Used Bentley Continental GT: Annual Ownership Costs Revealed

According to CarEdge, you could be spending around a quarter of a million dollars after five years of owning a Bentley. Now, that includes depreciation, which might not be a major concern of yours if you’re buying a used model. Still, it goes to show that the high price of a 2020 Bentley Continental GT didn’t stop at the cost of purchase. It’s a flex to own one of these even if you won it in on a game show.

Base Trim Engine: 4.0L Twin-Turbo V8 Gas
Base Trim Transmission: 8-Speed Automatic
Base Trim Drivetrain: All-Wheel Drive
Base Trim Horsepower: 542 hp
Base Trim Torque: 568 lb-ft @ 2000 rpm
Fuel Economy: 16/26 MPG

Infotainment & Features

9 /10

Where research meets the right deal

A five-year-old Continental GT with a W12 engine under the hood can go for around $130,000, which might make it look like the deal of the century when you consider that a 2025 model starts at $326,800. The question is simply whether it’s worth the cost of ownership. Here’s what a Bentley Continental GT is likely to cost you year after year.

Nothing Depreciates Like An Ultra-Luxury Car

2018 Bentley Continental GT — 2018 Bentley Continental

Have you ever bought a car only to have it lose six figures in value over the first two years of ownership? That’s unheard of even for a typical BMW or a Mercedes-Benz, but it’s par for the course in a Bentley. Here’s how much money a new Continental GT owner is losing every year according to CarEdge, rounded to the nearest whole percentage.

Age	Residual Value
1 Year	70%
2 Years	68%
3 Years	67%
4 Years	62%
5 Years	59%
6 Years	54%
7 Years	50%
8 Years	35%
9 Years	34%
10 Years	31%

If you’re trading a Continental GT in at a third of its original price, you’re still getting enough money back to buy yourself a Tesla Model X Plaid, but that’s after losing around a quarter of a million dollars in depreciation. As a rule – and with a few exceptions – cars are a terrible investment, but that goes double for an ultra-luxury model. It’s not so much that Bentleys depreciate quickly, it’s more like 5% depreciation on a six-figure purchase price is just a whole lot of money.

What Do Actual Listing Prices Look Like?

If we take a look at AutoTempest for five-year-old Continental GTs, here’s what we turn up.

A 36,104-mile 2020 Bentley Continental GT W12 is selling for $129,990 in New Jersey.
A 44,000-mile 2020 Bentley Continental GT V8 is selling for $135,900 in Florida.
A 30,123-mile 2020 Bentley Continental GT V8 is selling for $135,985 in Florida.
A 28,333-mile 2020 Bentley Continental GT First Edition V8 is selling for $141,990 in Oregon.
A 36,021-mile 2020 Bentley Continental GT V8 is selling for $143,653 in Indiana.

There’s no telling what will be available in your area when you’re ready to buy, but these examples should give you an idea of what’s out there.

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A 2020 GT with a W12 engine initially sold for $218,900, so these models are actually holding their value a little better than CarEdge suggests, likely owing to their incredibly low mileage. In fact, it’s very hard to find a Continental GT with high miles. The most well-worn model we could find was selling in Florida for $149,998 with just 57,317 miles on the odometer.

Older Models Are Much Cheaper

A rear three-quarter shot of a 2003-2008 Bentley Continental GT Coupe

So far, we’ve only been looking at third-gen Continentals. If we want to go back to the 2000s and 2010s, we can find some astonishingly cheap models.

An 84,528-mile 2006 GT Flying Spur is selling for $14,900 in Illinois.
A 58,971-mile 2007 GT W12 is selling for $22,986 in Florida, although this one has a branded title.
A 55,000-mile 2004 GT Coupe is selling for $25,850 in Wisconsin.
A 70,240-mile 2005 GT W12 is selling for $26,996 in Colorado.
A 57,394-mile 2006 GT W12 is selling for $27,995 in Georgia.

If you really want to have some fun in a used Bentley, you might be better off buying the cheapest model you can find and driving it until the wheels fall off. Think about it, how cool would it be to brag that you drive a Continental GT as your beater? You don’t have to mention that you only spent around $15,000 on it, or that you don’t trust it on long road trips.

What Does It Cost To Keep A Used Bentley Continental GT Running?

2003-2008 Bentley Continental GT Dashboard — A shot of the 2003-2008 Bentley Continental GT dashboard

According to CarEdge, a Bentley Continental GT costs around twice as much as a typical luxury coupe when it comes to maintenance. The website estimates a 10-year maintenance cost of around $25,135, or about $2,513 a year. In contrast, a typical luxury coupe only costs around $1,272 to maintain each year.

Insurance costs, for a good driver with solid credit, assuming an age of around 40 years old, comes out to $7,580 a year, according to CarEdge, and a 2020 W12 averages 15 miles to the gallon, which the EPA estimates will cost you around $4,000 each year, assuming 15,000 annual miles, divided 45/55 between highway and city driving.

Add that all adds up. Here’s what our annual cost of ownership looks like for a used Continental GT.

Expense	Cost
Maintenance	$2,513
Insurance	$7,580
Refueling	$4,000
Total	$14,093

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If we were talking about a 2023 Bentley Flying Spur, we might have to factor in the cost of a chauffeur. The Continental GT is more of a driver-oriented super-luxury model, though. But you can always throw in $20 for a chauffeur costume if you have a friend who owes you a favor and you want to impress your date.

Is A Used Bentley Worth The Cost Of Ownership?

2003-2008 Bentley Continental GT Front 3/4 — A front three-quarter shot of a 2003-2008 Bentley Continental GT

Even if we’re talking used models, a Continental GT can be so expensive to maintain, refuel, and insure that you’ll be asking your boss for a raise just to keep up with those $500 oil changes. Older models sell for so little, in part because nobody wants to keep a Bentley in their garage as a project car. Replacement parts and routine maintenance are simply too expensive, and you can forget flipping the car for the collector market.

A 2023 BMW 760i Is The Smarter 12-Cylinder Purchase

2023 BMW 760i front, three-quarter — 2023 BMW 760i on a speedy course.

If you really want a 12-cylinder car, you’d likely be happier behind the wheel of a 2023 BMW 760i, packing a 6.0-liter twin-turbo V12, delivering 600 hp, selling for half the cost of a 2020 GT, and running up a much smaller repair bill.

Financially speaking, a used Bentley Continental GT makes sense if you want buy a really old model for as cheap as possible and make darn sure you’re its last driver. If you want to run it into the ground, ignore major repairs, and drive it until the transmission falls right out of the chassis, then sure, a used Bentley makes sense. If you want to buy a 2020 model and make it your baby, if you want to join the high-mileage club and keep it sparkling for years to come, our advice would be to get a side-hustle going to cover the expenses.

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There are definitely worse cars out there when it comes to cost of ownership. The Continental GT isn’t exactly unreliable, it’s just that everything from a new oil filter to wheel alignment is more expensive when driving such an expensive car. If money is no object, drive what you like, but don’t think you’ve stumbled onto the bargain of a lifetime when you find a cheap Bentley up for grabs.