[sony]

With the A3 being my first new car I honestly do not know what to do.
The car is approaching it's 2nd birthday in September. The A3 is perfect in every way. I would love to keep it really- and mod it slightly but I know I'd never get my money back.
I'm fairly sure that I had read in a motoring magazine once that trading- in your car on their 2nd birthday apparently made more financial sense.
I honestly don't know wether this is true or not.
I recently went to see a good few MINI dealers to see how much it'd be worth right now and the best figure I could achieve was £14k. Meaning by it's 2nd birthday it'll probably worth less than £13k.
The way I see it, if I want to keep having newish cars and not adding a stupid amount of money every single time it definitely is best not to wait until it's 3rd birthday. The A3 seems to be worth about £9k by then!!
How do you guys do it?

[Ant FR]

theres no way round it, if you want new cars every two yerars then your going to be hit with depreciation

[Lucky Dave]

You are best buying a 2-3 year old motor and then get a couple of cheaper years motoring!

[dakini]

it depends ... a car isn't a viable financial investment, meaning you're going to lose money when you trade it in, period. all you can try to do is minimise the amount of money you lose.

i find the whole "new car every year or two" mindset strange and wasteful tbh ... my previous car had almost half a million miles on it when i sold it -- yes privately sold it -- to buy the mini. i plan on keeping the mini for a long time as well. sure, the car's not worth much when you sell it and it's old, but you also haven't put a lot of money into cars every year or two either ...

so if you're changing cars because you need something bigger/smaller/have problems/don't use it/want something that just came out then change it ... but otherwise, if you're just trading it in even though the car's great for you, but you think you're "supposed to" at two years, i don't think that makes much sense.

[Martin L]

New cars lose loads of money...

When is the optimum time to change is infuenced by many factors. e.g. what car you have, demand, season, is the model due for a facelift or replaced... this list goes on.

Anything less the 2 years is daft, not that I've not done that in the past

[Crammy]

I thik 2-3 years is the period you can minimise your losses

[RCS]

I lost £5k on a gold gti in about 18 months - not helped by the fact that it was Candy White i think! Dont forget the VAT you lose right away on it.

Buying new cars is a mugs game ... a game ive played twice before and lots loads - youd think id learn, but something about getting a car just the way you want it!

[RooniusMaximus]

The depreciation curve is steepest when the car's new. Most car's will lose around 50% of their value in the first three years.

You'll lose most money in the first year, slightly less in the second year, less again in the third etc etc.

The most expensive way to run cars is to buy new and sell in the first year. Selling in year two can't be much better. Buying a car when it's 2-3 years' old and keeping it for a couple of years allows you to get fairly new cars without losing a fortune.

[howie289]

Keep in mind that these comments are mixing % value lost with the actual amount lost.

The depreciation depends on many factors:
- Is model current or is there a new model out on the market
- Is car in demand/popular, new ones selling above list price
- Auto/Manual Trans
- A/C, sunroof
- Under warranty

[drainaudio]

In this day and age when we are actually fully aware of the havoc our "throw-away" lifestyle is causing on this planet I can't believe that people can still be into the 'I've gotta have a new car every 2 years" trip.

The manufacturing of a vehicle is the most polluting apsect..

With modern vehicle manufacturing being what it is in regards to machining tolerances, bodies that are properly galvanised etc and modern products such as waxes being vastly superior to days of old there is no reason whatsoever for a 5 - 10 year old car not to drive and look great providing a minimal effort has been made to maintain it.

It's not like the technology is vastly improving each year thus necessitating the constant turnover - cars from decades ago can still be superior to drive than many modern vehicles.

Maybe it's Karma - the best way to beat depreciation is to think carefully before purchasing and then make the effort to ensure your vehicle gives you many years of pleasurable motoring - what's 150k miles on a well engineered car these days, Merc taxis have been known to hit 1,000,000 miles on their original engine.

If you must go down the road of constantly buying new cars (not so much an issue if you always purchase 2nd hand I guess as they are already in the market place), then I think you deserve to be losing lots of money - makes me wonder what some people must be compensating for..

Cheers, Geoff..

[Tigger, Eeyore & Roo]

I take your point there.

It really hurt when I traded a perfectly good 2 1/2 year old Cooper for a new Cooper S in Feb last year; the car was properly serviced and I'd got the spec just as I wanted it. It was just the last chance I'd ever get to get a new supercharged S, so I went for it.

I'll be making up for it this time around though It's staying for as long as I can afford to run it, or it goes to the scrap yard, whichever comes first!

So I'd agree, get the purchase right in the first place and hang on to it for as long as possible. Don't trade just because you feel you have to.

[drainaudio]

Quote: Originally Posted by Tigger, Eeyore & Roo (original)

I take your point there.

It really hurt when I traded a perfectly good 2 1/2 year old Cooper for a new Cooper S in Feb last year; the car was properly serviced and I'd got the spec just as I wanted it. It was just the last chance I'd ever get to get a new supercharged S, so I went for it.

I'll be making up for it this time around though It's staying for as long as I can afford to run it, or it goes to the scrap yard, whichever comes first!

