S80 Depreciation

[Laney760]

Most of our minicabs in Henley on Thames are S80 D5s, sometimes they come up for sale locally with mega mileages, 300,000 plus

[Daim]

Originally Posted by NewVolvo

Not only Virgin who uses them. Also Emirates Airlines and some other ones to ferry around the First and Business Class passengers.

Cars with better comfort that the S80 is hard to find.

The S80 is, however, quite popular in other countries.

Here it isn't that desired but China is Volvo's S80 core market. They even offer an S80 LONG for those small Chinese

The Dutch seem to like saloons more than estates, so you see more S40s, S60s and S80s.

We own a 2002 S80 and it is a beautiful car. Economic (for size and power!) and near to troublefree (touch wood!). Comfort is unbeaten by any other car at the moment. The only more comfortable car we had, was the Volvo 740 before!

[kebab10]

When I come to replace the V50 in a few years, it will make getting a decent S80 easier thanks to this news. Good news for the second hand buyer, not so if you had bought one.

[dew1911]

Originally Posted by kebab10

When I come to replace the V50 in a few years, it will make getting a decent S80 easier thanks to this news. Good news for the second hand buyer, not so if you had bought one.

Anyone buying cars brand new need their head looking at anyway, I can't think of easier ways to loose money.

Buy at 12-24 months old. Still got warranty left, but taken the big hit.

[GMad]

I do like the fact that Volvos in general depreciate like a stone, provides me with bargains..
I considered an S80 or two when I ended up with my S60 and boy they were all (as said above), one heck of a lot of car for no money. Mind you my S60 was peanuts which is why I ended up buying it.
This is always a problem I have when buying my next car, the low price of some on the second hand market, mean I just have to bloody well buy em!!

[Daim]

Originally Posted by dew1911

Anyone buying cars brand new need their head looking at anyway, I can't think of easier ways to loose money.

Buy at 12-24 months old. Still got warranty left, but taken the big hit.

Well, why should they need their heads checked?

What would you buy, if someone didn't buy a new car for you to buy used?

Thought of that yet mate?

[GMad]

Originally Posted by Daim

Well, why should they need their heads checked?

What would you buy, if someone didn't buy a new car for you to buy used?

Thought of that yet mate?

That's very true, although the bargains of the century, should you want a deal, have to be the cars that have been pre - registered by the dealers.

Effectively a brand new car, with one previous owner (the dealer) and no miles up it..

[tt82]

I also read the article and IIRC it referred specifically to the T6 version of the S80. I was astounded by it and checked on Auto Trader, at the time there were 2 3 yr old S80 T6 with 20-30k miles on and they were priced for £11-12k. A basic spec new T6 is about £40k so that about 25-30% resale value. Not as bad as what AE say but still pretty low.

The source of the Valuations was CAP but I'd like to know how they get these figures.

[Prufrock]

The fleet sector buys most of the new cars sold here in the UK and that sector ultimately determines (to a lesser or greater extent) the value of cars when they come onto the market as used cars.

This sector on the whole defleets at 3 years, with some businesses, mainly the hire firms (Virigin fit within this criteria), defleeting on a shorter cycle.

Many retail buyers (of new cars) are now defecting to small engined, low tax, low insurance cars, and the market for all used cars is very volatile - some analysts predict cars losing 75% of their value over a three year cycle.

Howvever, what should be appreciated is ultimately who decides what a car is worth when it reaches a certain age?

It is the used car market/buyer. The S80 discussed has few buyers new and will therefore (when predicting the 3 year values when new) have few buyers when old(er).

CAP and Glass use a very wide range of criteria when predicting use car values.

It is after all a futures market.

Prufrock.

[capt jack]

Big saloons have always lost money faster than any other sector of the car market.

This has been debated many times in different magazines and TV programmes. I can remember specifically Quentin Willson doing an item on one of the TV consumer shows way way back, extolling the virtues of a used Lexus or an MB over a new small hatchback.

I bought my first second-hand 740 back in 1992 on the strength of that item, and I've never looked back since!

There's a demand for big cars new mostly from fleet users, but once a year or two old, the only likely buyer is the private owner, and private buyers tend to want smaller cars because the perception is that smaller cars are less expensive to run.

I know someone in my immediate family who bought a new VW Polo for £13,000 because it promised 60 mpg. He doesn't exactly moan about it's poor rear seat access and accommodation, or the tiny boot, but perversely, he points to these drawbacks as the compromises he's made to achieve 60 mpg!

It seems to be entrenched in human nature that we focus on just one or two key figures when we make our major decisions, rather than look at the wider picture. Hence the buyer of a small car focusses on the mpg, but doesn't calculate the total cost of his motoring.

There really are only two big motoring expenses - depreciation and fuel. Servicing, repairs, insurance etc are generally all much of a muchness. A big car that's taken a big depreciation hit makes a lot of financial sense if you do a fairly small mileage.

As well as my intergalactic old V70, we also run a 2.5 litre S70 auto as a second car. We paid £3000 for it 8 years ago, it's been brilliantly reliable. So what if it only does 30 mpg? At 8,000 miles a year that's not a big deal. But what small 'economical' hatchback could we have bought for £3,000 8 years ago being pretty sure that it would last as long, or be as comfortable and reliable as our S70?

Cheers

Jack