Has your car lost half of its value?

Some cars on the SA market lose up to half their value in one year according to a study of car depreciation by Moneyweb, including certain Renaults, Chryslers and Nissans.

Depreciation is often the most expensive component of car cost in the early months of a car's life.

It found that Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche held their value best in percentage terms while three models of Renault's Laguna range lost the most value in the first year.

The Laguna 3.0 Privilege depreciated by 52 percent and the Laguna 2.0 Expression by 49 percent.

Other poor performers were Chrysler's Crossfire sports car which plummeted in value by more than 40 percent, while the Nissan Almera lost 38 percent of its new value in a year.

The table is split into two pages – car manufacturers A-L and M-Z - and is based on Trans-Union's Auto Dealers' Guide, the "bible" of used car values, which uses real prices paid for cars across the country as a reference for car dealers.

It compares the new prices of vehicles to their present trade value and expresses the depreciation as a percentage, based on a car in standard condition with an average mileage.

Econometrix analyst Tony Twine said: "A car's residual value is hit heavily in the year it's discontinued; its value is lower than usual a year later but by the third year it's more or less back to normal."

Another motoring analyst said Nissan's volume models depreciated badly due to huge sales to the rental industry at severely discounted price; these cars were then dumped on the dealer network after their time with the rental companies.

He added: "Almeras also suffered from a falsely inflated new list price to make them appear to be priced along with their competitors. However, the real price you paid was always way below the stated retail price."

The car that held its value best was the Porsche 911 Carrera Cabriolet which depreciated by 9.49 percent in a year - a modest percentage, although a rather steep R94 425 in rand terms.

The next best value-holder was the Mercedes ML SUV at 10 percent in one year. The Porsche and VW stables had the most models with the lowest depreciation.

Data disputed

The average depreciation of the 824 vehicles surveyed was 22 percent in the first year compared to 27.16 percent in 2005.

Twin said many manufacturers and dealers disputed the use of the Auto Dealers' Guide figures in the survey but could not offer a substitute as no other statistics exist in the motoring industry.

"When you trade in your car, the first thing dealers take out of their pocket is this guide. They seldom budge from the figures when working out a trade-in value."

http://www.motoring.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=3742521&fSectionId=751&fSetId=381

Image A-L Click on the Image to enlarge
Image M-Z Click on the Image to enlarge