The Car Depreciation Awards: Post Yours

[Foxhound5366]

First, a little context for this thread. We're always in search of the holy grail of cars that don't depreciate, but there don't appear to be any public sources in South Africa that make real-world depreciation figures transparent. TransUnion for example has all the data that they sell to car dealerships, and they're not gonna make it public because A) they'd lose dealership money; and B) the dealers would freak out.

Cue this thread. The premise is simple, just copy and paste your answers to this and we should see an interesting picture:
1) What car do you own/have recently owned (year, make, model + derivative)?
2) Did you buy it new or pre-owned (+how old when purchased)?
3) How much was its retail price when you bought it? (i.e. NOT the price you paid with trade-in assistance or after deposit)?
4) What is its trade-in value now/when you sold it, and how many months after purchase is that?
5) (If you know) After how many months in total (from purchase) will your car have/had positive equity for the first time (trade in value > amount owed to bank)?*
*Disclaimer: Question 5 is heavily influenced by the repayment plan you took out, how much of a deposit etc. So this is just a point of interest question, not apples-for-apples.

1) 2013 BMW 320i F30 A/T Luxury Line
2) Pre-owned (roughly 4 years old when purchased in June 2017)
3) R250 000 (ex 'on the road' costs)
4) Around R170 000 (after 19 months)
5) BMW Financial Services estimates I'll have positive equity around December 2020 (i.e. 3.5 years after purchase)


And there you have it ... dunno, I was kinda hoping a pre-owned BMW would do better than that. Positive equity after 3.5 years is pretty meh (my previous car WAS a new Citroen so I know all about painful depreciation), but without my 35% residual it could probably have been just under 3 years.

 

[AchmatK]

I'll probably win this with the worst value.

1) 2013 Citroën DS5 2l diesel
2) Purchased new July 2013
3) ±R420 000 (finance Amount was only R350k after taking into account the trade in)
4) Will be lucky to get R150 000 if I sold it privately today.
5) Car will be paid off in 5 month time.

 

[Foxhound5366]

I'll probably win this with the worst value.

1) 2013 Citroën DS5 2l diesel
2) Purchased new July 2013
3) ±R420 000 (finance Amount was only R350k after taking into account the trade in)
4) Will be lucky to get R150 000 if I sold it privately today.
5) Car will be paid off in 5 month time.

Oof ... I like the DS5! I bought a Citroen C3 new for R185 000 and sold it five years later for R65 000 ... it was a bloody shame. Such a great little car too, I should have just kept it but I had to settle to get the new car. But yeah, 60% depreciation in 5 years is insane.

 

[Foxhound5366]

I should just throw it out there that the point of this thread isn't just to reveal terrible depreciation, but also to recognise the cars that depreciate the least. I wonder whether the Toyota myth holds true.

 

[nazmo]

1) 2011 Polo Gti Twincharged DSG
2) Demo model with 4000kms
3) R240 000 (Was R232000 but added full 5 yr MP)
4) R168 000 5 yrs later with 95000kms (I did spend R18k on extending comprehensive MP by another 2 yrs)
5) Cant Recall, but with such a good value maintained, i got a massive deposit on my current car.

Was very surprised how well it traded, but i had similar experience with my YARIS 12 years ago. They usually kept in great nick though.

 

[rodga]

So you bought a BMW and thought it would would still hold some value after the motor plan expires? Lol...

 

[nazmo]

So you bought a BMW and thought it would would still hold some value after the motor plan expires? Lol...

Hahahhaaa. true that. I sell every car a few months before warranty expires. so ownership is usually just under 5 yrs. that and i really dont want a modern car failing on me.

 

[Jet-Fighter7700]

So you bought a BMW and thought it would would still hold some value after the motor plan expires? Lol...

ALL luxury cars depreciate as soon as the motor plan expires as the parts are SO expensive,
just a fact of life, especially when the new models come out, the old ones (that might be built well) depreciate like a sinking ship.

