The worst-performing car, according to the Glass’s survey, is the Alfa Romeo 166, with a three-year-old model retaining just 12 per cent of its original value. That makes a 55-plate Alfa Romeo 166 3.2 V6 Lusso worth just over £3500.

Wow!!
 
There was an article in Autocar a few weeks back saying not to buy the Mk2 Leon Cupra as it's keeping it's value too well......later it said to strike a deal on Mk1 models instead.

I'll copy it late if I get a chance

I'm sorry that's complete rubbish (the article that is).

The Mk 2 Leon Cupra depreciaties like a lead balloon.

35% in the first year and on average about £500 a month after that.

I should know I just sold one...

FR petrol is similar if you read some of the posts on this forum.

A few months ago dealers would put a year old one up for £16995, not anymore...
 
As it says not fair to put the 911 up against the Leon as the mileage won't be done on 90%+ of 911's I doubt.

At 3 years old and 21K miles, my 911 was worth north of 60% and even now at 4.5 years old and 35K miles it's only just fallen below 50% even in the current credit crunch with prices dropping fast.......
 
I suspect the Mini got hit because of all the Foxton's estate agent cars that were bought to ferry the agents. (Maybe that is a London only joke)
 
its funny reading posts like this after all you buy a car cause you like it , its never going to gain in value (unless limited edition of rare) in fact you know as soon as you hand over the cash you have lost money , do i care if my cupra depreciates less than a lambo?
no is the simple answer i just get in start her up move off and have a big grin on my face.

if you buy a car worrying how much its going to be worth later on stick to older second hand cars which will probably reach their lowest sale point at some time regardless of how many owners it has.

just my 2p
 
The issue is that most people buying cars only keep them 2 to 3 years and especially people on here who are enthuiasts change more often than that. I think the average in the U.K is 3 years.

Most people finance cars over 3 years or more and often on a PCP so the use value is crucial.

If a car depreciates too quick then many people end up in negative equity. I know for a fact a Cupra is worth about £13000 a year old at the moment, that's a loss of £7000 (depending on exact spec). A person who is forced to sell that car for whatever reason unless they paid a big deposit or have high monthly payments will have to find a fair bit of money just to settle the negative equity.

You have to look at how well the car holds its value, as it influences your next purchase. Unless you plan on keeping the car forever which most people don't.
 
i think your last pointis the valid point "how long you want to keep the car".

i do buy cars to last , i have a loan over 5 years and will keep it at least that long.

trouble at the mo with car purchase is the swings and roundabouts syndrome , if u bought a car 4 months ago before credit crunch you are going to loose out long term , but on the other hand if you were thinking of buying a year old car you will now make a huge saving compared to before credit crunch.

btw 1 bought before the credit crunch and paid top money even though i did get a very good deal ;)
but that looks a bad buy now all the credit crunch bull crap has panicked the world.

1 question is pcp a good deal?
i looked at doing it and glad i didnt , dont think personaly its a good deal.
 
1 question is pcp a good deal?
i looked at doing it and glad i didnt , dont think personaly its a good deal.

PCP can work for some people but isn't the best way of buying a car. I had one once so to sum up my thoughts.

PCP is a product inbetween leasing and HP. In some ways it is just HP but worked differently to have a balloon at the end.

The advantage is if you don't have much money you can drive a car for minimal monthly payments and also drive an expensive car cheaply. Quite a few TT's are on PCP the high resale makes the monthly payment low. Until the point you need to pay the balloon its a cheap was of getting a car. The issue is to own the car outright you need to pay off the balloon somehow and are always paying interest on the balloon.

Sometimes the APR can be favourable, but when we got a quote on PCP for a used car the APR was 26% :scary:

The other downside which applies to most car finance is that you pay a fee to take out the loan and another to own the car at the end (applies to HP and PCP).

At the end of my PCP I wangled having the last 2 payments waived if I bought a new car but compared conventional HP to PCP and the HP was actually cheaper each month over term and I owned the car after 4 years whereas I would need to refinance if I was keeping the car after 2 on the PCP.

PCP does have one key advantage that in a climate like this you can walk away provided you have kept to the mileage and other terms specified at the end of the PCP even if the car isn't worth as much as the balloon. Car makers got stung for this in the early 90's when PCP became popular. Hot hatches etc became worthless due to the insurance and people simply handed the keys to their Cosworths back at the end of the PCP.