[acerboo]

its relevant to how long you keep it. I always look after my cars both bodily and mechanically to get longevity from them. for example I had an r reg discovery new I kept it for 14 years and it had done 140,000 miles I paid £23000 for it and sold it for £2750. I spent about £700 on parts plus servicing. it was still going strong and only sold it as had an offer of a very cheap series 2. the way I look at it is once they have have passed the 100,000 mile mark provided you don't have any major cost issues they start actually earning you money. I work this out because once they become worth very little yet are still giving good service that's a bonus. id say most bmw's should give 150,000 + without major issues if properly cared for so depreciation is not an issue, where you lose out is buying new and selling within 4-5 years.

[JackR]

My father just bought a Ranger Rover Sport straight from Land Rover. It was delivered to his house and by the time it was off the truck it would've lost about £5k. If you go in buying a car already working out what you're going to lose when it comes to sell it on then you're buying the car wrong!!

He'll keep that car for probably 5/10 years. It's not an investment and it's bought because it's what he wanted. I can't wait to get my mits on it!!!!!!

[90MSP]

Originally Posted by wolly440

I've always followed some sound advice. Your better off buying a low spec premium car, that a high spec budget car. The premium car well be worth more in the long run. The longer you keep a car for the more cost effective it becomes

Agreed, some cars will retain value and even increase depending on how desirable they are. Best I have done was a Mazda MX5 with pop up headlights (everyone should own a car with pop up headlights at some point ). Bought it for £2000 and sold it two and half years later for £2,300. And didn't do a thing to it, not even tyres.

[wolly440]

unless you buy a minger, then it will cost you more in the long run

[90MSP]

Originally Posted by wolly440

unless you buy a minger, then it will cost you more in the long run

That's true, I bought an Alfa GT JTD (purchase from the heart and not the head), that cost me nearly £2000 in repairs over one year, and still needed more when I sold it ! ... my last ever Alfa

[badgerbrock72]

not sure i believe the 50% rule of thumb, for example

bought my 330D M Sport - high spec - for 23450 i had priced up all the options new it will have been £44K

It was 13 months old when i got it, and had 5100 on the clock!

so it was worth 53% of its value at 13 months old, did i get a bargain or not?

its currently valued at approx 20500 on a private sale 19000 on a trade. and its coming up to 3 years old

Garry

[HighlandPete]

Originally Posted by badgerbrock72

not sure i believe the 50% rule of thumb, for example

bought my 330D M Sport - high spec - for 23450 i had priced up all the options new it will have been £44K

It was 13 months old when i got it, and had 5100 on the clock!

so it was worth 53% of its value at 13 months old, did i get a bargain or not?

its currently valued at approx 20500 on a private sale 19000 on a trade. and its coming up to 3 years old

Garry

In my experience over the years, the 50% 'rule of thumb' is pretty much the score, if you are buying in and out at the 3 year mark.

Where there is the chance to limit our depreciation hit, on a decent car, is as you have illustrated. Something I also did 18-months ago. But not to everyone's taste to look for a car around the year mark, where depreciation is usually at its worst and buy in for a period long enough to really benefit from the saving.

I bought at over a 40% saving from new list, with just 6k on the clock. High specced, so options of over £15k virtually given away by BMW, as well as the first year 'high percentage' depreciation skipped. Car was just like new, just driven by one BMW UK director for 6k miles.

Looking at it factually and bluntly, the car had cost over £4 per mile, just on depreciation alone, before I bought it. However desirable and perfect a car, I'd never have bought it new. But as it is, it is as sensible a car to run as buying a much cheaper new car, for "all in" motoring costs. I'll keep it long enough that depreciation is a realistic factor, when moving on.

I've bought new before, but nearly new makes most financial sense, even if you intend to run a car for a longish term. Trading virtually any car too close to new has to be financial suicide.

HighlandPete

[badgerbrock72]

That's exactly what I thought- it was a directors car highly spec'd and at just over 1yr old I hopefully wouldn't lose massively on it, whilst being virtually new.

The F30 had just hit the road at that time too which probably was in my favour, buying an 'old' model

So out of interest how long is optimum time to keep it before moving it on, I was thinking of selling it either soon, or holding onto it for another 18 months at which point it'll be 4 years old with approx 40k on the clock

Cheers

Garry

[ukbeemerboy]

Originally Posted by Kassim786

See with me, hopefully if things go well
I will be getting married soon. ( starting a family ) maybe in a year it two .... Looked at the audi A7 and thought to my self if I get rid of the BMW and then hold out a year I can get into a nice reg A7

If I sell te car the money I get will sit in the bank and will be of the same value next year, where as even if I keep my car As a garage queen its an asset that will depreciate

Damn it !!

