Residual values!!

[ionic]

Jeez, the value of cars has dropped like a stone the last couple of months, which is to be expected I know but I'm surprised by how much!

I just went on What car to value my car, 07 sport 170, & it came back with a trade in figure of £10 grand!!! Christ!

I don't know if the leather makes much difference, but even if you optimistically say another grand on top, it still means it's lost more than £5k in 12 months!!

I know I paid towards the top price as I got it from a dealer, but if you had one of these brand new you'd lose a fortune!

I'm hoping when I come to sell in 2 years it will be worth 9K, otherwise I'm moving backwards if you know what I mean.

What do you think guys, how much do you think your cars are worth, & do you think I'll get £9K in two years?

[Spudrig]

Just done the same thing Ionic with the Whatcar.com valuations. Mines is only an S spec 1.9TDi which was bought in May 2007 for £11000. It is an 06 May registered car, so its coming up to 3 years old and has 31500 miles on it. According to whatcar.com I could sell it private for nearly £8000, which isnt too bad for a nearly 3 year old car! Here are the values I got
Dealer £8,040 Private £7,730 Part exchange £6,715 Trade £6,415 Cost new £16,170
I (well my parents!!) saved £5000 by buying a year old model, which isnt too bad!

P.S I do have a set of alloys worth £1000 on it too, but God knows how much they are worth now!!

[dieseljames]

I'm sorry to say that I think the big-car market is the worst to be in, everyone seems to be directed to the more economical city cars. Not good for me considering I'm scared of small cars!

I hope the market does pick up though as the passat is a cracking car and worth every penny....plus (dare I say it?) I don't really want it to become a commoners car!

[Cylon2007]

All cars lose a fortune, I just paid 10.5K for my 57 plate (Jan 08) with 16k miles on so thats about 50% drop.

Saying that the car I changed from was a Honda Civic bought new in March 07 for £17.5K and I got £9k in trade in at 21 months old with 31K on so that wasn't that bad I suppose. I'll not buy a brand new car again unless I win the lottery that's for sure.

[bagss2]

I've just (yesterday) bought a 3.2 V6 FSI SEL Estate, July '06 with 24,700 on the clock for £10,600 - with the options (metallic, sat-nav, auto-tailgate, Macau wheels) it was just over £30k new!!

[ionic]

I've just (yesterday) bought a 3.2 V6 FSI SEL Estate, July '06 with 24,700 on the clock for £10,600 - with the options (metallic, sat-nav, auto-tailgate, Macau wheels) it was just over £30k new!!

Nice one mate, sounds like a stunning car!!

[johnloaderuk]

I've just (yesterday) bought a 3.2 V6 FSI SEL Estate, July '06 with 24,700 on the clock for £10,600 - with the options (metallic, sat-nav, auto-tailgate, Macau wheels) it was just over £30k new!!

I agree with IONIC, it does sound like a fantastic car, but with that engine it may loose value at an even more incredible pace - not exactly the most economical Passat, although if I was in a position to have one I'd jump at it. It may make it difficult to move on when you want to change it. Despite it listing at 30k new, I wonder what they managed to get it for new, as no one pays list price these day.

[james_tiger_woo]

I choose to not want to think about what my car a:Has costed me and b:Has lost in depreciation. I know that a: is about £5k though...

[bagss2]

I agree with IONIC, it does sound like a fantastic car, but with that engine it may loose value at an even more incredible pace - not exactly the most economical Passat, although if I was in a position to have one I'd jump at it. It may make it difficult to move on when you want to change it. Despite it listing at 30k new, I wonder what they managed to get it for new, as no one pays list price these day.

I agree with you, however I value my 'work' motoring at £300 pounds a month - as this is the cheapest I could just about (barely!) get myself in to a semi-respectable lease car for on a 24/36 month non-maintenance contract, for c. 20k miles a year.

I may be proved wrong, but I am confident that the car will be worth £5k (i.e. a further 50% drop) in 2 years' time - i.e. 54 months old with 65k on the clock (similar 'normal' spec / model B6 Passats approaching this age with double miles fetch more), in which case I will be 'on the money'.

In the meantime, after 24 hours' ownership and 365 miles from 'brimmed' to 'brimmed' (61.5 litres of Super-Unleaded) the car has returned bang-on 27mpg - which astonished me considering how hard I've been driving - demonstrating to myself and friends what a weapon it is! (I had never driven one before picking the car up!).

I am driving from Cheshire to Surrey and back on Friday and am confident of achieving the round trip (c. 440 miles) on one tank - which will hit my 32.5mpg 'motorway cruising' target. Considering I never achieved better than 30mpg from my 1.8 turbo MG ZT+ (it 'cruised' at 4k rpm at 80mph!) - the 'monster' Passat will actually be no more expensive to run (aside from the stupid £400-425 road tax!).

Do I sound like I'm trying to convince myself here?? Probably... I love it anyway though!!!

[ionic]

I think you're right mate, I've already lost more than £5k in 12 months, & mine's a diesel.

You paid much less than me & ok so the car is older, but you have less far to drop, so overall there's prob not that much in it financially, considering the 3.2 is an absolute beauty as well!

I'm not complaining by any stretch, my car is superb, it's more the state of the economy that's doing it, hardly any cars are selling at the mo.