Depreciation

[balthazar]

Just for kicks ~
Take what you paid for your daily driver, then look up it's trade in average value on kbb.com.
Take that difference (your vehicle's depreciation), and divide it by the miles you've driven it (to the nearest 500 or 1000 should be fine).

This gives you a cost per mile for ownership (obviously separate from maintenance/repairs).

Me ~
'04 Silverado 2500HD, $15035 difference, 133K miles = 11 cents/mile.

[ccap41]

2016 Focus Titanium 

Bought: 12,811 miles

Currently: 27,300 miles

Difference: 14,489(we'll go with 14,500)

$16,100 - $12,940 = $3160 depreciation

$0.217 per mile.

FWIW, the MSRP was like $24,500. That's why I buy used.. 

Edited April 12, 2018 by ccap41

[Robert Hall]

2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited 4x4

Bought 25,000 miles

Currently 36,000 miles

Difference 11,000 miles approx

$27500 - 24292 = $3208 depreciation

$0.29 per mile.

FWIW, the MSRP of a '17 equipped the same was $46460.  I'm happy I bought CPO a year ago. (very few differences between a '14 and '17 at the same trim level). 

[G. David Felt]

2006 Cadillac Escalade ESV Platinum edition

Bought new, Currently 130,000 equals .32 cents per mile

[ccap41]

48 minutes ago, dfelt said:

2006 Cadillac Escalade ESV Platinum edition

Bought new, Currently 130,000 equals .32 cents per mile

That's the kind of depreciation that stings when you look at it 12 years down the road. 

[G. David Felt]

2 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

That's the kind of depreciation that stings when you look at it 12 years down the road. 

To me and my road trips, it is the ultimate road trip auto. I have no problem paying that price as it has been totally worth it.

Course I also still have my 1994 GMC Suburban SLE with over 300K miles on it so I would have to assume I am next to zero on the cost per mile. ?

[oldshurst442]

2012 Acura TL SH-AWD tech package.

$54 000 and change CDN.

KBB canada site $14 800 CDN. (On the higher side of a trade-in value.   We will do 55 000 - 15 000 = 40 000 CDN

I got 85 000 and change kilometers which translates to 53 000 miles rounded number.

75 cents CDN per mile.  Which 75 cents equals to about what?  1 dollar give or take a couple of cents American? 

 

Makes sense. 5-6 year old cars is where most of the depreciation hits when buying new.  And I really dont have too many miles on the odometer. You would think that Id get a higher trade-in value for my car for having low mileage. But nope. I wonder if Id have more miles driven, regardless how much lower my trade-in value would be, if my cost per mile would improve?

Again, 5-6-7 year old cars is where the most depreciation happens on new cars so...

 

THIS is a reason why Im keeping the Acura a looooong time. Im gonna amortize her properly. If nothing catastrophic happens of coarse. Accident or a very serious repair cost. 

Before getting married, Id change my cars every 5-6 years. Bought them new and change them. With a wife and kids to feed, that formula changes quickly...

My Impala SS. 2005. I changed her at 7 years. ONLY because some dumb driver backed into my front passenger door and dented the hell out of it. The door open and closed OK...the repair job was only gonna be 600-800 CDN dollars. But the thought of my car being dinged badly got me uptight. I wanted to keep her longer than 7 years but...

Also, I was getting at the point where many regular maintenance issues were about to show up like change the battery and other costly regular maintenance stuff plus the door window mount had failed. 300 dollar repair job the year prior. That same year I hit a pothole damaging a ball joint and control arm.... that I said..phoque it. Ill just use the money that Im gonna spend maintaining her on a new car.  No more money on the Impala.  So far I have not put money into the Acura needlessly.  Im lucky for that. 

Edited April 12, 2018 by oldshurst442

[A Horse With No Name]

My previous sale was my Mini cooper, which i sold after about 100,000 miles of additonla use for about 11,000 less than I paid for it, so about eleven cents a mile. Buying cars and holding on to them is usually the cheapest bet.

[smk4565]

2008 Mercedes E550 paid $23,000 including tax, dealer fees, registration, etc in 2013.

Avg trade in value is $7800.  I have only put 30,000 miles on it since I got it.

51 cents per mile cost to own thus far.  But I will probably keep it another 5 years because the depreciation is over, even a 15 year old Mercedes will be worth $5k.

[balthazar]

Only if you can find another you to sell to.
First page on cargurus for '03 550e's has them at 2000-3500. You got another 5 grand of depreciation headed your way.

[ykX]

2010 Infiniti G37S sedan

Bought over 4 years ago with 38k miles for $21k, now at 154k miles, average trade-in value $5.5k

$0.13 per mile

[ccap41]

1 hour ago, ykX said:

2010 Infiniti G37S sedan

Bought over 4 years ago with 38k miles for $21k, now at 154k miles, average trade-in value $5.5k

$0.13 per mile

You do a crap ton of driving. ~29,000 miles per year! 

