Which cars do Tampa Bay residents kick to the curb within a year?

Cars are a fairly large expense, which means most people hang on to their vehicles for a number of years before upgrading.

But a small fraction of cars — 3.4 percent — are kicked to the curb within just a year of ownership, according to new data released by iSeeCars, an online used car sales and market research company. In Tampa Bay, most commonly booted car is the BMW 3 Series, with 12.3 percent of drivers abandoning it before 12 months.

"Despite the popularity of these vehicles, they generally have below-average reliability ratings from Consumer Reports, which could contribute to why owners get rid of them so quickly," said iSeeCars CEO Phong Ly in a release. "Another possible explanation is that BMW and Mercedes offer incentives to their dealers to buy new cars to use as loaner vehicles, which are then sold as used when they are still under a year old."

Other cars Tampa Bay residents get rid of within a year include the Nissan Versa Note (11 percent), Nissan Titan (9 percent), Mercedes-Benz C-Class (8.9 percent) and the Nissan Versa (8.1 percent).

Contact Malena Carollo at mcarollo@tampabay.com or (727) 892-2249. Follow @malenacarollo.