Depreciation question (not the usual though)
Depreciation question (not the usual though)
Author
Discussion

colin996

Original Poster:

140 posts

236 months

Wednesday 28th March 2007
quotequote all
I own a 1998 S-plate C2 used at weekends only. I commute to work by train with my company paying but they may not fund this any longer so I need to decide whether to drive in or not.

I bought it for £35k from a dealer 2.5 years ago (with 35k miles) and expect it to be worth now, at best, £25k if sold privately (with 42k miles). Assuming that the original dealer costs and 'tiny' profit were about £4k, that would mean that underlying depreciation is about £2.5k a year even with very low mileage.

So, will driving 15k miles a year instead of 3k really add that much to the rate of depreciation at this point? I've already worked out the extra maintenance and consumables costs.

Am I over analysing this and should just f****** drive it for a change?

baz1985

3,685 posts

275 months

Wednesday 28th March 2007
quotequote all
just f8cking drive it. Do another 100k in it and you might lose £15k.

Erik997

1,289 posts

238 months

Wednesday 28th March 2007
quotequote all
Its a Porsche - drive it. love it.

Vesuvius 996

35,829 posts

301 months

Wednesday 28th March 2007
quotequote all

Drive it.

I bought mine at 29k miles two years ago and now it's done 65k.

It's dropped a bit more than it would have if I'd done 3k a year, but not much really, considering the pleasure it's given me.

As Henry says, mileage ain't all that on older cars. People buy on condition.

Schmalex

13,616 posts

236 months

Wednesday 28th March 2007
quotequote all
Drive it, love it, forget about any depreciation - you only live once.

However, if you want to look into the analysis:

Based on 12K miles per year (national average), you car "should" have done 108K miles. Currently, you have only done 42K miles so you have 66K miles "grace" in the car.

If you keep it for another, say, 3 years & stack on 20K per year, your car would still have done only 102K miles - it will still be 42K miles below the "average" mileage for cars of that age (assuming 12 years old at that point).

As Henry says - "buy on condition, not mileage". Assuming you keep the service history up & keep the car in top condition you will see little, if any, incremental depreciation if you use it, enjoy it & service it.

diesel130

1,549 posts

242 months

Wednesday 28th March 2007
quotequote all
My advice is drive it ...

The car has a very low mileage for its age, but that won't be reflected in the price you can get it for. Mine, from a non-porsche main dealer didn't cost much more that yours 2 months ago and its a 2000 model with 46K on the clock, so I'd be surprised if you will get much more than 23-24K for it to be honest.

If you look at the price for a very high mileage 97 or 98 model with 100K plus miles in a grotty colour you're still looking at 19K to 20K, so as you've already had the biggest hit on depreciation, a few more miles aren't going to have a huge effect.

Just my 2p worth.

rimmer

6,689 posts

236 months

Thursday 5th April 2007
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just drive it thats what its there for

alltorque

2,646 posts

299 months

Thursday 5th April 2007
quotequote all
diesel130 said:
My advice is drive it ...

The car has a very low mileage for its age, but that won't be reflected in the price you can get it for. Mine, from a non-porsche main dealer didn't cost much more that yours 2 months ago and its a 2000 model with 46K on the clock, so I'd be surprised if you will get much more than 23-24K for it to be honest.

If you look at the price for a very high mileage 97 or 98 model with 100K plus miles in a grotty colour you're still looking at 19K to 20K, so as you've already had the biggest hit on depreciation, a few more miles aren't going to have a huge effect.

Just my 2p worth.


Agree with this - prices are plummeting! I just sold my 99C4 for £23k after about 5 weeks of ads on PH. Nice 4k drop in 10 months! Beats working for a living. Glad I didn't fork out for the warranty too!


worth every penny though - great car! Just drive it and enjoy it mate if you can afford it!