Comments on: Costly options of little re-sale value

By: kim

kim — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 09:50:10 +0000

Thank you for your insight Alex, i very much appreciate it. Kim

By: Tom

Tom — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 13:26:57 +0000

I bought the Liberty for $26k in late 06, now on the second hand market its going for around 20k, which is a reasonable drop. Definitely glad I didn’t buy it new though.

By: Davo

Davo — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 05:06:18 +0000

Tried to talk common sense to a certain high earning relative when she had the car brochure out from a German brand with the circles.
Options were like charity for the dealer.
I questioned why do you want all this? The response, BECAUSE IT IS THERE!
Another relative who was in the trade used to remove the tow bar before trade in & sell it separately.
Interested to know what the mark down on the $42K Liberty from 04 was.
More than half?

By: G

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 11:59:23 +0000

Nothing new here. Except the typo – ‘loosing’

By: AAA

AAA — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 08:08:16 +0000

When purchasing a second hand car, the more things there are in the car, the more there are to go wrong.

By: Baddass

Baddass — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 07:56:43 +0000

I didn’t know you could get 20 inch wheels on the 3 series! You learn something new every day.

By: John

John — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 05:55:06 +0000

It takes 10 british scientist with gov. grants to figure this out? Ask anybody in the game. Options and accessories add appeal not value.

By: Safety Frist

Safety Frist — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 03:01:52 +0000

Very true Tom, add to that the simple fact that the average Aussie punter out theer wants all the trimmings on the second hand car but is NOT willing to pay for them. See that every day at work

By: Tom

Tom — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 01:46:07 +0000

This isn’t news to anyone who has bought or sold a second hand car. The problem for technology based options is that eventually they become standard fit, and when that occurs the resale of that option becomes next to nil. Case in point would be my Subaru Liberty. I bought second hand in 2006 a MY04 Liberty with the luxury pack, which when new cost $42k. By the end of the Liberties life (last month) the boggo standard version had all the things that were added options for my car, so on the market my car would now be competing with those near new run out models that have more features. I knew this would happen when I bought it so I wasn’t worried, but yeah, options and spec levels usually add nothing to resale values.

By: Alex II

Alex II — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 01:24:30 +0000

Wow this is a huge surprise….not. I use to value cars many many years ago and most of the high cost options aren’t even considered, it is all about how the car looks hence the reason alloy wheels, sunroofs and the sort seem to retain their value. If the car is a crap colour, it won’t matter what you’ve spent in options, the car will drop in value like a rock. Poor exterior / interior colour combinations are a killer too (normally reserved for expensive European cars) as an example a Silver Mercedes with a Beige interior (yes Mercedes let you do this although it’s not a recommended combination) the owner is ripping up money every day.

Another interesting fact, rust protection, paint protection and interior protections, absolutely worthless. The salesman lies to the customer saying it will help retain value, most people valuing cars don’t ask/care. Window tint, huge profit item for a car dealer, whenever we received a trade-in with tint, the tint would be stripped before the car would go on the lot, gives the sales guy another chance to sell the high profit item.

One thing not discussed in the article is prestige paint, on many European cars prestige paint can cost $2,500, is a coloured car really worth that much more that a white one at trade-in time.