Depreciation

[IanA2]

How about this then.

My Top Spec SLK320 which retailed new almost exactly 2 years ago at around £38K is now, according to MB Direct worth...."based on these assumptions, according to industry valuation averages, your
vehicle is worth £19450-£20600." That's pushing 50% in 2 years. Did someone once say that Mercs in general and SLK's in particluar, had low depreciation? No more it would seem. I can't find one on any of their sites for less than £25K and those do not have as good a spec.

My, how the world turns.

 

[Benzowner]

When looking at car values, you must compare apples with apples. To compare trade in values with showroom sales is not like for like. Your car was probably purchased at top book price or thereabouts, so you should compare your cars top book price now with what you paid for it, the figures should look a little better

 

[IanA2]

I have and they don't. eg "What Car" valuation for an 03 plate with 1300 miles
dealer 26866
private 26350
p/ex 23592
trade 23239
new 35.375
And that's for the bog standard model, mine has a v good spec which brings the last figure much higher
I've checked other valuers Autotrader etc and they are all fairly close to Whatcar

 

[smartbrabus]

Is the price offered to you by MB Direct as a cash value, or as a trade in value on another MB from them?

Best way of minimising your losses is to sell the car privately, IMHO - the dealer always wins if you sell through them.

 

[Benzowner]

Unfortunately extras only add to the saleability not the value. Yes it would be nice to buy that car with all those extras, but those extras were your choice and maybe not the next owners choice. A buddy of mine recently bought a car with Sat Nav, what do I want that for he asked the salesman, I'm only gonna drive it to and from work

 

[IanA2]

Cash and extra's

Yes, the figure is a straight cash transaction

Re extra's: The figure I gave are without extra's....the "offer" still stinks as does the deprciation. I will sell privately and at about book price. Not at the price they have offered which is too silly for words.

 

[prprandall51]

This always happens when a new shape is launched (as in the new SLK). It's a killer for the values of the existing models, which is bizarre considering that the people who can afford the secondhand 320 don't have a hope in hell of buying the new model. However, they are probably comparing the desirability of your top-spec top-engined SLK with a new shape basic 200.

It appears that you had about £2,750 of extras on your car, which won't figure in the equation on secondhand value at all. Like you, I like to put them on but it makes me weep at sale time.

Finally, it is always difficult to get rid of any car privately over £20K. All you get are a load of time wasters talking about bank loans and lots of sleepless nights. I think that's part of the reason that great cars fall so quickly to a "floor" of around £15K - £20K. People can actually afford £15K - it's the price of a lot of conventional machinery (SLK or the new Tigra... not a difficult choice). I suspect the dealers know that any car at £24K + is going to spend a lot of time in Auto Trader and pitch their offers accordingly.

good luck selling.

PHilip

 

[peterchurch]

Unfortunately having the bigger engine is not better at resale time, as alot of second hand buyers actually care about MPG...

The other problem is, as others have said its hard to sell a top marque privately as most buyers will go to MB pay more and get a warranty.

 

[MainMan]

You need to sell privately. Dealers never pay much for cars at the best of times but now is a very bad time for them to be accumulating stock. That said I still don't think you're going to get the book value for it. The secondhand car market is flat on its back and new car registrations are also down. Buying a new car and then selling after a couple of years is always very expensive, even with so-called low depreciation cars like an SLK. If you'd bought a saloon the depreciation would be even worse. Looking on the bright side you've taken the worst of the depreciation and ownership from now on will be cheaper. Unless you're really desperate to sell I'd hang on to it.

BTW I actually don't think the new SLK has hit values of the R170 that much. The prices for the new SLK are so much higher. A fully specc'ed R171 350 costs over £50K and the depreciation on that, when the "new car" effect wears off, will be eye-watering.

 

[sasha]

the second hand car market continues to see values plummet

PCPs have had some impact i.e., more people are stepping into brand new cars (ever wondered how EVERYONE on the motorway seems to be in a £40K car?), therefore the supply at the upper echelon of the used car market remains healthy thereby forcing 2nd hand values down

and

consumers lack of appreciation of the whole life cost of a car, so they continue to 'afford' brand new cars (however they finance it)

and

car manufacturers' ability to keep the costs of new cars so competitive, as well as keeping supply healthy

and

increasing wealth, simply put, I am 33, when i was 17 one spent 3 - 5 years in aged, borderline illegal cars due to prohibitive costs. Now, like in the US, a great deal of teenagers are financing brand new hatches, because a) the wealth of the nation has got younger and b) the relative cost of motoring vs. earnings capability has decreased

economics drive these things; the second hand car market is going to get interesting when most manufacturers start diverting their capacity to chinese markets - suddenly we will only get a limited supply of cars we pay through the nose for and are 'grateful' for (like russians with ladas years ago)

lets hope our economies keep up to afford us more wealth in order to buy these coveted vehicles, at the higher spec. for our more spphisticated market. If our wealth is not sustainable, then our economic growth may be at risk and then we a) can't afford new cars and b) can't afford to run old cars!

supply could be increased at less expense, as production lines and raw materials get more and more efficient, but then we will chew through more oil which will only get more expensive (be it plastics or the cost of filling up)

so now the price of oil is a factor, the price of which is on the increase, not least because of the liberalisation of chinese markets and their new appetite for consumption

so the supply of new vehicles is no longer a big deal, the finite supply of oil is

ever wondered why we're chasing terrorist ghosts around the middle east???

