Used Volvo V70's.....Why are they now selling for peanuts?

[sierraman]

Hi
I have a W reg 2000 V70 Classic that cost me £7500.00 in December 2005. At the time a similar plated Mondeo could be had for £3,000 to £3,500 and the only Volvo's for that sort of money were old 850's and low spec v40's.

My V70 has 91,000 on the clock and fsh and now appears to be worth something between £1,000-£1,750 judging by autotrader and ebay sales (max £2,250 if you are lucky and prepared to wait all year to sell) I was recently offered £1,100 from a company that advertises on tv. We buy any car.com

So what has happened to the re-sale values of used volvo v70's? These cars are supposed to be high end and are often classed as "Executive cars". They certainly cost an "executive amount of money" to maintain and to be fair look higher class/higher quality than the average mondeo or similar.

I went onto the autotrader site the other night and to my amazement i found similar mileage mondeo's are worth the same amount of money that my car is worth now. Mark 3 mondeo's are selling for similar money and so are the mark 4's. Adding to this they were roughly the same age as my car (some newer)and therefore on average they have lost 50% of their value since December 2005

My Volvo appears to have lost over 75% of its re-sale value in less than 4 years of costly ownership. Why? Have the etm problems killed their re-sale value or is it the reliabilty issues and the over priced parts and labour on these cars? Who knows? I live in Birmingham and trying to get independent garages that know how to repair and work on Volvo's is a nightmare. Is this the problem?

Judging by the resale value of my car now. I could have bought 2 mondeo's at the time of purchase and both of them (individually) would be worth similar money to my v70 now!!!

So why buy a Volvo v70? Has Ford ownership ruined the brand? What has gone wrong and why is my car worth peanuts now?

My car is only worth Mondeo money now and i feel robbed!

[NI_Volvo_Nut]

Personally I think its because Volvo have the rep for being Fuel guzzlers, big heavy expensive to run cars that generally nobody wants, feww people understand the true value of a Volvo, they see 2.5 5 cyl engines, heavy cars, £190 / year road tax, expensive parts, high main stealer prices ect ect, those who own them though know different.

[y2blade]

because no-one wants big thirsty cars anymore

blame your local MP



those that know better can snap up a bargain and keep/love/run it for a very long time

my otherhalf still has my old 850 20v....it was mot'd last week with no issues
it was my car for a few years and my uncle owned it before me, cant see us selling it as it is such a trusty old girl

I have owned my 850 T5 for over 2 and a half years now and still love it


I do keep looking at other cars but unless something big/v-bad happens to my T5 I cannot see me parting with her for a good few years yet

[sebasteeno]

Personally, i would never of dreamt of owning a Volvo but instead thinking they were styleless, uninteresting, expensive and generally boring. After having our third child under five, selling my Alfa and then buying a people carrier which i generally hated as it made me feel about 50 i then decided i wanted an estate car with some power and after looking around decided on the 850/V70 and sold the bus. I didnt think id like the V70 but anythings better than a people carrier!

But oh no, what a revelation my V70 has been! The looks have really grown on me, its fast, super comfy, has a superb sound system, is cheaper to run than an Alfa, isnt too common, fits my three kids and child seats in without problem and the list of options for upgrading and making it my own is endless!

Got to say i absolutely love my V70 and so much so that ive advised my younger brother to get rid of his Alfa and buy a V70 too. Its a hell of a lot of car for not a lot of money.

[John_C]

I think it's simply that it's nearly ten years old now with going on for 100k miles, so in many people's eyes it's nothing more than a banger. The new shape cars start at the same year as your classic so yours will also suffer by comparison.

At this end of the market cars tend to be bought on their capabilities, not their badge so unless it's a high performance or particularly desirable car I can't see a V70 classic is worth more than a couple of hundred more than a similar age and spec Mondeo estate.

I have to say too that £7500 sounds pretty steep for an old shape V70 even in 2005, was it very low milage?

Cheers,
John

[johnnyc]

mondeo's dont keep the value you think mate, i just traded in my mondeo 2.5 v6 zetecs on an 02 with fsh and only 76k on the clock, car was a cracker but was too expensive to run and things starting to go wrong, i onl got 1800 for the trade in, the problem is people what top end prices for there car but want a new one for buttons

[SteveP]

Volvo's do have heavy depreciation, especially the big engined ones at the moment. With the instability in fuel prices, economy is well up there on most peoples list of requirements! The only frugal S/V70 Series 1 is the TDI and that was a pretty old engine in 1999/2000.

Also, the Mk4 Mondeo's a very good car - common, I know - but crazy value for money at the moment. Especially as it was a new model in 2000/1(? I think) and the S/V70 was really a facelifted early 90's model based on the 850.

[johnnyc]

Originally Posted by SteveP

Volvo's do have heavy depreciation, especially the big engined ones at the moment. With the instability in fuel prices, economy is well up there on most peoples list of requirements! The only frugal S/V70 Series 1 is the TDI and that was a pretty old engine in 1999/2000.

Also, the Mk4 Mondeo's a very good car - common, I know - but crazy value for money at the moment. Especially as it was a new model in 2000/1(? I think) and the S/V70 was really a facelifted early 90's model based on the 850.

no that was mk3 mate mk4 was only new to market a few years ago 2007

[SteveP]

Whoops, Mk3 is what I meant

[Lmason]

hi, thought id comment on here, although the post may be under the wrong heading.
anyway, its not just the volvo`s going cheap, its all older cars now, and the thing which hasnt helped is all the new cars being made, there are just that many !! the government is encouraging new car sales, which they say new cars are cleaner and greeener. at my local dealers they are giving £2000 for your old car against a new one, and offering good finance deals so people get new cleaner for the enviroment cars, thus making second hand older cars worth less.
i know, it a load of old trollip, firstly, the dealers are just increasing the list price of their car, to compensate for the £2000 they give you for your old car.
and secondly, why is it typical of great britain to be so consciencious about the enviroment, when china and india, and the us are the top worst polluters of the world. why do we have to pay ££££ for catalytic converters on our cars. its not as if the air above the uk is going to be cleaner than the air above cina, india and the us !!
"green, cleen, enviroment" is just another set of words used to rip us off.
the government is trying to encourage us to use public transport as they say its greener, how many of us are nearly poisoned in our cars when behind a bus pulling away from the bus stop? there are more fumes come out of the bus in a few yards pulling away, than there is coming out of my car when driving it all day !! how these buses pass the emmissions test for the mot, its a joke !

also, going back the volvo` being "old" cars. these old cars the government is encouraging us to scrap for a modern, greener car, a/ i cant afford a greener car and b/ my "older" volvo car will outlive by far a newer greener car, so why get rid?
they have us by the short and curlys, putting the price of fuel up to try and force us to get rid of our juice guzzling, reliable, long lasting volvo, to buy a costly, greener, new car which wont last as long.

older cars were made to last, newer ones aint, for the reason of £££ for the government and £££ for the makers.