Depreciation Has Come for the Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat
Hear that sound? What might otherwise be identified as the roar of a big V-8 accompanied by a shrieking supercharger is actually Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat values settling back to earth.
That’s actually something to be excited about, but more on that in a second.
The last decade has been a good time to be a car enthusiast, especially if brawny V-8 muscle is your thing. Each of the Big Three crammed some monster engines into the bays of otherwise sane vehicles, though it was Dodge’s myriad Hellcat-equipped products, all wail and tire smoke and outrageous colors, that managed to become the most recognizable emblems of Detroit’s latest muscle era. The 707-horse Challenger SRT Hellcat wasn’t downright affordable, but at a base price of $60,590 in 2015 (about $81,450 today) it at least somewhat democratized ridiculous power off the showroom floor.
As great a time as it’s been, the curtain comes for all of us (though Stellantis provided several encores with the final-edition-last-call-extended-name-Mopars and Jeeps). This golden era has mostly come to a close, especially if you’re considering what’s freshly available on new-car lots.
But for many, the real prime time occurs once depreciation sets in and these vehicles become truly accessible. And, at least based on the secondary market sales trajectory of the poster-child Challenger SRT Hellcat, it looks like that moment may be upon us.
It took a while to get here. Back in olden days of the pre-pandemic era, Hellcats and other sought-after cars depreciated at rates expected of a used performance car. The car hobby’s valuation boom of 2021-23 put a temporary halt to that, and for a moment it seemed as though—especially with an electric future ahead of us—anything with V-8 power and personality would at least hold its value.
Public sales of 2015-2018 Challenger Hellcats indicate that’s no longer the case.
Since February of this year, the average sale price is down nearly 10 percent, from $61,959 to $56,690, and aside from a brief bump last winter, that number has been on a steady decline since its 2023 peak of $63,898. Challenger Hellcats hadn’t seen values in that range since August of 2018. It appears that these cars have now well and truly returned to their normal depreciation curve.
What’s more, the 2015-18 narrow-body Hellcats represented in this data had been driven a median of 732 miles a year. You read that right—these cars aren’t still in their wrappers, but they aren’t far off. Time will tell, but this data presents a bit like the early stages of the plight of Buick Grand Nationals that got parked when new. Hellcats will certainly be collectibles in the future, but the return they deliver will be primarily driven by the entry price. In the meantime, a few more miles on the odometer won’t hurt much.
To us, $55k (and likely less in the near future) for a nearly-new, 707-horse ball of personality sounds like there’s still a little bit of shine left on this era, after all.
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These started so high that even depressed they are still expensive to the point younger buyers will have a hard time buying them unless it is a base car.
THe other problem is if they are in good condition the prices will remain up but so many are getting beat to death.
I watch On Patrol Live and almost every week there is a Charger or Challenger chase and even if the car is not crashed it is not a car you would want to buy condition wise.
Back in the day muscle cars dropped in the 80’s to where you could get a 64 GTO with numbers matching for $2500-$3000K. That was with Tri Power and 4 Speed. That was a steal. But todays cars will never get that Cheap. I see older base Chargers, Mustange\’s and Camaro’s low to mid $20K in good shape with a V8. Yes there are some at $18K but beat up or V6.
So these will depreciate but not to where they are the steals. Because what they were and less of them were made will play in their favor of holding better value than the past cars.
That’s probably right about not ever being a steal, but I am pretty curious what the trough is. You’re in the NE Ohio area, hyper, so I imagine you’ve heard of Cleveland Power & Performance—they list parts from freshly totaled Hellcats all the time. That speaks to the point that the good ones are only getting more rare.
Dodge challergen hellcat changed the car world. It alloyed the public to own a 700 hp car that as a 5000 pound American car could out perform exotics costing 5 times as much, carry 5 people and had cup holders. I know because I drove the 200 mph, 11 second quarter, 0 to 60 in 3 seconds and ,at 65 mph, gets 26 mpg.
11 second qtr at 200?
I think he just saying that is capable of 200 separate
he has done the 200mph and done the 11second quarter and done 0 to 60mph in 3 seconds, as I have done also in my redeye widebody challenger.
I’ve done a 0 to 60 quarter in my VW.
😂
But who has 2 days to throw away?
lmao
About the same performance as a base C8 Stingray. Not bad!
Commas are a thing…
It seems like as of late when word gets out about certain vehicles getting phased out or redesigned everyone makes a run on the previous model years and that drives the prices up. When the current Mustang came out that was the case-even 2010-2014 models saw price spikes (in particular those equipped with either the 4.6 Modular or the 5.0 Coyote V8). Challenger and Charger were no exception to this rule.
Me personally I prefer the original “narrow body” look-makes the car look more cleaned up and uncluttered.
Stopped reading at “narrow body”.
Quality controll issues plauge this brand post covid. With the CEO stepping down and the end of SRT… dodge had a long way to go. Only bright side I can see is the disoloutuon of CAFE.
This brand? lol.
QC is lapsed with everyone. CVT transmission malibus are a nightmare.
