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Least depreciating cars for first-time drivers

New research has revealed the best cars for new drivers when it comes to retaining their value.

According to Uswitch.com car insurance experts, the 2017 Hyundai Kona is the car with the highest value retention, with the vehicle retaining 64% of its original purchase price after use.

The Ford Puma comes in second, with 59% of its original value still intact, while Skoda is the car manufacturer that retains the majority of its original value.

Buying a car is one of the most significant purchases a new driver can make, but on average, new cars depreciate in value by 15-35% in their first years on the road, so new drivers should carefully consider how much of their car’s price tag they expect to get back after selling.

Uswitch.com compared the prices of the most popular cars for first time buyers when bought new, against the average price when it had driven 40,000 to 60,000 miles, to determine which car retained the most of its original value.

Best cars for retaining value for first-time drivers

Rank	Make	Model	Year	New price (£)	Average used price £ (40k-60k miles)	Retained price percentage
1.	Hyundai	Kona	2017	£22,766	£14,537	64%
2.	Ford	Puma	2019	£24,660	£14,659	59%
3.	Citroen	C3	2017	£12,995	£7,702	59%
4.	Skoda	Octavia	2019	£22,795	£13,231	58%
5.	Toyota	Corolla	2019	£29,289	£15,994	55%
6	Skoda	Citigo	2019	£11,910	£6,024	51%
7.	VW	Golf	2019	£24,835	£12,122	49%
8.	Kia	Cee’d	2019	£21,605	£9,933	46%
9.	SEAT	Ibiza	2017	£17,710	£7,929	45%
10.	Skoda	Fabia	2014	£17,135	£7,224	42%

Source: Uswitch.com

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Hotspots for car theft across England and Wales

Gareth Herincx

3 days ago
Auto News

New research has revealed the regions in England and Wales that see the most – and least – vehicle thefts.

Car insurance experts at Uswitch analysed how car thefts have changed over the last five years by analysing ONS crime and vehicle theft statistics, to reveal the regions with the highest rate of vehicle thefts.

London has the highest rate of vehicle crimes per head with 113.0 reported per 10,000 people.

The West Midlands have the second-highest rate of vehicle crime in England and Wales, with 87.0 crimes per 10,000 people in the area, whilst Greater Manchester places third, with 79.6 reported crimes per 10,000 people.

10 police areas with the highest rate of vehicle crime in England & Wales

Rank	Area	Population (2019)	No. Offences to March 21	Vehicle Crime Rate per 10,000
1	London (Metropolitan Police)	8,952,300	101,131	113.0
2	West Midlands	2,928,600	25,470	87.0
3	Greater Manchester	2,835,700	22,568	79.6
4	Bedfordshire	675,000	5,079	75.2
5	South Yorkshire	1,409,000	10,266	72.9
6	Hertfordshire	1,189,500	6,959	58.5
7	Essex	1,846,700	10,392	56.3
8	West Yorkshire	2,332,500	13,086	56.1
9	Warwickshire	577,900	3,210	55.5
10	Northamptonshire	753,300	4,134	54.9

Meanwhile, the area covering the Welsh regions of Dyfed and Powys has the lowest rate of vehicle crime in the country, standing at 12.1 crimes per 10,000 people.

Regions in England and Wales that see the lowest rate of vehicle theft

Rank	Area	Population (2019)	No. Offences to March 21	Vehicle Crime Rate per 10,000
1	Dyfed-Powys	519,700	628	12.1
2	Cumbria	500,000	704	14.1
3	North Wales	699,600	1,061	15.2
4	Devon and Cornwall	1,772,500	3,107	17.5
5	North Yorkshire	828,700	1,534	18.5

The Uswitch study also revealed that from 2016 to 2021, national vehicle crime numbers fell by 8.70% from 365,037 to 336,650.

North Wales has seen the biggest reduction in vehicle crime in the last 5 years, with the number of offences falling by 48.3% to 1,061 in the year to March 2021.

The Metropolitan Police saw the biggest increase in vehicle crime anywhere in the country, with numbers rising by as much as 22.1%.

Since Covid-19, vehicle crime has reduced nationwide by 27.13% with over 100,000 fewer crimes being recorded during the first year of the pandemic.

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Revealed: TikTok’s most popular cars

Gareth Herincx

10 hours ago
Auto Blog

TikTok is best known for its viral dances and challenges, but did you know that there are also thousands of car videos on the app too?

These videos have racked up billions of views, but which makes and models are the most popular on TikTok?

Researchers at comparison and switching service Uswitch.com have been analysing the number of views on TikTok videos using hashtags mentioned to reveal the most popular cars and brands.

Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, more commonly known as BMW, is the most popular car brand on TikTok, seeing over 17.6 billion views across the app.

The BMW brand has been quick to embrace the social media platform, creating its own hashtag challenges to promote its vehicles.

Top 10 most popular vehicle brands on TikTok

Rank	Brand	Views
1	BMW	17,600,000,000
2	Mercedes-Benz	9,100,000,000
3	Lamborghini	8,300,000,000
4	Tesla	7,200,000,000
5	Audi	7,000,000,000
6	Ford	6,500,000,000
7	Honda	6,300,000,000
8	KTM	5,500,000,000
9	Ferrari	4,900,000,000
10	Jeep	4,300,000,000

Looking at the specific models which have received the most views on TikTok, there was a clear winner – the iconic Ford Mustang.

