What a used car costs by age across Europe — and whether the German premium is worth paying
German cars cost 45% more at 10 years old — and carry 29% fewer kilometres. Per kilometre of life left, the premium almost exactly cancels out.
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- Methodology
- v1.0
Key takeaways
- At 10 years old the median asking price is EUR 13,990 in Germany, EUR 14,502 in Sweden, EUR 11,499 in Romania, EUR 10,368 in Czechia, EUR 9,670 in Poland, EUR 8,808 in Lithuania and EUR 8,027 in Denmark.
- Germany is not the cheapest market at any age we measured — it is among the most expensive.
- German cars justify part of that premium with materially lower mileage at every age.
- On a cost-per-remaining-kilometre basis the ranking reorders completely: Denmark and Poland lead, Romania and Lithuania trail.
- The German premium is roughly a wash once mileage is accounted for — which means the import case rests on condition and history, not on price.
- Depreciation is steepest in the first five years everywhere, so the cheapest entry point is almost always a car already past that drop.
A 10-year-old car has a median asking price of about EUR 13,990 in Germany against EUR 9,670 in Poland — a 45% premium. But German cars of that age carry about 29% fewer kilometres. Priced per kilometre of remaining life, the German premium almost exactly cancels out, and the best value sits in Denmark and Poland rather than in the country everybody imports from.
The short answer
A 10-year-old car carries a median asking price of about EUR 13,990 in Germany and about EUR 9,670 in Poland. That is a 45% premium for the German car. It is also, on its own, a misleading comparison — because the German car of that age has been driven roughly 29% less.
Once you price both cars by how much life they have left rather than by how old they are, the German premium very nearly disappears. That finding matters, because the entire German-import trade is usually justified on the assumption that you are getting more car for the money.
Median asking price by age
| Age | Germany | Sweden | Romania | Czechia | Poland | Lithuania | Denmark |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 years | 27,990 | 28,952 | 25,499 | 23,200 | 22,811 | 26,830 | 33,366 |
| 5 years | 22,925 | 25,062 | 19,989 | 19,018 | 18,570 | 22,500 | 21,427 |
| 10 years | 13,990 | 14,502 | 11,499 | 10,368 | 9,670 | 8,808 | 8,027 |
| 13 years | 9,965 | 9,680 | 7,674 | 6,898 | 6,501 | 5,650 | 4,690 |
All figures in euro. Each is a median asking price, not a completed sale price.
Germany is expensive — and that is the point
Germany sits near the top of this table at every age. For a market that supplies used cars to most of Central and Eastern Europe, that seems backwards. It is not. Germany is expensive precisely because its cars are desirable: large fleet turnover, dense dealer networks, thorough service records, and — as the companion analysis shows — materially lower mileage at every age.
Denmark is the interesting outlier. It is the most expensive market at three years old (EUR 33,366) and the cheapest at ten (EUR 8,027). That is a very steep depreciation curve, and it reflects a tax structure that loads cost onto new registrations and lets it fall away sharply afterwards.
The comparison that actually matters
Comparing prices at equal age is comparing two different amounts of remaining life. A more useful question is: what does one kilometre of future driving cost?
If we take a working assumption that a typical car reaches roughly 300,000 km before economics turn against it, and subtract the mileage already used, the ten-year-old picture reorders:
| Market | Price | Median km used | Km remaining | Cost per remaining km |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Denmark | 8,027 | 172,000 | 128,000 | EUR 0.063 |
| Poland | 9,670 | 165,000 | 135,000 | EUR 0.072 |
| Czechia | 10,368 | 161,883 | 138,117 | EUR 0.075 |
| Germany | 13,990 | 117,285 | 182,715 | EUR 0.077 |
| Sweden | 14,502 | 122,960 | 177,040 | EUR 0.082 |
| Lithuania | 8,808 | 210,990 | 89,010 | EUR 0.099 |
| Romania | 11,499 | 192,000 | 108,000 | EUR 0.107 |
The 45% headline gap between Germany and Poland collapses to about 7% once mileage is accounted for. Germany lands mid-table. The cheapest kilometres in Europe are Danish, and the most expensive are Romanian — the exact opposite of what the raw price column suggests.
How much does that 300,000 km assumption matter?
A great deal — and any analysis that does not test it should not be trusted, including ours if we had left it untested. The 300,000 km service life is an analytical convention, not a measurement. Changing it reorders the table:
| Market | at 250,000 km | at 300,000 km | at 400,000 km |
|---|---|---|---|
| Denmark | 0.103 (1st) | 0.063 (1st) | 0.035 (1st) |
| Germany | 0.106 (2nd) | 0.077 (4th) | 0.050 (5th) |
| Poland | 0.114 (3rd) | 0.072 (2nd) | 0.041 (2nd) |
| Sweden | 0.114 (4th) | 0.082 (5th) | 0.052 (6th) |
| Czechia | 0.118 (5th) | 0.075 (3rd) | 0.044 (3rd) |
| Romania | 0.198 (6th) | 0.107 (7th) | 0.055 (7th) |
| Lithuania | 0.226 (7th) | 0.099 (6th) | 0.047 (4th) |
Cost in euro per remaining kilometre, 10-year-old cars.