If your worried about depreciation on a E93 then do not put your money into an Audi A7. That will depreciate a lot more as all big premium cars do.

[Narcosis]

Originally Posted by wolly440

IYour better off buying a low spec premium car, that a high spec budget car.

This describes my 2010 335i xdrive perfectly.

[Dsport]

Classic cars are an investment

[djgandy]

Originally Posted by badgerbrock72

not sure i believe the 50% rule of thumb, for example

bought my 330D M Sport - high spec - for 23450 i had priced up all the options new it will have been £44K

It was 13 months old when i got it, and had 5100 on the clock!

so it was worth 53% of its value at 13 months old, did i get a bargain or not?

its currently valued at approx 20500 on a private sale 19000 on a trade. and its coming up to 3 years old

Garry

Depends whether you think it was worth £44K new. If you go by list price of course, but that car is really £32k new + extras that are negotiable. I am assuming you bought an E90, the last run of that car was probably going for around £29k with a much higher RRP.

The E92 had a huge price drop too before the 4 series came in. A 335i M sport coupe came down to £30k with a "RRP" of around 38k.

You got a good deal though and that is what matters.

[russdx]

Never buy a car as an investment lol, Amount of money i put into newish cars every 2 years is ridiculous lol. I am now leasing and it actually works out A LOT CHEAPER then buying and selling! (but there other disadvantages luckily in my situation they do not matter)

Bought my 2011 for £24k year and bit ago now its worth like £16k at best LOL BUT I LOVE driving it and well worth the 8k loss

[HighlandPete]

Originally Posted by Dsport

Classic cars are an investment

As long as you treat them like stocks and shares, as they can go up and down in value like other markets.

HighlandPete

[Not a Diesel!!!]

I tend to try & go for something as rare as possible with a good press review & thus there will always be enthusiasts willing to pay a premium.

This has worked well for me on fast Renaults that depreciate like a stone but generally heralded as the best hot hatches. Also works well if the model does not have a direct replacement ( Brabus Roadster Coupe) or the replacement is inferior (ie Clio Trophy to first 197 or Clio 200 to new Clio 200 turbo)

I think any of us will struggle with BMW's to mainstream.

The best I have been able to do is find a high spec 330i LCI sport touring with a manual box. Replaced by 328i (2.0 turbo engine) it is the last of the NA straight 6. On the basis I wanted one bad enough to look for 9 months I assume there will be someone else as crazy as me & I am pretty much guaranteed it will be the only one for sale when I come to sell.

[Snow Leopard]

Cars are not an investment, they never have been and they never will be. I have had over
160 vehicles in my life so far and enjoyed most of them been through all the German one's
and with out doubt the BMW is the best of the bunch my 6cyl coupe e92,is my last motor,
my opinion, and I am happy with it cheers,(new guy)name of Derek cheers all..

[rasa bmw]

holy thread revival batman..

[The0pportunist]

Originally Posted by Snow Leopard

Cars are not an investment, they never have been and they never will be. I have had over
160 vehicles in my life so far and enjoyed most of them been through all the German one's
and with out doubt the BMW is the best of the bunch my 6cyl coupe e92,is my last motor,
my opinion, and I am happy with it cheers,(new guy)name of Derek cheers all..

Exception being classic cars & rare supercars of course.

Even though i'm fully aware cars are not an investment I still find it very hard to stomach the depreciation.

[nomiS330d]

My now ex was always nagging me to get a newer car so I reluctantly ‘bought’ (financed) a 3 year old focus st. I knew I was going to lose my ass on it but that’s what she wanted. Anyway, we then split up so I decided I didn’t want the repayments anymore. Yep, lost a grand in 6 months. I’ve bought cars for less than that that have lasted longer than 6 months and still had something to sell at the end.
With my current E92 I boxed smarter. Bought at about 10 years old from a dealer that took it in part ex and wasn’t really interested in it, just wanted it gone. Everything with the car checked out and it drove well so paid £5250 for it. Ok, so that was probably not a complete bargain but nearly 2 years on I reckon I could get that or pretty close back even now. The best bit is the car has been brilliant, reliable and I still love driving it. Would I have loved owning a new version of mine with all the massive costs associated?
Hand on heart I can honestly say no!