Tied for second place, the Nissan GT-R and the Toyota Supra both received 2.8 billion views.

Top 10 most popular vehicle models on TikTok

Rank	Model	Views
1	Ford Mustang	3,900,000,000
2	Nissan GT-R	2,800,000,000
2	Toyota Supra	2,800,000,000
4	Chevrolet Camaro	1,500,000,000
4	Range Rover	1,500,000,000
6	Honda Civic	1,300,000,000
7	Lamborghini Huracan	916,700,000
8	Subaru WRX	851,600,000
9	Lamborghini Aventador	808,800,000
10	Tesla Model 3	760,600,000

“TikTok is no longer just a space for Gen-Z to share viral dances and challenges,” said Joel Kempson, car insurance expert at Uswitch.com. “The app is now home to many viral car videos, racking up billions of views from car lovers all over the world.”

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How a bad credit score can cost drivers dear

Gareth Herincx

6 days ago
Auto News

Having a poor credit score could end up costing you as much as £8,000 extra when financing one of the UK’s most popular cars, according to new research by Uswitch.com.

For instance, the best-selling Ford Fiesta costs £16,645 to buy outright. However, when bought on finance with a four-year repayment period, the total for someone with an excellent credit rating is £20,014 – or a staggering £7,059 more (£27,073 total) for a driver with a bad credit score.

The data was obtained by the comparison and switching service using a car finance calculator to determine the cost of 10 cars bought on finance for motorists with different levels of credit score.

Cost to finance the UK’s 10 most popular cars

Popularity rank	Car Model	List Price	Finance cost with excellent credit rating	Finance cost with fair credit rating	Finance cost with bad credit rating	Difference between excellent and bad credit score
1	Ford Fiesta	£16,645	£20,014	£23,673	£27,073	£7,059
2	Ford Focus	£22,215	£26,778	£31,672	£36,221	£9,443
3	Vauxhall Corsa	£16,815	£20,269	£23,974	£27,417	£7,149
4	Volkswagen Golf	£23,360	£28,158	£33,305	£38,089	£9,931
5	Vauxhall Astra	£19,185	£23,125	£27,352	£31,281	£8,156
6	Volkswagen Polo	£17,355	£20,920	£24,743	£28,298	£7,378
7	BMW 3 Series	£32,595	£39,290	£46,471	£53,147	£13,857
8	Nissan Qashqai	£23,555	£28,393	£33,583	£38,407	£10,014
9	Toyota Yaris	£19,915	£24,005	£28,393	£32,472	£8,466
10	Mini Cooper	£27,115	£32,684	£38,658	£44,211	£11,527

Source: Uswitch.com – All prices correct as of April 2021

Plan ahead for a better credit score

James Andrews, personal finance expert at Uswitch.com, reveals how to improve your credit score to help you get the best deal when purchasing a car on finance: “Registering to vote, having bills in your name, keeping to 30% or less of your total available credit (per account) and not having a credit history can all impact your credit score.

“When financing a car, first check your credit report to see what your score is. Secondly, check what’s in there and that the information is accurate. Lastly, start taking steps to improve your score.

“Providing you make your payments on time, don’t apply for many new products in a short period (e.g six months), and keep a stable address, your credit rating should improve. In as little as four months you should see your scores start to improve and after a year you should be in a far stronger position.”

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Close to extinction: the humble Austin Montego

Home / Auto Blog / Close to extinction: the humble Austin Montego

Gareth Herincx

2 weeks ago
Auto Blog

The Austin Montego is the UK’s most endangered car, according to new research.

Uswitch.com, the comparison and switching service, analysed Department for Transport and DVLA data to find out which vehicles have seen their numbers drop the most in the last 25 years.

The Montego, which was launched in 1984 and was also available as a sporty MG-badged version, was a regular feature on our roads and driveways during the ’80s and ’90s.

More than 200,000 models were registered in 1995, compared to 2020 when just 34 remained, meaning 99.98% of Montegos have vanished in the last quarter of a century.

Uswitch.com reckons one of the big reasons for this decline is that pre-1989 models can only run on leaded petrol, which stopped being sold in the UK in 1999.

UK’s most endangered cars

Rank	Model	2020	1995	Decrease
1	Austin Montego	34	205,283	-99.98%
1	Fiat Regata	3	14,549	-99.98%
1	Lada Samara	11	44,982	-99.98%
4	Hyundai Pony	7	26,888	-99.97%
4	Vauxhall Belmont	16	47,298	-99.97%
6	Austin Maestro	90	231,824	-99.96%
6	Datsun Stanza	5	12,570	-99.96%
6	Zastava Yugo	11	27,123	-99.96%
6	Nissan Stanza	5	11,957	-99.96%
10	Austin Metro	289	572,974	-99.95%

Source: Uswitch.com

Tags Austin Maestro Austin Metro Austin Montego Austin Rover BL Datsun Stanza family car Fiat Regata Hyundai Pony Lada Samara MG mONTEGO Mini Metro Nissan Stanza USWITCH.COM Vauxhall Belmont

Gareth is a versatile journalist, copywriter and digital editor who’s worked across the media in newspapers, magazines, TV, teletext, radio and online. After long stints at the BBC, GMTV and ITV, he now specialises in motoring.

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