Ridiculous Depreciation

[MarcusK]

Now I know that most cars depreciate so you always expect a car to lose some if its value.

However, out of all my previous cars, none have depreciated as much as the Volvo C70.

I also recognise its Winter so a soft top will always be a little less attractive this time of year (and the new glass' guide book is out so prices are even lower) but having recently enquired about a trade-in value, I was not expecting the figures being quoted.

I purchased an 03 T5 C70 convertible (with all the toys + GT Trim) about 14 months ago for approx £26K (it had about 7K miles on the clock at that time). I'm now being offered anywhere between 15k - 16.5k

For a so called "premium marque", this is crazy, especially as they splash all over the volvo site, how good residuals are due to safety / build quality etc..

Of course, with the all new C70 due next year...things are only going to get worse!

Not much I can do about it so thought a "rant" would make me feel better....don't suppose anyone wants to buy a 2nd hand C70 for a more realistic price???

Thanks!

[MRT5c]

i bought my T5 v7o all the bells and whistles. at 16k, 18 0dd months ago spent 3K on services, phone satnav chip etc and dealers offering between 5-7.5kMAX. so i know the rant. its heart breaking, i too was convinced with all the prestige hype you get that, i would be getting well over 10k for her. dream on!
I like to juggle cars, once they have hit a certain value threshold. i need to get as much as poss, to put towards the next vehicle, well this has worked fine on my last six veh/ until i got this volvo, and ican know kiss 10k goodbye over 18months that hurts, its a real bitch. Richard

[elliot]

I nearly brought a 3 year old manual s60 D5 with leather and 88k on the clock for 6k the other week just to get up an down the motorway and save the T5.That is some mental depreciation utter madness!

[weasel]

i paid 9k for an 855r and was offered £1800 one year later and £2k after four and a half years later both as p/x on £13k+ cars. seems to me that you only really get your money's worth if you keep them..... assuming the bills aren't too costly.

[fraz13]

When you buy from a dealer theres £1k at least added on top, probs more on a £15k upward car

When trading in the dealer will offer you at least £1k less than your cars worth more probs on a more expensive car

So if you think they probs hump you for £2k when buying and probs the same when trading in theres £4k that you just lost straight away

Private deals are always best....

[Andrew]

The second hand car market is crap and getting worse. Factories are over producing on new cars meaning they have some good deals for new cars but yes they depreciate quickly.

Do what most of us do - don't spend more than about 6k on a Volvo in the first place - they last for ever in most cases so go for an older reliable model.

[lance]

I bought an S80 T6 1998 with pop up sat nav etc last year I paid £6500.
New this car cost £40K with option boxs ticked.
To me spending money on a new car is a complete waste.

If someone said buy a new house for 40k and in 3 years it will be worth 10k people would just rent!
So why do people do it with cars.

So in 1998 you could buy a nice 3 bed terraced house for £35k-£40K or you could buy a brand new top of the range Volvo, I know what I would do.

[S60D5]

When you buy from a dealer theres £1k at least added on top, probs more on a £15k upward car

When trading in the dealer will offer you at least £1k less than your cars worth more probs on a more expensive car

So if you think they probs hump you for £2k when buying and probs the same when trading in theres £4k that you just lost straight away

Private deals are always best....

Dealer everytime for me, much more comeback if something goes wrong... I'm happy to pay more at a dealer.

As for depreciation, I lost £3000ish over the year on my 850 including maintenance/servicing. I expect the D5 to depreciate horrendiously too!!

Still, it's only money!

[S60D5]

So in 1998 you could buy a nice 3 bed terraced house for £35k-£40K or you could buy a brand new top of the range Volvo, I know what I would do.

Me too. I'd get the T6!!

Think about it, you'd have a shiney new car, full leather, smelling nice and twin turbos opposed to a complete shed of a house at that price! Granted, the house won't depreciate at all, but it can hardly do 0-60 in 7 seconds!

[aeroresh]

I paid nearly £35k for my then new C70 T5 GT back in early '99. Within about a month of buying it Volvo announced that the list price would be dropped to £30k!

Sold it in 2003 for £11k... Thats an average loss of £6k a year.

Thats the main reason why I bought a 3 year old S60 T5 for £7k this time round...not as far to fall!

[lance]

Me too. I'd get the T6!!

Think about it, you'd have a shiney new car, full leather, smelling nice and twin turbos opposed to a complete shed of a house at that price! Granted, the house won't depreciate at all, but it can hardly do 0-60 in 7 seconds!

I wouldnt unless I won the lottery,
7 years on if I sold the house I could buy an Aston Martin DB9 and just live in that, the T6 would probably be worth 5k now and the house £120-140K.

To have the best of both worlds I can live with a second hand T5 for a few grand with rica you can have porche boxter /imprezza beating performance.