 

[david_e]

Have you tried the Telegraph motoring section for valuations, they are GG based and whilst they will not make your car worth more it is another opinion.

Manheim motor auctions dispose of alot of MB's from MB direct - a call to them will give an idea of what they can achieve for it, and trade values etc.

 

[neilrr]

At a price of £20K am I correct in figuring the car cost you £13 per mile in depreciation alone? If you get £25K it will be only £10 per mile. can that be right?

 

[MainMan]

ever wondered how EVERYONE on the motorway seems to be in a £40K car?

It's because the UK is at the peak of a cycle and that cycle is one of unprecedentedly high wages, high house prices and high borrowings. Everyone has so much money that they'd rather buy a new car than a prefectly good 2 year old one. The chickens will come home to roost in the near future. The UK is hooked on a cycle of boom and bust and the bust is just around the corner. It's all so incredibly predictable.

 

[prprandall51]

So, reading the last few posts (mostly about the relationship between car prices and the global economy - all of which were very interesting viewpoints I had not heard before), I think that the advice we are all passing on to IanAlexander is that the best way for him to minimise the loss on his SLK is to nip out and:
re-engineer the UK economy, de-rail the Chinese development boom, cut the supply of PCP contracts at source, re-align the expectations of an ungrateful teenage population and cut MB production of the new SLK dead.

Then, by late this afternoon, he should clear a healthy £27-29K.

 

[neilrr]

So, reading the last few posts (mostly about the relationship between car prices and the global economy - all of which were very interesting viewpoints I had not heard before), I think that the advice we are all passing on to IanAlexander is that the best way for him to minimise the loss on his SLK is to nip out and:
re-engineer the UK economy, de-rail the Chinese development boom, cut the supply of PCP contracts at source, re-align the expectations of an ungrateful teenage population and cut MB production of the new SLK dead.

Then, by late this afternoon, he should clear a healthy £27-29K.

Correct, or, next time I think the best way to minimise is to buy a 2 year old car with 1,300 miles from somebody else who has been rogered hard by the depreciation!

 

[Satch]

Hmm. All this talk of grim valuations got me worried so I used the Parkers free valuation for a '53 E320Cdi Avantgarde Estate. Unless I have underestimated the demand for diesel estates, results do seem rather optimistic.

Figure for E320 petrol equivalent in brackets

Original Cost 35,885 (36,510)

Main dealer would now ask 35,340 (28,980)

Private sale 31,215 (25,600)


Can this be right?

 

[prprandall51]

Well, when I bought my 320 CDi AG estate last October, I was stunned to find dealers asking virtually list for used equivalents. But they were more pre-registered than secondhand. In other words, they were immaculate low-mileage or virtually-no-mileage cars, not real "had the dog in the back, been to the south of France, scuffed the bumper" cars. Perhaps they show up in these price guides as dealer secondhand cars?

The amazing thing was how the salespeople would pitch them as complete bargains with absolutely no sign of a smirk across their lips!

Philip

 

[SimonsMerc]

Oh yes. The new shape E320CDI estate is a gold mine. They are simply unavailable - no-one has them or can get them used. A friend of mine, very impressed with my car (which is a W210 E320CDI estate) wanted to buy a used one, and the only one he found was a 54 plate for...wait for it...the same price as a new one. The only advantage to him would have been that he didn't have to wait for the new one to become available - apparently there is almost 0 stock in the country at the moment, and you're having to order them with a few months lead time.

In the end he bought BMW 535d touring, which is also a damn nice car, and can actually be purchased

If you want to sell your E320CDI, now is a damn good time

-simon

 

[garystu1965]

I have and they don't. eg "What Car" valuation for an 03 plate with 1300 miles
dealer 26866
private 26350
p/ex 23592
trade 23239
new 35.375
And that's for the bog standard model, mine has a v good spec which brings the last figure much higher
I've checked other valuers Autotrader etc and they are all fairly close to Whatcar

It matters not a jot what the books say it is worth. It's what a trader, private buyer, dealer is prepared to pay for it. As soon as you buy a car you lose loads of money. If you bought a car from a dealer and then sold it privately (which would get you back the most money) you'd lose 20% straight away. Throw the books away - they are no use.

 

[david_e]

The great thing about a used car (or any used item for that matter) is that is has no real price and is worth whatever some will pay for it. Hence the confidence expressed by the salespeeps, they will have experienced this more often than not.