For those of you who might be interested in used car pricing, here's another way to diagnose whether a particular car is a good deal or not:

Suppose you see an used 2005 car being advertised for 21,000 and initially you think its a steal because they car stickered for 27,000 when it was new.

But if you look at the numbers carefully and do some simple math....
1. A used 2005 vehicle is 4 years or 48 months old by now (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008)
2. The savings you would have gotten is 27,000-21,000 = 6000.
3. Assuming that you are the 2nd owner, it would have only costed the first owner:

$6000/48 months = $125/month to use this vehicle
Such a figure is MUCH lower than even a monthly payment for a lease

4. Depending on mileage, the 1st owner has not taken the hit on the depreciation, you are taking the hit on depreciation as it only costed him $125 a month to use this vehicle unless the vehicle is EXTREMELY low mileage.

 

i get your concept, but a 2005 is not 4 years old. were only 2 months into 2008 so you cant use 2008.

assuming it was purchased in Jan 05, its only 37-ish months.

 

an 03' Z is 48 months old!

 

We're counting by model years. The 2008 MY started selling in the fall of 2007 and we're almost through winter of 2008. To a Z owner a 2005 may not be a 4 year old vehicle, but to a typical used car buyer that knows that the Z is still in production and is still being produced at high volumes makes it a 4 year old vehicle.

 

What type of math have you used to figure that a 2003 vehicle is only 48 months old by now?

 

however your math works out, factor this in, the first years of a vehicle's life are its hardest price drops. So the second owner should loose even less over the same amount of time. Plus you are fooling yourself if you think the only cost of a car is the car payment.

Also wernt some 05z's made in 2005? A car made in feb of 05 is only 3 years old, please explain this mysterious math of yours.

 

I'm not exactly sure who your post is directed to but the bolded part is exactly my point and if it's not reflected in the average implied depreciation based on the seller's asking price, then it's not a good buy. In other words, using my example, if the average deprecation for the vehicle is less than $200 a month for the past 4 years (based on: current model year 2008 - item's model year 200x +1), then you might as well buy new.

Second, this is simplying "buying/leasing" and we're only talking about purchasing a vehicle, not the upkeep. In fact, if you want to include the maintenance costs in the argument then it further proves my point.

 

Z/G Owner:
No
Location:
New Jersey
Color:
Black
Trim Level:
N/A

Smart. Now buy a 350Z.

 

is the op saying that the car will depreciate more over the next x years, compared to the last x years?

 

I'm saying this is a way to determine whether buying a particular used car at a particular price is a good deal or not.

If you take MSRP and subtract the asking price of the vehicle, you would get the savings over a new vehicle. Then you divide the savings by the number of model years that have been released afterwards to include the model year of the vehicle on sale. And you further divide that figure by the number of months in a year. The resulting figure would be the average depreciation per month based on the seller's asking price.

If the average depreciation value is so low as to be lower than the monthly payment for a lease contract or a finance contract, then it would be wise to just purchase the vehicle new, use it for a similar number of years and resell it.

 

This thread is really confusing, your depreciation figures are horrible because nissans have GOOD resale value that's why we buy them. You are not figuring tt+l on the first owner.

You are not figuring in the cost of financing the car for 4 years either.

using your example for a 27k car financing charges assuming that the owner paid at a 10% interest rate and owner taking care of tt+l would be 6870.57

http://www.bankrate.com/brm/auto-loa...Feb+24%2C+2013

taxes and fees vary by state so let's assume 6.25% in texas + 183 in tl

= 1745.50

adding all that together buying a used car makes sense more than buying a brand new car in ANY case unless new car have special rates and rebates.

 

1. My depreciation values are based on what owners think they can get for their cars. Therefore, depreciation values of $100/month are incredilbly good especially when you compare that to the monthly payments of leases and finance contracts.
2. TTL for the first owner is a moot point because the 2nd owner would have to pay taxes on the sale of a new car as well (at least in most states this is the case). If a Nissan does not depreciate quickly, then your argument of taxes is irrelevant.
3. Buying a used car only makes sense if the car depreciates quickly. It would not make sense to buy a used car that doesn't depreciate that much since you might as well have bought a new car. Again let's go through the math.

An owner of a 2004 Z offers his Z for sale at $21,000. The car originally stickered for $27,000.
Let's give him the benefit of the doubt and call it a 4 year old vehicle (even though most would consider it a 5 year old because: 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008).
There are 48 months in 4 years.
Buying used would result in a ballpark savings of $27,000-$21,000 = $6000
The average depreciation is $6000/48 months = $125 per month!