So I'd agree, get the purchase right in the first place and hang on to it for as long as possible. Don't trade just because you feel you have to.

ok, you are forgiven..
I know what you mean though as I did a similar thing, purchased a Cooper at 10 months old/4 k from the dealership (showroom then directors car) fell for the "Mini" drive and then desperately wanted to get an S I could hold onto for a long time - told myself I had to get a used one though so bought privately at 2 years/12k and boy did the original owner get hit with some depreciation - I paid aprox 60% of the new price.

This thread reminds me of my first car which I purchased when I was 17 and living in good old Australia - it was a 7 year old 1.6ltr Holden (Isuzu) "Gemini" panel van, red and black with roof racks, tinted windows, big "mag" wheels with BF Goodrich Radial TA tires (with the chunky white lettering) and I pimped out the back with padded crushed red velvet - I thought it was pretty slick, well.......it was actually, much fun was had.......
Cost me $4k Aussie dollars and had 160k kilometers on the clock.

It was economical, cheap to tax, cheap to insure, I could cart all my (musical) gear around in it, surfboards on the roof etc and with a Haynes manual I could do all the basic servicing myself.
I certainly learnt a lot with the forgivingly simple mechanicals of that car and polished it to within an inch of it's life.
No air-con though, it was an absolute oven in summer, did have an aftermarket removable glass sunroof (thank goodness).

I owned it for nearly 8 years (just didn't see the point of changing it) and during that time it had a used Jap Import 1.8ltr engine and 5 speed gearbox fitted at a cost of $1000 (after the original engine had valve issues, it was more economical and made sense to fit the used low mileage engine) and usual wear and tear items, servicing.

Called the AA twice because I once stupidly ran out of fuel and another time left the lights on flattening the battery - other than that it was totally reliable.

Sold it with 345k kilometers on the clock for $2500 Aussie dollars (to someone who approached me asking if I'd sell) and didn't realise at the time it was the cheapest car I was ever going to own in this lifetime..

Oh.........those were the days

[billy.batson]

Seems to me that, with the trade-in value of the MINI said to be over 70% after 3 years, it makes sense to buy a new one every three years, then you are constantly covered by guarantee.

[MINIAC]

Before buying my MINI I drove a 1973 BMW 2002 tii for almost 30 years

[drainaudio]

Quote: Originally Posted by MINIAC (original)

Before buying my MINI I drove a 1973 BMW 2002 tii for almost 30 years

My point exactly

Is that your actual 2002........in 2002?
If so that's absolutely lovely - I'd to be proud to be driving it, stunning!

Cheers, Geoff.

[MINIAC]

Quote: Originally Posted by drainaudio (original)

Is that your actual 2002........in 2002?
If so that's absolutely lovely - I'd to be proud to be driving it, stunning!

Cheers, Geoff.

It wasn't practical for me to have two cars, so the tii was sold shortly after that picture was taken

[sony]

Quote: Originally Posted by drainaudio (original)

I can't believe that people can still be into the 'I've gotta have a new car every 2 years" trip.

I get your point. The thing is, we all have our "hobbies" or whatever you want to call it. I really couldn't see myself driving the same car for years and years. Life is short and I intend to make the most of it. That's one aspect.
The other one is the guarantee- With cars these days becoming more and more complicated, I really wouldn't want to fork out £££'s on a lowish value car (compared to the new price) that I was bored with too.
Cars are so interesting these days, if I could I'd have a selection!! I love my current A3, it's got all the toys you'd realistically need but I just fancy a change, and want to do it before it's worth peanuts!
I work hard, and I intend to play hard too.

[ontheroadagain]

A timely thread for me considering I'm about to own a new Clubman on Monday.

I rationalize my buying history a bit, by saying my '04 was a beauty but a CVT and I put just shy of 50k miles on it in two years and was nervous due to CVT issues, so I got a brand new CVT for about $6000 (traded in) and of course I knew I was still driving a CVT with the 06 , but now I am getting a bigger MINI with a much better and more reliable auto transmission, etc., and do plan to hold on to it for a long, long, long time. At least that is the plan.

In hindsight, if I'd kept the first MINI I would have 80k miles on it... Maybe it would have held up fine, or maybe the CVT would have exploded... We'll never know. Do I feel slightly like an idiot - yes, slightly.

If and when I do divest myself ofl the Clubman, many moons from now, I am going to do my best to find a gently used car that will last a long, long, time.

[wiggis]

Quote: Originally Posted by sony (original)

How do you guys do it?

Cars are a very personal thing. The A3 is a nice car - aspirational for many. It sounds like you have a good reliable and well equipped example. There will always be a 2nd hand market for cars like that. They are about to release a facelifted R56 MINI. Now might not be a brilliant time to buy compared to a couple of months after the facelift model is out.

Unless there is a compelling reason for you to change car (like you need something smaller, bigger, or you are really unhappy with what you have, etc) then I would suggest waiting. If you really just want to get it out of your system, why not just hire a MINI for a couple of weeks and see how you get on? You might love it and decide that changing is the right thing to do, or you might just shake off the itchy feet and realise what a good car you already have ... With summer coming, you might be better off spending the money on a really nice holiday instead

[ontheroadagain]

Excellent advice. If you can hire one, by all means do that. Bottom line don't do anything you can't financially afford to do.