My car has dropped $6500 invalue 6 months

[HGB]

I paid about $15,300 for a Passion with PS, heated seats and metallic color plus tax in February 2008.
First let me say that I had no intention of selling my smart until the new one I ordered would come in. Since the economy is down that idea fizzled and like many out there I even envisioned getting good bucks for the car so a new one would be in easy reach. Still haven't gotten the new car and I will in all probability cancel that when it ever comes in. I will stick with a smart car regardless. It's a fun car. I bet if you look at other cars the value might very well be worse.

[Chad W]

Originally Posted by Bum-bling-B

Picked up your car for $20k? I'm guessing this is your first car you've ever owned or the first one you paid attention to what the price was after tax, tag, title, doc fees, extended warranty, tire protection and everything else the dealer suckered into getting.

I have ONE question......

What does the price on your ORIGINAL window sticker for your Passion say?

That would give everyone something to work off for this thread.

the price on sticker was 21,434.00 that was with no warranty tire ect...

[John_H]

Chad - big man.

Please ask your parents or some of your young friends about the economy of new cars. Typically, there's a loss of value in a new car of 30% to 50% not in 6 months but in the time it takes to sign the paperwork and drive off the dealer lot.

The fact that Smarts had an unusually high resale value initially was because the economy hadn't tanked and there was a long wait to get a new Smart. Only in the first couple months could someone hope to make a "profit" on their car, within several months of introduction the loss wouldn't be extreme, but now the value is more on par with the typical history of used cars.

NEVER buy a new car for "a few months" of use - you will pay dearly. You might do better buying a used car if you're pursuing limited use but still expect depreciation.

Please learn about what the reality is in the automobile marketplace before you start claiming foul. You really come across as... "uninformed" (to keep things polite).

[Chad W]

I'm sorry folks my bad in the heat of the moment I typed the wrong car it is a Cariolet with leather MP3 hook-up, the only add on that would be after market was tinted windows.It didn't even come with floor mats they were $99.00. AGAIN VERY SORRY FOR THE MISS TYPE....

[jimvw57]

Sounds a little better. Still, as soon as you put the plates on it, you lose value, plus the cost of taxes and license fees, destination charges etc.

Just keep it until it is about 20 years old and the value goes back up.

[Bum-bling-B]

Originally Posted by Chad W

the price on sticker was 21,434.00 that was with no warranty tire ect...

Well now we're getting somewhere.

When I ordered my car - Passion Coupe - the final price was $13,435. Now when I say final I mean what was on the sticker when it left the factory. After I paid the tax, tag title, doc fees it came out to about $16k. My orphan was close to that too, about $500 MORE.

If I would of gotten a Cabrio I could of expected to pay about $2k more. My dad got a Passion Coupe orphan but got the tire warranty and tint which tagged on a considerable amount to bring him up to $18k AFTER taxes etc. Still, before taxes etc the window sticker was $16k.

I'm still not feeling it being a bad deal as far as depreciation but I've only owned somewhere over 100 cars so what do I know.

[Chad W]

Originally Posted by John_H

Chad - big man.

Please ask your parents or some of your young friends about the economy of new cars. Typically, there's a loss of value in a new car of 30% to 50% not in 6 months but in the time it takes to sign the paperwork and drive off the dealer lot.

The fact that Smarts had an unusually high resale value initially was because the economy hadn't tanked and there was a long wait to get a new Smart. Only in the first couple months could someone hope to make a "profit" on their car, within several months of introduction the loss wouldn't be extreme, but now the value is more on par with the typical history of used cars.

NEVER buy a new car for "a few months" of use - you will pay dearly. You might do better buying a used car if you're pursuing limited use but still expect depreciation.

Please learn about what the reality is in the automobile marketplace before you start claiming foul. You really come across as... "uninformed" (to keep things polite).

Thanks for keeping it polite maybe i was miss informed but I hope this will make anybody eles out there more informed then i was.

[HGB]

We all continually learn in life that mistakes have been made and perhaps you overpaid a bit here. My humble opinion is that you should move on and enjoy your little car and have a ball with it.

[Padawan]

Take a look at a 2008 Honda Fit Sport automatic (priced right around what a fortwo cabriolet costs). The current value of the Fit is virtually the same as that of the fortwo, according to Edmunds.com.

If you want some additional examples, check out the new vs. used values of the VW Rabbit, Nissan Versa, Toyota Yaris, etc.

As others have mentioned, it seems as though this is your first experience with a new car, because the amount of depreciation you're fussing about is completely normal. New cars are some of the worst "investments" you will find. You also need to realise that depreciation is not linear, with the first few months of ownership showing the greatest depreciation.

[Chad W]

Originally Posted by HGB

We all continually learn in life that mistakes have been made and perhaps you overpaid a bit here. My humble opinion is that you should move on and enjoy your little car and have a ball with it.

WILL DO