 

[pinball wizard]

2006 Renault Megane II Sedan (1.6 Expression)
R165 000.00 (new)
Paid off in 2011
Sold as trade in last year for R20 000.00 (The dealer sold it on again for R45 000.00)

I'm not sure what that means in your depreciation model.

 

[rietrot]

2002 Opel astra 1.6 CDE
Bought it in 2012 for R45000
There's some on the Internet going for about the same or more. Realistically I expect I can sell it for Just under R40k just because I'm not a very good salesman.
Depreciation 15%(R5k) over ~7years.

Kia sportage 2014
Bought it in 2016 for R220k
Checked now there's still some of them on cars.co.za for R200k that's maybe a bit optimistic.

So 10%(R20k) over 3 years. It should drop off quite a bit now because it's at the end of its warranty.

 

[supersunbird]

1) 2012 Ford Figo AmbienteWhat car do you own/have recently owned (year, make, model + derivative)?
2) Pre-owned - 1 year old ex-rental
3) R99 000 (Sept 2013)
4) R76,100 (according to my newest policy document received yesterday)
5) Was about 3 years.

 

[Tman*]

If I had the liquidity to do it, I'll put my name down on the waiting list to buy the Golf 8 GTI cash.

Historically I have never seen a car hold such good value as a new GTI when they get released.

 

[Gtx Gaming]

1) What car do you own/have recently owned : 2012 320D
2) Did you buy it new or pre-owned : 5 Years old when I bought it
3) How much was its retail price when you bought it? 220k
4) What is its trade-in value now/when you sold it, and how many months after purchase is that? almost 2 years later bmw graph says its worth 164k. I am still using the car.
5) Positive from September 2018, I paid in 80k extra that month. Also paid in 60k deposit when I bought the car. Took it on 5 year payment plan, I want to pay it off now, but would rather keep some savings for a rainy day. Plan to pay it off somewhere this year.

 

[PsYTraNc3]

1) 2014 Hyundai i20 1.4D
2) Bought new
3) 215 000 March 2014 (Discounted to R195 000)
4) R100 000 when sold in September 2018
5) After a few more payments. Owed R109k when trading in.
Deposit mostly covered the service and maintenance plan so point 5 would be pretty accurate.

 

[Gaz{M}]

1) 2011 Audi A4 2.0TFSI Multitronic
2) 2 years old 25 000kms
3) R295 000 Feb 2012
4) R125 000 Feb 2016
5) R50 000 equity when traded in at Audi.
Extended motorplan by 1 year for R20 000 in the final year before trade in.


Out of interest, a family member:

1) 2017 Audi RS6 Avant Plus
2) Brand new
3) +-R1.6 Million
4) +-R1.75 Million 6 months later (cash buyer begged to buy it)
5) R150 000 profit and drove for free for 6 months.

 

[handyman007]

ALL luxury cars depreciate as soon as the motor plan expires as the parts are SO expensive,
just a fact of life, especially when the new models come out, the old ones (that might be built well) depreciate like a sinking ship.

So you'd say an used 2017, 2018 BMW 3 series price will drop significantly when the new 3 series is introduced March 2019?

 

[Neuk_]

1) 2015 Volkswagen Golf R
2) New
3) R620k
4) Trade - R387k/Retail - R441k 38 months after purchase.
5) I am guessing it was late last year but I haven't kept a record of current trade/retail values.

 

[handyman007]

1) 2015 Toyota Corolla Quest 1.6
2) New.
3) R 175 000.
4) Trade in now about R 135 000
5) Paid in extra when I had money available. Positive equity now of about R 113 000.

 

[rodga]

So you'd say an used 2017, 2018 BMW 3 series price will drop significantly when the new 3 series is introduced March 2019?

you would think thats what would happen, but I dont think second hand dealers will discount too much
unless you trading in, thats when they start with all the excuses lol

 

[supersunbird]

So I've lost about 25% value in 5.5 years it seems. Not bad.