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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