Just had a look at Autotrader and it appears that prices are starting to fall - there is now an 04 with 18k miles up for

it just goes to show that the prices to start with are highly inflated

I guess aswell that prices will start to fall quicker when the new model fabia is launched next year. Especially when the VRS is available..

However if you are buying 2nd hand at the £6-7k level then clearly leasing isnt an option but it is a great price to buy at.

I dont agree with the over inflated prices to start with as nearly all cars lose 50% in 3 years and the VRs according to the real market place (not Parkers etc) it is looking like they will achieve this level more or less.

Im sure many of you will have read the 330d vs VRs thread and my biggest concern is depreciation clearly buying a car which is 2 -3 years old for 50% vs buying a 5-6 year old car which is at 22% of its original value and the fact there is a floor to which they will fall.

Having said all that with the new forth coming Green Taxes maybe the smaller engine TDI will fair better.

Yes when the new fabia is out watch these prices fall - Id assume a good £1k at least to be knocked off. Again great news for the buyer bad for the seller.

I dont agree with the over inflated prices to start with as nearly all cars lose 50% in 3 years and the VRs according to the real market place (not Parkers etc) it is looking like they will achieve this level more or less.

doesn't that prove that the price of all new cars is inflated?

Are you suggesting that their profit margin is too high? Or the direct costs in building the product are over priced?

I cannot see car profit is over inflated due to the vast losses the big car firms are making - maybe the suppliers are taking a larger cut than is necessary.

The biggest driver for loss in value is the fact people want new cars there is little demad for a 2nd hand car which is a shame & when I posted on here about buying a car with 130k miles on the clock or more it was evident from the replies that not many would consider buying a car with anything like that milage. This is a big shame and a big contributer to global warming. Cars 20 year ago Id agree not to buy with over 70k but now all modern cars are very well built the cars do not rust like they used to and therefore anything else can be replaced.

I admire people who run their cars into the ground with 500k miles + on the clock and dispare at insurance comp who write off new ish cars with 40k-60k on them with a few bent panals.

It would be a good exercise for someone on here to plot a graph of the price of an average mileage car over time.

Like someone has already pointed out, at the beginning it will be almost exponential, but over time, this will flatten out, so that a year or two either way would not make much difference.

Once this is done, you should be able to pick the 'best' place to purchase a vehicle, knowing that most of the depreciation has gone.

I bought my current car at 3yrs old at about 50% value.

I guess if I keep it for 3yrs I should be able to sell it for 50% of what I paid?

The Fabia will do just the same as MK1 Octavia VRS - a bargain for buyers!

Like it or lump it, the Fabia is not a Volkswagen. If it were the used value would be higher.

That will make the Fabia vRS one of the best second hand cars on the market.

1.9tdi 130 bhp with 50k for £6500.Bargain

Yes it is a buyers market there are countless examples so if the price is too high then some other seller will be prepared to lower the selling price.

My suggestion is to buy a 65-70k VRS which has had its cambelt done (so another 3-5 years milage dependant motoring sorted) brakes maybe suspension etc. So in effect your getting a nearly new car abliet with the wear & tear associated with 70k miles.

We all know the pathetic price Seat Ibiza Sport 1.9TDI's are getting and these were more to buy than the VRS when new.

The biggest cost of a car is dpereciation so let the companies pay for car leasing then us 2nd hand buyers can pick them up with a few miles on the clock and save a fortune in overall car ownership costs.

If you want to MOD your car, surely the best way is to buy a 3yrs old car.

It's out of warranty - no Skoda UK issues

Suspension a bit worn out - Fit new/lower springs/dampers

Seats worn/dirty - Quick visit to seat surgeons.

etc, etc...

All in all, you could build yourself a pretty decent VRs out of an ex-lease 3yr old 60k car.

I recall on the 330d vs VRS thread many people posted that company car drivers hammer their cars....well this isnt really the case - in my company I know of at least 10 people in the office who have bought their comp cars and given it to their kids/wife/firends as the sale offer price is very cheap. So clearly they do not rag it this is somewhat of a myth.

Most of the time leased cars are blatting up & down the M ways putting no strain on the car. But a low milage city car driven at the weekends to go down the shops may appear better looked after but the engine has probably on most occasions hardly got to operating temp before its switched off. etc etc

maybe the suppliers are taking a larger cut than is necessary.

:orb_lol:

Not funny.

I would only ever buy a new car with 0% finance or straight out, and I think thats its worth the 3 years warantee, + if you modify the car you are still covered under warantee just not for consequential loss, i.e. if you have put lowering springs on the car and the window stops working then, you will still be able to claim for the window on warantee.

Possibly?

I would only ever buy a new car with 0% finance or straight out, and I think thats its worth the 3 years warantee, + if you modify the car you are still covered under warantee just not for consequential loss, i.e. if you have put lowering springs on the car and the window stops working then, you will still be able to claim for the window on warantee.

That is a lot of cash to have tied up in a car and you are losing out on the investment potential.

As I stated there is insignificant cost difference between buying and leasing a car - however the advantage of leasing the car is you can give it back at the end of the term you have no worries about trying to sell it and if you part x it then you will not get as good a deal as a cash buyer/finance buyer (which are both the same thing).

If you lease you still get the 3 years warrenty, if you want to modify well I doubt that will be possible but it may be you would need to check with your lease provider.

