I just recently sold my 2005 Jetta GLI 6-speed to Carmax. The reason? I got the S, of course. My friend just sold his parents' 2003 RSX base model, AT with leather to the same Carmax. Here are some facts:

2005 Jetta GLI
Original MSRP: 25,xxx
Miles when sold: 10,6xx
Condition: Like New. (Full detailed before I sold it.) Never been in accident.
KBB trade-in value: 18,990 in "Good" condition.

2004 Acura RSX
Original MSRP: 22,xxx
Miles when sold: 17,5xx
Condition: Fair at the best.
A/C compressor is shot, literally. The dealer said there's a hole at the bottome of the A/C compressor, probably hit by some kind of road debris. The front bumper has two huge scratches that are visible from 20 feet away. The car has been in 2 accidents and the repair job on those were done mediocre at the best.
KBB trade-in value: 12785 in "Good" condition.

Now, what did we get on our cars from Carmax? Cue drumroll....

Jetta: 17,000
RSX: 12,000

I mean, WTF?! The mint condition Jetta is only 5000 more than a busted, or f'ed (according to my friend), up, 3 years-old and higher mileage RSX??? Oh well.

Lesson learned: VWs not only have bad build-quality, they don't hold resale value either. I will never buy another VW, EVER!

Sorry for the ranting. Guess I am just used to the good resales of Hondas.

 

Uh dude, depreciation surprises you? That doesn't terribly surprise me. You're always going to get 2-3 grand less from a dealer than you would if you sold privately. Private sale takes longer, but it nets you more cash (or at least you have a much better chance of getting more for it). I'd think you could've gotten $20k easily for a Jetta with so few miles on it if you sold it privately.

As far as the RSX is concerned, you're comparing a non-accident car to an accident car. IMO I'd never pay the prices that uncrashed used RSXs are demanding. Why pay $20k for a 2-3 year-old RSX when you can get a far better interior in a VW? Sure the RSX is sportier with a better tranny, but they really turn into glorified Civics beyond a certain price point.

That, and their image ain't so great IMO. It's not the Acura I'd choose to roll, which explains why it's being killed after all these years of being the only car of its kind in the marketplace. But I'm getting off point.

VWs seem to hold their value quite well if you ask me. Unless they have high miles, the A4-chassis cars seem to demand mid-high teens even for 4 year-old examples. In fact I was just on a used VW dealer lot a few weeks ago, and they had about a dozen GTI 1.8Ts that were 3-4 years old that they were asking high teens for. They all were fully optioned, and 1 or 2 were even 337s.

Never go to dealerships expecting a fair shake on trade-in.

 

Got a quote at Carmax for a trade in and while waiting was looking at SUVs they had. They had a ton of almost brand new SUVs and I asked about a Toureg they had just gotten, to get a closer look, the sales rep said litereally, "its a POS, you don't even want to come near it." Anyways they wanted just over $28k for it and it looked brand new.

 

no one forced you to take the offer at carmax. I think sometimes they have good offers such as the RSX. But your Jetta offer was $2K less than trade-in value for 'good' when the car could have been graded at excellent.

IMO you didn't get your money out of the Jetta which you lost ~$8K (plus tax and interest?) if you paid msrp and kept it for one year you spent ~$800-$900/month. You could have been driving a M3 for that.

I believe a lot of people flip cars too often. I did it at one time. I had 3 cars in the space of 4 years average 18 months each. So I lost a lot of money each time. Both the initail purchase and when I sold/traded the dealer made another profit.

Since then I have tried to buy and hold. One car I sold after 4 years. And the other 4 cars I still have are: 7, 6, 4, and 3 years old. And of all goes well I will probably keep them until they are 8-9 years old.

This is one reason I feel OK buying new if I am going to keep them 8 years I'll spread out the depreciation over a long time. most times you buy and sell within 1-2 years you will take the biggest depreciation hit.

 

IMO, that should be the determining factor re: buying new vs. used.

that and being able to afford to buy new cars in the first place.

we've leased my wife's last 3 cars for 3 year terms....so those are locked, for lack of a better word.

i've been driving S2000's since 2000 - i'm on my 2nd S2000 (due to high mileage on the first), both bought new, this one's already got 60K now too....so we'll see how long i keep it.

it's our 3rd car that i get bored with....and b/c it's an "extra" vehicle, i can afford to change it, sell it, buy it - on a whim.

speaking of....just bought an '05 M3 SMG cab to replace the 740 (the 3rd car)....picking it up thursday.

 

So, what you are saying is that you didnt't think that cars with so - so build quality have poor resale

AND you were surprised when Carmax screwed you on the sale. - who would have thunk it.

 

Rai and Plyrs 3,

I hear what you guys are saying but that is really really hard to follow. When I bought my first car- I thought that I would keep it for 8 years. That would mean significant improvements in design, safety, engineering etc when I buy another car.

However, that is really really really hard to do. If I have money "sitting around"- I can either invest it, let my wife blow it, or buy a newer car. And investing just doesn't sound as much fun as buying a newer car.

In the last 5 years - I have bought a MDX(stolen), a NSX, a Seinna, a Accord(sold to employee) and a Passat. I am trying to stop. But, man - as soon as I get a car - i get the what's next itch. The sad thing is that I have friends with similar thinking. So they will ask me - "what next?".

Man, If I didn't read car mags or check out s2ki.com - I would have a enough saved up to retire(well - not really)

 

MDX,

and i agree....even though i bought the same car twice, i did so in 3 years....first S2000 was in early 2000 and 2nd S2000 was in late 2003....i'm sure that's pretty frequent compared to the national average (i assume).

and in that time (2000-2003), my wife's car changed, and our third car changed TWICE.

on average, we're changing a car every year......one year, we got 2 new cars within a month....the 3rd car is the extra car, so there is no "requirement" to have it...and hence the possibility of it to change frequently is there.

the only reason we've had 3 cars since 2000 is that my S2000 is useless to everyone except me - it's my 365/24/7 daily driver. my wife can't and won't drive stick.

that means if my wife has to go out, i can't be stuck @ home without a car that i can put 2 kids into....for emergencies, errands, whatever....

 

I was surprised by the offer they made on the Jetta, but I was soooooo in love with the S that I just don't want to deal with the Jetta anymore. Yes, I got screwed on the sale of my Jetta. I also think Carmax is in for their own shocker when they found out how bad the conditions are on my friend's RSX. Quoting the used car manager at my dealership: "Take your Jetta to Carmax. I don't know what they are doing. They must be high or something." BTW, he gave me 15,000 for the Jetta, 'according to the NADA book.' Yeah, whatever.

Anyway, I am through changing cars for at least another 5 years. No plans on getting rid of the S soon. I am just happy to get out of the Jetta and get back to yet another Honda.

 

IMO, Carmax screws you either buying or selling...they're minting money by having impatient/lazy people come to them for an easy disposition of their used cars.

I'll bet I could sell my fiance's '06 Jetta TDI for MSRP in CA once it reaches 7500 miles! '06 is the last year for this fuel sipper (for now), so it should hold its value very well.