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Jap Cars - Greater Depreciation?


Claire G
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My mate is looking at getting rid of his Toyota Avensis and buying a newer car second hand. Top on his list are a Mercedes C200, an MG ZT190, or a BMW 323 or IS200 Sport.

Although he loves Jap cars, he thinks the depreciation is generally too bad to be worthwhile. He thinks if you compare the non-Japanese competition with these cars at a similar age, the others are worth much more (BMW 7 series, Jaguar XJ series, mercedes S class, Audi A4 etc......). He's just been offered £850 trade-in on his 98 Avensis (all the extras, albeit high mileage).

Now this is the shocker - during his 'research' he's found that between a Lexus IS200 and a similar age, similar spec 3 series, the BMW is anything between £1000-£2000 more valuable!!!! Is this true???

He's got about £10k to spend but doesn't want to get a Jap car, only to find that in 3 years time its only worth £2k, but still owes £8k on it.

Any advice? I'm trying to persuade him Lexus is the way to go ;) :lol:

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Hello Claire

I wouldnt have thought that to be right as things like the dreaded 3 series are far too common, my mate sold his 325ci with a few extras privately, out of 20-30 viewings all tried the "I could go down the road & get the same car cheaper" routine. This is true with big dealers as they see the 3 series as prestige where as the IS tends to come under sports/Japanese cars.

Stuart

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Avensis depreciation isn't too bad compared to it's competition, Ford and Vauxhall etc.

The IS200 has started to fall recently but is still quite good. BMW and Merc depreciation normally seems better but those cars are never normally purchased at 'list price' because of the extras that need to be added to bring the spec up. Those extras tend to not count when it comes to trade in.

Also many people in this country still think that German cars are very reliable which helps resale values.

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If a Beamer with similar spec is only 1 - 2 K more expensive then that proves the former depreciates more quickly than the Lex.

A 3 series with similar spec to an IS would have cost considerably more than the IS in the first place wouldn't it; there's just so much on the IS200 that you have to pay lots of extra ££s for on a Beamer.

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I think that if you buy an used car ... the previous owner already paid the major part of the depreciation. Most cars depreciate most during the 1st year.

Therefore, getting a Lexus won't be that expensive, since the resale value already taken the depreciation into account.

Another thing (remember ... I am not in the UK, so I am trying to use this as an example, data is from www.autoexpress.co.uk)

USED CAR PRICES

Model Ins Grp 2002/51 2001X 2000W 1999T 1998R

LEXUS IS200 SE 12 (02)13350 (01)11700 (00)10550 (99)9110

LEXUS GS300 SE auto/auto 17 (02)16700 (01)14450 (00)13000 (99)11000 (98)9320

BMW New 3-Series 318i4dr SE 12 (01)11500 (00)10350 (99)8870

BMW New 3-Series 320d 4dr SE 12 (01)12450 (00)11250 (99)9580

BMW New 3-Series 325i/323i 4dr SE 15 (02)16400 (01)13750 (00)11450 (99)9790

If you look at these prices, then you see that the older the car, the closer the prices are.

The bigger the car (e.g. GS vs IS) or the bigger the engine (318i vs 325i), the bigger the depreciation.

The used value of the IS200 vs the 318i is pretty in-sync.

The used value of the 323i and the GS300 takes a huge hit during the first years, and depreciation of the 323i is much more than that of the IS200.

Using this info as base of my analysis, I do not think that the resale value of the IS200 will be significantly less than the 318i resale value.

:lol:

Edited by jdmparts_guru
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tell your friend to buy a lexus and ENJOY it and not worry about depriciation, with cars you're always gonna loose money so i just go for the one i like at the time

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