Hellcats are getting depreciated because of all those low credit deals and repos
Now it’ll be hard finding one that’s in somewhat good shape with all the bad press going on
I grew up during the time when a GTO and other GM cars were popular and respected. Today as far as the challenger and the charger are concerned, all I see driving them are inexperienced kids driving an overpowered car. They have no business driving such a machine. Not to mention how on earth they can afford the car in the first place. A lot of the drivers of these cars have all their money tied up into them and they live in a ghetto. Someday these cars will be collectibles, but I hesitate to look into the history of most of them and see the abuse that they went through . This is one car I will probably pass by.
How does anyone afford any car like that in the 2024 economy?
The only thing killing more young people than Hellcat Challengers is Fentanyl; and i am an absolute car guy. Automotive has been and still is my life, but how about some drivers ed? They slowed F-1 right ?
I agree Todd, There are a lot of morons with money that can’t drive and have no business owning one. A few years back, 4 people lost their lives in one when it hit a tree @ 100 mph. It caught on fire and the doors were frozen shut. It all happened because of inexperience and alcohol (canton ohio). The only good thing about it was that the tree prevented the car from going thru an occupied house
Also lost a class mate who had a 61 impala thru school, Received graduation money, bought a 65 tri power gto and a month after graduation proceded to wrap it around a telephone pole in Kent. Driver’s education is imperative
Well said!!
As my dad would say about high powered sports cars. “They may have low miles. But the real question is how many quarter miles did it race? Those hard quarter miles wear out the cars faster.”
Average 762 miles per car equates to 3048 very hard quarter miles. Hope you have a seasoned mechanic that can recognize the engine wear before buying one.
are you assuming they shut it off @ the last timing light, coasted 1/2 mile or so in the shut down area & then were towed back to the starting line ( at least a 1.5 mile roundtrip) to get your over 3000 trips theory. REALLY?
“To us, $55k (and likely less in the near future) for a nearly-new, 707-horse ball of personality sounds like there’s still a little bit of shine left on this era, after all.”
Many of the horse balls can be found in the driver’s seat.
Bwahahahahaha!!
Part of value is the ‘halo effect’; the perception that owning a certain car elevates the owners status. I don’t think that will happen here. Between it being, well, a Chrysler, or what ever Stellantis Benz considers them to be, and the general low life shennanigans with which these cars are associated, I don’t know all that many who ‘aspire’ to Hellcat ownership. Add in the fact there is still a massive supply of repos in the pipeline from all those value added cars that sold for 150k plus. Finish that off with high interest and high maintenance, and I don’t see an explosion of new Hellcat owners anytime soon. I suspect that Hellcats will be more like GT 350s. Withing 5 years, most of these cars were beaten to within an inch of their lives. They routinely changed hands around 1500$. That was when smart money started hoarding them. Also, buying the parts that will soon go out of production, like those fender flares that disappear in the first burnout contest.
Lest you think I’m just an old hater, I went to high school in the late 60’s early 70’s. Everyone who had a muscle car mentioned it in their yearbook bio. Not one of those cars survived graduation.
It’s not Stellantis Benz, it’s Peugeot-Fiat-Benz.
Chrysler has had Germany, Italy and now France for owners, who will be next, Sweden?
Most likely, it will be China.
Chery-Chrysler or DFM-FCA?
The bottom will come soon enough. The lack of good/great condition cars will turn this back up shortly. I still think they got way overpriced at dealers and people paid way over sticker so there is still far too many trying to recoup their “investment.”
check out challengertalk.com. you’ll find there are a lot of us that use our t/a’s, r/t’s, scat packs, hellcats, et al, as weekend cruisers. yes, many are dailys, too. my sp just turned 2 and it still hasn’t reached 1,500 mi. and currently, there’s still plenty of new dealer stock. yeah, the article is hellcat exclusive, but there’s a lotta good trim levels available to keep it company. btw, i’ve heard from many diverse sources the hellcat holds up to a LOT of abuse. they don’t break u-joints as they did in the past!
Recall the then new ’64 GTO? We had a kid in the neighborhood that had one right off the showroom. On weekends, you could hear him doing burnouts way past midnight. He was PO’d because he had to buy new tires after only 6 months.
“Only owned by a little old lady from Pasadena”.
That was a super stock Dodge!
As long as “the powers that be”… political or corporate are seen to be ushering everyone into a EV compact SUV, there will be a market for these.
Some people don’t want to be led.
Right. It’s pretty clear that Federal EV mandates and incentives will be terminated soon. Trump says: “buy whatever you like” – just like happens in a free country. Everyone can be happy buying an ICE, EV, lawn mower, fancy fishing tackle or shotgun collection… EVs can be good secondary, short range transportation, but they come up short holistically vs. ICEs. Best to back up an EV with an ICE that can do it all. If you are forced to evacuate during a national disaster – best grab the ICE. EVs only made up 8% of new US car sales last year. 92% of American consumers preferred something else. Some EV owners have experienced some inconvenience and have returned to ICE.
Pop on YouTube and search Hell Cat and you will likely not want to own one of these cars as they are normally shown being beaten like they owe the owner money. Shredding tires, street takeovers, police chases, street racing, speed runs, you name a beating and these cars are shown getting it. For that reason alone I wouldn’t touch one of these cars unless it was to put it away for 20 years and I don’t believe one could even survive that.