11 hours ago, balthazar said:

Only if you can find another you to sell to.
First page on cargurus for '03 550e's has them at 2000-3500. You got another 5 grand of depreciation headed your way.

I also feel like cars are depreciating faster than ever right now. I know that's just a "feel" and no evidence behind that but with how even higher end cars are more "throwaway" than ever, it feels pretty accurate. 

[ykX]

11 minutes ago, ccap41 said:

You do a crap ton of driving. ~29,000 miles per year! 

Yes, I have a long commute but at least most of it on a highway.  However, my next daily needs to be more fuel efficient. The plan for the future is to have cheap daily and a fun weekend car.

Edited May 24, 2018 by ykX

[Drew Dowdell]

32 minutes ago, ykX said:

Yes, I have a long commute but at least most of it on a highway.  However, my next daily needs to be more fuel efficient. The plan for the future is to have cheap daily and a fun weekend car.

Infiniti Q50 Hybrid - 360hp / 400+ lb-ft of torque.  All wheel drive available. 26 city / 32 highway EPA rating (RWD model), but I see reports of people doing a lot better than that when switching to Eco mode, like 36 mpg highway. CPO ones can be found in the mid $25k range

The downside - tiny trunk.

[ykX]

13 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

Infiniti Q50 Hybrid - 360hp / 400+ lb-ft of torque.  All wheel drive available. 26 city / 32 highway EPA rating (RWD model), but I see reports of people doing a lot better than that when switching to Eco mode, like 36 mpg highway. CPO ones can be found in the mid $25k range

The downside - tiny trunk.

Thanks, that's a very nice option.  However, my current plan is in couple years to take from my dad 2016 Mazda 6 (with my commute I expect mid 30s on regular gas) and to get the Mustang after that.  I just put so many miles so fast that getting a nice sporty car seems like a waste.  I also do autocross and want to do occasional track days in the future.

[Drew Dowdell]

3 hours ago, ykX said:

Thanks, that's a very nice option.  However, my current plan is in couple years to take from my dad 2016 Mazda 6 (with my commute I expect mid 30s on regular gas) and to get the Mustang after that.  I just put so many miles so fast that getting a nice sporty car seems like a waste.  I also do autocross and want to do occasional track days in the future.

Cool. Just thought it would be a good familiar option for you since you already have a G37

[smk4565]

On 5/23/2018 at 10:31 PM, balthazar said:

Only if you can find another you to sell to.
First page on cargurus for '03 550e's has them at 2000-3500. You got another 5 grand of depreciation headed your way.

I did a 500 mile each on car gurus and there were no V8 E-classes from 2003-2005.  Sure it will still depreciate, but it has a 3 point star on it, so it will always be worth something.

[balthazar]

Everything will always be worth something.

There are 2 restored AMC Gremlins on Hemmings right now; $22.9K and $36.9K.

Your mercedes is apparently worth an unrestored '74 Gremlin with a stuck motor; on Hemmings also for $7000... and they didn't even wash it.

You still have about $5000 of depreciation coming. Probably a great time to unload it.

 

Edited May 25, 2018 by balthazar

[G. David Felt]

10 hours ago, smk4565 said:

I did a 500 mile each on car gurus and there were no V8 E-classes from 2003-2005.  Sure it will still depreciate, but it has a 3 point star on it, so it will always be worth something.

My 1994 GMC SLE Suburban is worth more than what your 3 point star is worth and will out work it. Roomy, comfortable and road trip worthy while able to haul ass with 505 HP 551 lb-ft of Torque. Plus I can pull anything. So like you said my GMC is worth something plus a bit more.

[smk4565]

Pick up trucks and things like a Corvette, convertibles, Jeep Wranglers, etc always have some value because there will always be someone that wants a truck or a convertible to drive on the weekend. 

I think crossovers have had high resale recently but once the used market is saturated with millions of off lease crossovers they will have the same resale as sedans.

[G. David Felt]

37 minutes ago, smk4565 said:

Pick up trucks and things like a Corvette, convertibles, Jeep Wranglers, etc always have some value because there will always be someone that wants a truck or a convertible to drive on the weekend. 

I think crossovers have had high resale recently but once the used market is saturated with millions of off lease crossovers they will have the same resale as sedans.

Glad to see we are on the same page. I totally agree with you that the crossovers / SUVs that start coming off their 3yr lease will flood the market and like cars, will end up being great values to pickup.

[balthazar]

Vehicles come off lease every day- what would explain distinct waves of off-lease product?

[smk4565]

5-7 years ago there were more sedans on the used market, now we are going to see more used SUVs on the market than used sedans.