Only two positions are stable. Denmark is the best value at every threshold, and Romania is worst or second-worst at every threshold. Everything between them moves. Germany ranges from 2nd to 5th, and on a pessimistic 250,000 km assumption it becomes Europe's second-best value — the opposite of this article's headline. Lithuania swings from last to 4th on an optimistic one.
The mechanism is straightforward: the shorter you assume a car's life to be, the more punishing high existing mileage becomes, and the more a low-mileage German car is worth. Which assumption is right depends on the individual car — a well-maintained diesel estate and a neglected city hatchback do not share a service life.
So take the headline as conditional. The honest claim is not "Germany is mid-table"; it is "the German premium is roughly fair under a mid-range assumption, and looks better the shorter you expect the car to last."
What this means if you are importing
Do not import for the sticker price. On this evidence the German premium is roughly fair compensation for lower mileage. If someone offers you a German car at a German price, you are paying market rate, not getting a deal.
Import for condition and history instead. The genuine argument for a German car is the depth of its record — a fuller service history, better-documented ownership, and a mileage figure with more of a paper trail behind it. That is worth paying for. Lower price is not what you are buying.
Beware the car that is cheap for its origin. A German-origin car offered well below the German curve is the single most common shape of a problem vehicle. Something is usually explaining that discount: undisclosed damage, an inconsistent odometer, or a history that does not survive checking.
Buy past the steep part of the curve. In every market the drop from year three to year five is far larger than from year ten to year thirteen. A car that has already absorbed the initial depreciation gives you the most remaining life per euro.
The limits of this data
These are asking prices from live listings, not transaction prices. Real sale prices are typically somewhat lower, and the gap between asking and selling is not necessarily constant across markets — a market with slow turnover may carry more negotiating room than one where cars sell quickly. Treat the comparison between countries as more reliable than any single absolute figure.
Prices are converted to euro at a fixed rate per currency, so cross-border comparisons carry some exchange-rate noise. Local taxes and registration costs are not included, and those differ enormously — Denmark's position in particular is shaped by a registration tax regime that this table does not capture.
Finally, these are medians across all makes, body types and fuel types. A market whose listings skew towards larger or newer vehicles will show a higher median without any individual car being more expensive.
Methodology
v1.0Analysis of used-car listings across seven European markets, covering model years 2013-2023, restricted to asking prices between EUR 300 and EUR 150,000 to remove data-entry errors, parts vehicles and specialist sales. Figures are medians computed per country and per vehicle age; every cell reported contains at least 200 listings. Age is calculated as 2026 minus model year.
Prices are stated in euro, converted at a fixed rate per source currency. Rows whose implied conversion rate deviated materially from the median rate for that currency were excluded, as were commercial and agricultural machinery and one bulk dataset that failed an internal consistency check.
The cost-per-remaining-kilometre table applies a working assumption of a 300,000 km service life, subtracting the median odometer reading for the same market and age. That threshold is an analytical convention, not a measured lifespan, and the resulting ranking is sensitive to it: tested at 250,000 and 400,000 km, only Denmark (best) and Romania (worst or second-worst) hold their position. Germany moves between 2nd and 5th and Lithuania between 7th and 4th. The sensitivity table is published in the body rather than withheld, and the headline should be read as conditional on the mid-range assumption.
Listing data reflects asking prices at the point of advertisement. It is not registry-verified and does not represent completed transactions.
Frequently asked questions
›Which European country has the cheapest used cars?
By raw asking price at ten years old, Denmark is cheapest at about EUR 8,027, followed by Lithuania and Poland. But cheap cars often carry high mileage, so the cheapest sticker is not always the cheapest car to own.
›Why are German used cars more expensive?
Because they are genuinely different stock: lower mileage at every age, deeper service records and a large, competitive dealer market. Our analysis suggests the premium is roughly fair compensation for the lower mileage rather than a markup.
›Is it still worth importing a car from Germany?
On price alone, largely no — the premium and the lower mileage roughly cancel out. The real argument is documentation and condition: a German car typically comes with a fuller, more verifiable history, which reduces the risk of an expensive surprise.
›At what age does a used car stop depreciating quickly?
The steepest drop is in the first five years in every market we measured. After about year ten the curve flattens considerably, so a car past that point loses value far more slowly than a nearly new one.