Unless its a company right off or you loaded I cant see how anyone can justify spending 30k+ on a brand new car, I dont mind £1-2k a year deprication but the idea of lossing more scares me.
My mate bought a nearly new BMW for £25k, he now cant afford to buy a house because of finance repayments and it would cost him £8-10k to give the car back!

Best to buy 3-10 years old or more in my opinion,
I reckon an 850R , T5R or T5 could be almost deprication proof ,even the extra money you speand on parts is nothing when you compare it to visits to the main stealer to keep the book upto date.
If you dont do many miles and find a low mile pristine example that could become very cherished in another 5-10 years!

[Engineer]

oohh nasty marketing people.....................

[Mrsmopp]

[QUOTE=lance]
I reckon an 850R , T5R or T5 could be almost deprication proof [QUOTE]

Mine was!

x

[lance]

only cost me a grand in deprication so cant grumble for 20000+ miles in a year and a bit.
You defo bought at the right time (I sold at the wrong time but all good)
, Im hoping Andreas will keep its money quite well being low miles and keeping the miles down to about 5-10k a year who knows?

[After_Shock]

Working for a dealer I see both sides of the story, certain cars are only worth so much to a dealer, cars that are 4years plus old or have 50k plus miles on we cant sell on so take a risk at auction with them or sell onto a used franchise so yes the price we offer is less than the book says as thats all we can get for the cars.

Also moded cars are frowned upon as we cant put warranties on and in order to sell them as being part of a Volvo franchise they must have a warranty so not much use as a trade in.

Also it depends on the car your looking at, cars on average have about £1500 clear profit in, this is after all the checks and warranties have been bolted on, normally about £500 of this is added on to the p/x price as immediate discount however the cost to change from one car to the other is always the same whether the discount is off the screen price or added onto the p/x price.

Bear in mind when a car is taken in p/x as mentioned above if its a Volvo thats under 4 years and 50k miles we need to add a warranty on (averages £500) do an 81 point check £120, and fix anything thats wrong thats found by the 81, tyres and brakes are the most common which normally add another £300-750 onto the costs for the dealer, the car then has to be priced to sell and leaves surprisingly little profit in them.

Dealers make all their money from servicing and parts and very very little from chassis profit, only area theirs any money in car sales now is finance.

[weasel]

interesting. do the franchised dealers have to buy the warranty from volvo?

[After_Shock]

In effect yes,the used cars sold from a volvo franchise must come with a Volvo warranty which depending on the car can cost anything, R lines are stupidly expensive for warranties!

[Liddo]

Paid 3k for my 97 S70, which does the same as a 30k C70, and has all the toys of a 30k car, an is only just run in at 70k Miles, AND will still be worth around 2.5k if I sell in in a year or twos time! It's a no brainer sometimes!
These days, cars hardly rust or break down, so why do we still insist on buying new??? I'll never do it unless I can afford the depreciation

[GATHY]

if you go buy from the dealers your the fool thats paying the 30 staffs wages and they nice shiny buildings rent.

I bought my s40 t4 se 2001/x top model with 46k 1 owner fvsh from auctions 18 months ago (just after cars 3 third birthday) for £4k on the fall of the hammer(21k new 3 years later 4k with low miles)
ive run round in it for 18 months and just sold it for £4500 on ebay and it was still a cheap car to the new owner.
ive never bought a car from a garage or dealer because i used to be in the trade,and when people learn that traders go to the auction and buy the car drive it to there pitch polish it if needs be and then put 1k or more on it you might start doing it yourself.

go to a auction 9 out of 10 people there are the people you go buy a car off at the dealers.
ive been to the auction this week looking for a new car here some example cars
51 plate d5 s60 100k 1 co owner= £4400
c70 t5 gt 2000/x 89k 1 co owner= £4200
s40 t4 se 2001/51 73k 1 co owner =£3400
as you may notice that there all company cars so if you go for a fleet car or exlease car they are 99.9 % faultless mechanically just a few stonechips etc.

so to cut a long story short never buy a brand new car.
never buy from the dealers etc.
buy a 3 year old ! then whos laughing !!! you in your 3 year old 25k new car youve just bought for 4k.

[After_Shock]

Sorry but got to disagree with that!

If you want an older car 5 years plus then yeah definately go to an auction I would.

What have you got against dealers? Did you watch fifth gear last night by any chance? They bought a Puma from an auction which they then found out had a slipping clutch, o.k so they got it for about £4200 I think but at a dealer the price would have been more like £5995 but it wouldnt have came with a slipping clutch, would have had a warranty and would have been properly checked to make sure it was roadworthy.

Alot of cars that go to auctions yes are ex company cars which are the best to choose from, however alot of cars are dealer trade ins that have problems and they dont want to sell on and these are best avoided as can end up costing you way too much.

With regards to cars paying for 30+ staffs wages you couldnt be more wrong, service takes care of their owns finances as do parts, admin is covered by the company as a whole so only a percentage of this comes out of the sales revenue and as ive mentioned already theirs sod all money in cars anymore, only place money is earned is in finance.