So, if what you're telling me is that this is the typical depreciation rate for a Nissan Z, then WHY buy used at all? At -$125 per month, I might as well buy a new 2008 outright and sell it in 4 or 5 years time. Hell at $125 per month, that's WAY below the lease payments or finance payments of a Z....and it's a brand new Z too!

4. I'm not arguing that buying new is better than buying used. Buying used can be better than buying new at a certain price point. The example I brought forth obviously shows that buying a 2004 Z for $21,000 is NOT a good deal when the car originally stickered for $27,000.

 

dude you never answered my question. The car wont depreciate over the next 4 years as much as it has over the past 4. Cars depreciate more in their earlier years. So take for instance i bought my 05 enthu z about 6 months ago for 20k, i can still sell it today for 20k, resulting in a loss of $0.00. Whats your rebuttle to that?

take it for the friendly debate that it is

 

You've added an owner and mileage to the car. That alone is enough to depreciate the car. I highly doubt you could sell it for as much as you bought it for to an educated consumer. Maybe try your luck with some fanboy kid and his rich parents.

 

+1
r34 racer is correct.

If what my05350z is telling us is that in the last 6 months his car has depreciated $0.00 then his

MRD (Marginal Rate of Deprecation) = 0

If what my05350z is also telling us is that the first 4 years of a car depreciates faster than the next 4 years after the initial four years then the

ARD (Average Rate of Deprecation) of a brand new 350z

If the ARD > MRD
Then it would logically tell us that a slightly used Z is becoming a better buy as it is both newer and becoming the same price as an older 350z since that older 350z doesn't depreciate as much (6 month depreciation value of $0.00 according to my05350z).

If you don't believe me, go to a college library and research the Kuo-Nayak Theory of Depreciation.

 

Thanks captain obvious...you get a fukn bozo button!

 

Here's just a sampling of what Mr. Polo offers this forum (you see, he's a pricing official for used 350Z's...and by him, 2007 Base 350's can be had for $22K).

"Yes, because they are selling used 07 base Zs for no more than $22,000 around here.

Given that a used 07 base Z could be had for $22,000, I wouldn't pay more than $15,000 for a first model year 03' base Z."

"Hrmm....23,500? That's a bit high since new 07s are selling for only 500 more.

http://www.carsdirect.com/build/opti...&restore=false"

"Perhaps you just hate that fact that your high-volume production vehicle does lose value with every passing year and loses even more everytime a major update is made to the model line. Had I truly hated the Z, trust me, I wouldn't have been a member of this forum for a decent amount of time with more than one hundred posts."

"Anything more you might as well just look for a 07 or new 08. "

"You could get a new 08 350z base for 26,000. There's no way in hell anyone is going to pay 25k for a 5 year old model when they could get a new one for no more than $2000 more (irregardless of what trim it is)."

"For 24k, people would just opt to go to the dealer for a new 2008 base Z, not even a used Z. They'd go to the dealer for a used 2007 base Z if the price is around 20-22k."

"CarsDirect is selling new 08 base Z for 26,500 in my area. I wouldn't even touch a used 07 base for more than 22,000, which means your 06 base without the VQ35HR can't sell for more than 19,000 (even less if the buyer is aware of the prevalence of oil consumption problems in the Rev-Up motors)."

"Not to crap on some people....

But, many times, those who tend to worry TOO MUCH are the people who barely afforded their Z. Let me set the record straight. I am not rich and I don't own a Z. I am a college student, but from what I understand, people need to learn to live within their means."

In response to what I bolded above. You ARE crapping on others....so STFU college kiddie

 

OP- Your car buying advice is truly "different" (read: awful). If you actually get off the computer and around real car transactions/auctions, and perhaps bought an expensive car or two, you would realize this very quickly.

It rarely makes sense to buy a lightly used Honda/Toyota/Nissan unless 5-8k/term of ownership is going to make a financial depression for you; and if that's the case there's nothing wrong with that. It makes sense to buy a lightly used Ford or Suzuki.

 

Let me play devil's advocate for a second here. It sounds like most people here are upset with Polo's valuation of our cars...but purely objectively, it's a high production, low-price point, moderate performance vehicle that will be in production for the next couple years. It is not a collectible, nor is it of such high build quality or class that it maintains its value, especially not in light of the fact that tens of thousands of new ones are available at the drop of a hat. Naturally, the used car market is well aware of these facts.

For the record, I'm about to close a deal on a beautiful Magnetic Black 06 Enthusiast w/15k miles for 18.5k, private seller. The car is mint with no accident or drivetrain malfunction history. Take that as you may.

 

That is quite the deal, I hope it's as nice as you want it to be.