Also if you modify your car I assume you are fully aware that any modification will when selling the car add no value to it what so ever - in many cases it will devalue the car as the vast majority of people (your potential buyer of your car) will want std otherwise they can rightly or wrongly assume that the car has been hammered.

The final thing is if you have

The first vRS are coming out of warranty now, so I guess the prices generally will start to fall. 04 is now 30 months odd now. A fair whack, and 6.5k is still not bad depreciation on an 11.5k car over 2.5 years. 50% value holding in three years is pretty OK compared to some other brands which might retain 40% or less of its value when 3 years old.

Wonder what my car's worth now?

As I stated there is insignificant cost difference between buying and leasing a car - however the advantage of leasing the car is you can give it back at the end of the term you have no worries about trying to sell it and if you part x it then you will not get as good a deal as a cash buyer/finance buyer (which are both the same thing).

I disagree.

I can buy my own car for less than the equivalent lease (after all the lease company are making a decent profit on the vehicle) and when the loan is paid off I own a vehicle that I can carry on using or trade in.

As for not getting a good deal because you have a part exchange , both of my last cars have been bought new and have basically been at cost price to the dealer (9 or 10% off list) and I got top book price for my Mk1 octy that I traded in.

It may sometimes be easier to get a good deal with no part ex , but it's not impossible and if you have a desirable car that they know they can shift quickly that works in your favour.

Oh , and if you have bought your car there's no reason why you can't sell it privately and then go back to the dealer as a cash buyer.

But if you bought one of the available VRs's up for around £6.5k run it for 3 years you will lose about £3k in value and as you have not had to spend the additional £5k that will have earnt @4.75% £750 over the 3 years.

So in reality a loss of only £2,250 over having a brand new one.

Will a new one be better than an old one? Well novelty value maybe, the stutter on the 06 model - so maybe better buying the 05 or earlier models to avoid this issue. Longer gearing too on the older VRs therefore better MPG.

I guess some people are pretty against not having a new car as they enjoy the experiance of buying one and the envy of others who dont have the latest reg car.

Thankfully for many other people they will let the initial buyers take the biggest hit in depreciation and if they buy at the right price possibly have 1 years motoring for free - i.e. no depn.

I recall on the 330d vs VRS thread many people posted that company car drivers hammer their cars....well this isnt really the case - in my company I know of at least 10 people in the office who have bought their comp cars and given it to their kids/wife/firends as the sale offer price is very cheap. So clearly they do not rag it this is somewhat of a myth.

I've maimed a Focus TDCi and killed a Corolla D4D. Our Celica had 2 engines and 2 gearboxes and the Superb is slowly suffering. Other people in the company are just as bad with the cars they use. They AREN'T serviced on time and they AREN'T looked after (or even washed!). They are only fixed when something breaks and I can tell you exactly what the limiter on virtually any brand of new diesel engine feels like.

My own car gets treated better than my SWMBO in comparison.

There's no way in hell I'd consider an ex-company car.

Well all I can comment on is the people who work in my current workplace & previous work places.

Note on every MOT part of the test is running the engine on the limiter for 5 - 10 seconds until the results are available. The diesel engine is a very strong unit far far stronger than a petrol it would happily sit at full revs all day long.

Another thing I have seen on TV was the testing of the new Focus ST engine - it was run at full revs for 200,000 miles the exhause was glowing the turbo glowing and parts of the block glowing. Needless to say it passed the test.

AMG test every single engine they produce and one of the tests is that they run it on the test bed to full revs for 10 mins.

Does your company offer its staff the option to buy their company cars after the lease period at vastly reduced rates? Does your company charge for additional maintence/accident damage to the area cost centre? If not then its unusual as this is normal practice and your line manager will soon start to notice the constant work/new tyres etc and if the wear & tear is excessive they start charging the user for some of the work.

A question for you - would you buy an x learner car? 2nd question how would you know its an x learner car? These would have been treated badly/driven badly.

Most comp car drivers spend all their time on the mways so unless they waste their time sat in 2nd going at normal speed then they would be doing hardly any damange - which brings the other point the more efficient they are with their fuel/driving style could mean that they never have to pay for any personal fuel so totally free car.

If your cars are in the S East currently the hosepipe ban is still in force so most companies dont let their compcar drivers wash them unless vital.

Our Octavia was previously owned by a company who's sales reps travelled the country from Kent, selling origami boxes !

It had covered 70k miles in 3 years and lost over £10k in value.

I wouldnt think twice about buying another ex-company car.

you'll always lose money on cars at this level so it's really a 'grin and bear it' type thing.

If one of your main priorities when buying a car is counting the pound notes you saved buying it and all the time you own it all you think about is how much you're going to lose come selling time then it's a sad existance you have.

If I like something, I buy it. If I want something, I buy it but most of all I'll aim to enjoy it.

you'll always lose money on cars at this level so it's really a 'grin and bear it' type thing.

If one of your main priorities when buying a car is counting the pound notes you saved buying it and all the time you own it all you think about is how much you're going to lose come selling time then it's a sad existance you have.

If I like something, I buy it. If I want something, I buy it but most of all I'll aim to enjoy it.

Yes enjoy it is crucial but it must be affordable - i.e. you may buy a car that does 100mpg but if it looses