HD is slightly lower than that of the Silverado. CarEdge has both models of the Sierra HD retaining roughly 66% of its value after five years, and MotorTrend basically matches that at 67%. As for why the Silverado HD is able to hold its value just slightly better, it's the more mainstream and popular vehicle. This is the difference between being the second best-selling vehicle rather than the seventh best. The GMC Sierra HD isn't quite the investment that the Silverado HD is, but that doesn't mean it still isn't worthwhile.

There are many pickup trucks on the market that have a resale value ranging from decent to great, so narrowing down which seven models would wind up making this list came down to a number of different factors. First and foremost, consulting publications that deal specifically in calculating the depreciation rate of vehicles, like CarEdge and MotorTrend's IntelliChoice, was top of the list. These estimations can also be cross-referenced with institutions like Kelley Blue Book, in which you are able to actually see dollar amounts attached to used vehicles and compare them with their original MSRP prices.

From there, reliability of the pickup trucks was taken into consideration. When placing your car on the used market, reliability is one of the most important elements in getting your car sold, as a buyer needs to know that you are not getting rid of this vehicle simply because it broke down on you. If there is no assurance of it working properly, there is little reason for someone to purchase it. The last important element is the truck's cultural capital. If a truck sells an incredible number of units per year, that shows that it is a more desirable vehicle in the marketplace, which in turn makes more people want to purchase it themselves. Popularity — and in the case of new vehicles, novelty — are somewhat difficult to codify with numbers outside of a long sales history, but if something enters the popular consciousness, there is always a gravitational pull, whether people acknowledge it or not. Taking all of these factors into consideration, these seven pickup trucks were chosen.