Consumers who bought a Buick, Cadillac, Lexus, Honda or Mercury back in 2004 have experienced the fewest problems with their cars, according to an annual dependability study by J.D. Power and Associates. They can also expect to command a higher value when trading-in or reselling their cars, the study says.

The presence of three non-luxury brands—Buick, Honda and Mercury—among the five most-dependable nameplates shows that “consumers don’t necessarily need to pay premium prices to obtain high quality and dependability,” says Neal Oddes, of the California-based marketing and research firm.

Toyota, BMW, Lincoln, Subaru, Oldsmobile, Jaguar, Acura, Mercedes-Benz and Infiniti also ranked above average in dependability.

In the study, vehicles that ranked high for dependability also retained up to 15 percent higher values after three years. For example, the ’04 Scion xA (the most dependable subcompact in the 2007 survey) now sells for about 71 percent of its original cost—considerably higher than the industry’s average residual value of 56 percent.

For the study, researchers questioned more than 53,000 new-vehicle owners about problems experienced during the vehicle’s first three years. More than 65 percent of the respondents reported problems that required replacing one or more components. To view the study’s results, visit www.jdpower.com.