23rd Oct 2010, 13:08
My worse resale ever was a Honda an Acura TL that I got less than a third of its sale price 3 years later, because of the trans failures. 41000 miles. Garage kept, mint appearance in and out.
23rd Oct 2010, 23:53
"Do KBB values and imports will win pretty much every time"
Of course they do. Imports sell for full list, while domestics sell for thousands less. Last week my friend went car shopping. Toyota was discounting their 1-year-old 2010 model a whopping $800. An identical domestic car was discounted $3200. After two years, the domestic is still way ahead because it cost so much less to buy. Even if the resale was $1500 less after a year, the domestic still ends up being the better deal by $1100. It goes without saying which car my friend bought. He is a savvy business man. He also has little patience with his cars being recalled every other week for serious safety issues.
24th Oct 2010, 08:56
So I guess you read that ONE line of my post before responding. We priced our Toyota against the Escape, and got essentially the SAME DEAL on both, but now we'll be $1,500 ahead on the Toyota in the first year. We got over $2,500 off on the Toyota, and awesome financing as well, so it was as good as the Ford deal, even with their $2500 rebate.
If you didn't actually sit down and deal on the car, then you have no idea how each deal would have played out. Yes, there are plenty of dealers that stick it to you on the first hit. We actually went to a couple of Toyota dealers to get our deal. You are incorrect in assuming that the deals are so much better on domestics overall. If you do your homework when it comes to their pricing, you'll do as good or better than any domestic. That has always been my experience.
Plus, I'd rather have the car recalled for things it more than likely will never need fixing, than being in the shop for tons of expensive repairs every week, like most of my domestics have had. That's more "savvy" as far as I'm concerned!
25th Oct 2010, 08:53
And my Honda Accord was worth more than I paid for it after a year and 19K miles. The first year is the biggest drop in value usually on any car too. I even left it outside for the entire year... ha ha ha... Of course it was still mint like all of my cars are.
I think people get hung up on their own personal experiences, which is good to post, but not necessarily the only truth, as someone else always has an opposite experience. This is evident in the domestic vs. import war going on. For every bad domestic experience, there is a bad import experience, and vice versa.
25th Oct 2010, 12:46
"Buying wealthy Japanese car company officials new yachts DOES NOT help the AMERICAN economy... AT ALL!!"
I hear Germans car officials have yachts the size of cruise ships. This would make sense since German cars are all high end and thus bring a greater revenue margin. And Italian car company officials are driving cars a step up from the FIAT as Chrysler is 50% Italian owned and the profits are going back to Italy. All this to say that Japanese cars are NOT the only imports out there.
25th Oct 2010, 19:56
What was your Accord worth after 3 years and was it a 6 or the 4 cylinder? This is exact import model comparison, nothing to do with domestics. Maybe we should have parked ours outside to gain value vs a garage.
26th Oct 2010, 08:52
It was an '08 LX-P 4 cylinder AT, so one step above the base car. MSRP was $22,750. I paid $21,300 for it, which was invoice, and I got super low financing on it as well. I booked it a year later before I traded it (unfortunately) and it was listed at around $21,500 for private sale value in good condition. That was with 19K miles on it.
It has everything to do with domestics, when people claim domestics hold their value better than imports. That is a false statement, so I thought I'd call them on it.
26th Oct 2010, 09:57
"1) First of all, only TEN PERCENT of the American automotive work force works for FOREIGN MANUFACTURERS. Buying a domestic STILL helps 90% of those people."
So you are then admitting that people working for foreign automakers get a benefit from buying a domestically produced foreign branded car. In that case, I'm glad the US made Toyota I drive is putting food on the table of American workers.
"2) AMERICAN COMPANIES enrich the AMERICAN economy... EVEN if they outsource. The PROFITS are invested in AMERICA. Buying wealthy Japanese car company officials new yachts DOES NOT help the AMERICAN economy... AT ALL!!"
Like someone else mentioned, the corporate home city of the big 3- Detroit- is a classic example of urban decay. If what you said was true, then Detroit be a shining example of American prosperity. The execs at the big three are also extremely well compensated and also likely own yachts, private jets, and other expensive toys. Also - unlike Japanese car companies, WE have had to give money to 2 of the big three. Thus you've actually got it backwards - the big three haven't invested in us, instead we have had to bail them out - one of them more than once.
"3) Outsourcing by U.S. auto makers has SAVED TENS OF THOUSANDS of U.S. jobs by cutting costs that allows more money for research and development, new designs, more facilities and more workers IN THE U.S. Before making statements based solely on Japanese car company ad hype, DO SOME RESEARCH. I DID."
The big three have cut hundreds of thousands of jobs over the past 30 years, and this was even being done when they were making huge profits. I'm not sure what your argument is here.
23rd Oct 2010, 10:31
You write like you are so angry about imports and the "myth" that they are better. I suppose the last 25 or 30 years of import domination was only a myth?
As far as resale. Domestics still trail imports for resale value. Selling vehicles outright is no way to actually judge resale values, as there are a lot of people out there that pay ridiculous prices for cars. The same people that gave you what you paid for your used vehicles will gladly hand over sticker at any dealer for a new car. They don't research or do any market analysis before handing over thousands for a car. Yes, there are many people out there still like that.
Most everyone trades their vehicles as well, so that is much more of an actual value measure than selling outright. Who can even get a loan for a used car these days from a private sale... especially when you are overpaying for it like the people you seem to be finding?
Do KBB values and imports will win pretty much every time... even after the recalls. I booked the Ford Escape vs. the Toyota RAV 4 just because people like you keep going on about resale values of Toyota falling so hard. Well they sticker at the same amount being about $200 apart. I know this because we actually considered both and drove both etc, etc. After 1 year and 15K average miles, the Toyota was ahead by over $1,500 on book value. The deal we got on our Toyota was essentially the same as we would have gotten on the Ford, as once again we worked out numbers for both. After the rebates on the Ford and the awesome financing we got on the Toyota, the payment was essentially the same.
Really, the only myth I have seen is that imports lose value so much faster than domestic vehicles. Being up by 1,500 bucks after only one year doesn't seem like a loss to me. Does it to you? Maybe I am missing something. The last Honda I traded in was worth more than I paid for it new after a year and 19K miles because the of the awesome deal I got on it. I regretted buying the Ford I have now, because it dropped over $7K in 8 months.
Believe me, I wish you were right about this, as I'd love to snap up used one or two year old Toyotas with super low miles on them for 40% off. In reality, it just isn't true... at least in my area. In fact there was recently a story I read about it that was making a point that new cars are sometimes a better bet for purchase, because all used cars have been going for a premium. After you figure in discount rebates and financing on the new car, many times the payment will be the same as the comparable used car.