Depreciation over a five-year period is one of the biggest expenses in owning a car. While most buyers neglect the price drop over a period of time, it definitely says how reliable a car is. Editors at KBB.com (Kelly Blue Book) have compiled a list of cars in 2010 that possess the best resale value. The awards were presented to 16 cars based on category, another 10 were awarded for overall best vehicles with resale value, while another two were awarded for the best brand and best luxury brand with resale value.

Toyota was the recipient of this years brand with the Best Resale Value. This is the first time that they have won this prestigious award. It has been a long time coming, considering that Toyota’s staple Corolla is the best-selling car in history, while its mid-size Camry is the best-selling car in the U.S. this year.

Toyota also picked up 4 awards in the Best Resale Value by category awards, with the Toyota Tacoma Regular Cab, Toyota Highlander, Toyota Prius and Toyota Sienna winning awards. Honda picked up three with the Honda CR-V, Honda Pilot and Honda Accord. Ford’s F-Series Super Duty and Taurus, along with the Chevrolet Camaro were the only American cars to win the awards for best resale value by category. Nissan’s 370Z won the best sports car with resale value

The Overall Top 10 had a surprise with two MINI Cooper’s (MINI Cooper and MINI Cooper Clubman) showing up in the top 10 . Chevrolet had the Camaro SS and the Corvette, while Toyota won it for the Prius, RAV4 and Tacoma. Audi A5, BMW M3 and Honda’s CR-V rounded off the awards.

By Category

Mid-Size Pickup : Toyota Tacoma Regular Cab
Full-Size Pickup : Ford F-Series Super Duty
Compact Utility Vehicle : Honda CR-V
Mid-Size Utility Vehicle : Toyota Highlander
Full-Size Utility Vehicle : Honda Pilot
Luxury Utility Vehicle : Lexus RX 350
Hybrid/ALT. Fuel Utility Vehicle : BMW X5 Turbo Diesel
High-Performance Car : Chevrolet Camaro SS
Hybrid/ALT. Fuel Car : Toyota Prius
Mid-Size Car : Honda Accord
Full-Size Car : Ford Taurus
Near-Luxury Car : Lexus IS
Luxury Car : Audi A5
Sports Car : Nissan 370Z
Compact Car : MINI Cooper Clubman
Van : Toyota Sienna

Overall Top 10

Audi A5
BMW M3
Chevrolet Camaro SS
Chevrolet Corvette
Honda CR-V
MINI Cooper
MINI Cooper Clubman
Toyota Prius
Toyota RAV4
Toyota Tacoma

Best Brand : Toyota

Best Luxury Brand : Lexus

Hopefully, the next time around, consumers will consider weighing the resale value more when purchasing their next car, and this list might be ‘God-send’ to them.