These used car brands are the least reliable, report finds

With the cost of new cars reaching record highs, people looking for a new set of wheels may be searching the used car market instead. 

A new analysis from Consumer Reports examined 26 used car brands in 2025, ranking them based on their overall reliability. Here’s what they found: 

5 best used car brands 

Big picture view:

Brands like Toyota and Lexus maintained their reputation for consistency, Consumer Reports found. Both brands appear in the top three for reliability, whether new or used. By contrast, Jeep and Ram remain anchored at the bottom of the rankings year after year.

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5 worst used car brands

Dig deeper:

Tesla’s older vehicles continue to lag when it comes to long-term dependability, the report found. Models built five to 10 years ago rank at the bottom for used-car reliability, a reflection of the company’s turbulent early growth, when rapid expansion and rushed production—at times even spilling into a factory parking lot—led to a range of quality issues. But recent models tell a different story: Tesla has climbed into the top tier of Consumer Reports’ predicted reliability rankings for new cars, signaling clear improvement.

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Not all brands follow a straight line. Mazda, for example, ranks third in the used-car category, but the brand slips to 14th in the latest new-car reliability rankings. Consumer Reports attributes the drop to Mazda’s shift from modest redesigns to a wave of all-new versions, including the CX-70 and CX-90 lineups and their plug-in hybrid versions.

Reliability scores

By the numbers:

Consumer Reports’ analysis is based on its annual member survey, which gathers data on issues owners experienced in the prior 12 months. For this study, the organization examined responses covering more than 140,000 vehicles from the 2016–2021 model years.

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Researchers evaluated 20 different problem areas—from minor annoyances such as squeaky brakes or loose interior trim to major defects involving engines, transmissions, EV batteries, and charging systems. Each issue was weighted by severity to produce an overall reliability score.

Those scores were then averaged across the six model years to determine each brand’s used-car reliability rating.