When does the depreciation level off pretty much? After the first year mostly or the 2nd year as well? I found out insurance was just $300/year to get an 04 vs. 01. Oh yeah my record is clean and its still gonna cost me $1400/year for an 01 with a $250 deductible for comp/coll with Geico.

 

usually first yr depreciation is alot, second yr is also big. for example, i bought my 02 in 04 for 22.5k so thats about 11k off msrp in 2 years. it really levels off after 2 yrs though. also, i got a good deal on mine as the owner needed to sell asap.

 

s2000 value is going down big time. ive seen some for as low as 15g's.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Francesco &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">s2000 value is going down big time. ive seen some for as low as 15g's.</TD></TR></TABLE>

sadly this is true

 

Vehicles are not good investments anyway - unless you're purchasing an exotic.

If you're worried about depreciation you need to lease.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by coquinn &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Vehicles are not good investments anyway - unless you're purchasing an exotic.

If you're worried about depreciation you need to lease.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Leasing is the worst thing you could do. You have the car for three years and you're already paying for half of the cars value.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by coquinn &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Vehicles are not good investments anyway - unless you're purchasing an exotic.

If you're worried about depreciation you need to lease.</TD></TR></TABLE>

or your buying an old car to restore and re sell

 

I'm not worried about it Coquinn. I make 22.5/hr. But who wants a car to depreciate that much. I can wait and let someone else who doesnt care about depreciation worry about it. I'm going back to dental school next year, whatever car I choose now will be stuck with me for another 4 years. If I can save $2k than I will save $2k of course. No more income after this year. I really want the 04 but might settle for a 02. I dont want to get an 02, pay tax, sell it, and then buy a 04 and pay tax again. it's only 8 more months before the 06 comes out!

 

Nobody wants a car that depreciates alot, the thing is...the S2000 is not really depreciating any worse than any other car in its class. And atleast you arnt dealing with Ford depreciation, you should see some of the Mustang Cobra's my brother has got on his lot, 2004's and 2005's, less than 500miles on them, almost $12,000 off the price people were paying at the dealerships...pretty sad.

But yeah, i agree with the other folks in here...if you want the car, buy it, if your looking for a quick fling and then hoping to have enough resale value not to land you negative...then dont bother buying anything honestly, maybe a used car or something...

Also, private sales are getting more and more popular with buyers because you can usually knock off a few thousand off dealer cost for a car that has already been broken in and is still brand new basically. We've been offered more than we owe for our S2000 as it sits right now...that tells me that when we are ready to sell it (If we ever do) we'll have little problem getting what we need to pay it off, and then some.

 

The car to get if you are worried about depreciation is an E30 M3. Those babies are appreciating! Good luck finding a deal on a nice one though Seems like the average price for junk is $12,000.

 

^^^ Not sure where your getting your information but the M3's i see for sale, especially the later 90's M3's arnt holding their value all that well at all, no better than anything else...brother has 2 on his lot, which both were sold last year and then put up for auction, nearly $5,000 less than they were sold for last year...has alot to do with the release of the 2006 M3 in a few months, you'll also start seeing the E46 M3's depreciating to a reasonible price...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by hypnosisracing &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">^^^ Not sure where your getting your information but the M3's i see for sale, especially the later 90's M3's arnt holding their value all that well at all, no better than anything else...brother has 2 on his lot, which both were sold last year and then put up for auction, nearly $5,000 less than they were sold for last year...has alot to do with the release of the 2006 M3 in a few months, you'll also start seeing the E46 M3's depreciating to a reasonible price...</TD></TR></TABLE>

He's talking about E30's, not E36's. A good E30 from 88 is worth more than a good 96 E36. E30 M3's in good condition go for more than $20K. Mint cars can go for quite a bit more.

E30 = best M3 if you want a raw sports car/coupe.
E36 = Decent power, but not that special, still a GREAT car though, just not raw.
E46's are worth a good bit still since they are new. Lots of power but still not even in the same class as an E30.

Back on topic, as said all new cars depreciate. 5year old S2000's still hold 50%+ of their value, generally 55-60% from when I was looking a bit ago (this could have changed now). That's up with the best 5 year residuals in the industry.

 

I understand what he was referring to...i have 2 friends with E30 M3's, not a fan of the body style but some damn quick and unique looking bimmers...i was just stating that the E36 seems to be dropping in price like flies...and im expecting the E46 to follow and finally get its beautiful *** into the $20's...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by todaCspec &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Leasing is the worst thing you could do. You have the car for three years and you're already paying for half of the cars value. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Ok, and where do you get this info from?

For the last few years, because of very low interest rates (hence low money factors for leases), leases in a lot of cases, are actually a better deal than a conventional purchase loan.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by coquinn &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Vehicles are not good investments anyway - unless you're purchasing an exotic.

If you're worried about depreciation you need to lease.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Very well put.