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I'm trading in my 2008 Audi S8 V10 that cost $125K new and I'm getting 12K for it. Still looks largely like new!
People ask 20-25K on eBay but if you look at "Completed Auctions" for ones that actually sold, you see 14K, 16K.
No, this isn't a sales proposition hidden as a rant, in my state we pretty much have to trade through the dealer to get the sales tax credit, and it's not worth it on a smaller amount like this for the difference. And I'm not really the kind of guy that wants to be private-partying my car through Craigslist anyway!
But that's 88% depreciation in 10 years - I wouldn't mind if the car didn't look like a new car!
I wish I owned a farm. I would really rather park cars like this in a barn and put a blanket over them and let my grandchildren discover them than trade them in for a pittance, but I just don't have room to keep them all!
I'd also just donate it or give it to a relative, but then a couple of months later the inevitable phone call that the all-wheel-drive system has gone out or something. Brutally expensive to maintain and repair these cars, even if you can buy them cheap initially.
I would, but my wife has been driving it since 2010 and she's ordered a P100D. I can't really tell her "Sorry, you kept your old car in such great shape you can never get a new one!"
Every 10 years or so I figure it's defensible to flip 'em even if they're still in good shape!
I figure the sales tax credit is worth about $2K, so I could sell it privately for $15K and be in the same shape. Then anything above that is gravy, but how hard do I want to work for a few K? I don't want to sell it from my house and if I put it on a lot, they'll take commission. So assuming you don't want to sell it yourself, there's not a great option that I can think of!
I usually keep cars 10 years or more too... When I traded my 2004 Z06 for my 2014 Stingray, dealer gave me $25,000 which is not bad since the list price on the Z06 back then was only $52K, and it paid for half the new Stingray since the base price when I ordered mine was $51,000.
When I traded my C6Z06 in on the C7Z06, I got $40K for the C6. And that car was a 2007, so it had to be 8 years old and was an $80K car at most when new.
So now that I think about it, my last Corvette held -half- its value for 8 years. That's actually pretty good!
The flagship German models are all brutal in terms of depreciation.
That's true, especially bad of the V12 '65' models from Mercedes, like an S65. They MSRP at $225K and you can pick them up for $25K if you shop around.
That is one of the great things about Corvettes, the resale value long term. Since I retired, I buy my wife and I new Mercedes every two to three years for daily drivers. You can bet on them being worth usually less than 50% of MSRP to trade on a new one. German luxury cars are notorious for poor resale.
....that German Cars are sold as engineering marvels (which they are) loaded to the gills with cool features but that engineering hyperbole stops at maintenance and repair.......
I don't know what you want us to say. It's certainly NOT the only car to experience extreme depreciation and you note all the other options you don't wish to pursue.
Perhaps, the important thing is to NOT buy what are known "losers" to this extent in the future... all I can offer other than, Sorry!
The BMW leases aren't quite the bargain they use to be.
I've never heard anyone regard a lease as a bargain. Last time I considered a lease, it was for a new four runner. Want to say that at the end of the 3 or 4 year lease, I was within $5k of paying for the entire car once I totaled all the payments. Maybe stuff has changed since that was a while ago.
As for the trade ins....I bought a VW Passat back in 06....it was a used 03 I found at carmax for about $19k. Thing imploded almost immediately, so was lucky I had the carmax warranty that covered everything since the car was almost always in the shop. Want to say it had 45k miles on it when I got it, and 60k miles when I traded it in...2 years later and 15k miles... -$12,800 Ended up getting all of $6200 for it. I'll never buy another VW....what a total crap car.
NOW, I'd like to introduce you boys to the best vehicle investment I've ever made....AKA..."Uncle Jesse"! Bought this as a backup to the VW for $500 (yes, OTD ) He was a 1984 Ford Ranger Pickup with god only knows how many miles on it....no A/C...no panels on the interior doors (so you could get out), but I absolutely loved that clunker. Got 10,000 miles out of it before the distributor blew, had it fixed, but never ran like it did before, so I sold it.
1.5 years, 10k miles, Cost of ownership: Made $100....owning a truck that was so run down the GF (and wife now) at the time refused to ride anywhere or be seen in...priceless
Alas...this is the only surviving picture I have of the one, the only, "Uncle Jesse"
Michael is correct. There was a time in the early 2000s when BMW leases were killer. They were using artificially high residuals which helped the cars hold value, and the resultant low depreciation made the lease payments smaller so that more people could afford it.
I imagine it was some kind of marketing push into the USA back then, but they don't do it any more.
A lease is no more or less attractive than a loan. If you don't know how to convert money factor to and from interest rate, for example, you have no business touching a lease, I don't think. Or if you do you have no idea what you're paying, I guess.
When you consider depreciation as a percentage, the values are much greater than with an economy car. When I see a four year old Corolla and they want like $3k less than new sticker, and I can get a new one under msrp, it’s a no brainer to buy new. But when a car like An Audi A8 stickers for $110k or so, you wait 24 months and grab it for much less. But with that said, my best friend bought a leftover new Audi A8 Plus for $77k, so go figure.
You guys are right about BMW leases. I have never actually leased one as I buy new every 3 years. I checked with 2 of the dealers that I have bought from and the leases are definitely not as attractive as they were 3-5 years ago. They do often offer some incentives that help but the residuals are lower and you do have to check on the money factor; i.e. interest rate. Also, the free maintenance has been reduced from 4 years to 3 years and now it does not include some normal wear items like wiper blades, not sure about brake pads. If you want a car with low depreciation buy a stripped Honda or Toyota. It will retain the highest percentage of MSRP over 3-5 years. That said, with few exceptions cars a a highly depreciating asset with the more expensive ones usually depreciating the most and the fastest. Corvettes are actually better than average when it comes to depreciation but GM threw a curve ball when they accelerated the model years between 2017 and 2019. Will be interesting to see how this affects values of the various model years.
05-12-2018, 11:07 AM
Worst Trade-in Value Story?
) He was a 1984 Ford Ranger Pickup with god only knows how many miles on it....no A/C...no panels on the interior doors (so you could get out), but I absolutely loved that clunker. Got 10,000 miles out of it before the distributor blew, had it fixed, but never ran like it did before, so I sold it. 
