Meet my lovely Holden Cruze 2010 , with less than 50 000 on the clock, which the car dealer said was immaculate and so well kept. It's the one with the sun roof. Not many of those around and it's a nice car to drive and has a bit of a coolness factor. In June 2012 I paid 28, 000 + for it with the window tinting and paint protection. I was given $8 000 trade in on my Opel engine 2006 Astra Hatchback which was also in very good condition. I love my cars. Last Friday I was offered $6000 trade in for this Cruze. So now it is worth even less than quarter of its price after only 3 and a half years. I wasn't struck dumb because I said I would be insane to give them this car at that price. Even if I sold it privately I was told I might get 10 or 12 thousand so well and truly under half price.
Had I known at the time just how much used car prices were going to deteriorate in such a short time then, no, I would not have paid so much for my car. I cannot know these things and nor can you. I'd hate to be on finance. I'd be in a terrible state now had I borrowed money to pay for a car like this and the reality of 2016 kicked in. I always thought it was a good idea to trade up and get myself a better car. Even if they had knocked off $5000 on the Equipe I wanted to purchase it still would only make mine worth $11 000 after 3 and a half years. So I came home for the first time without having bought a car. Interesting experience. You have to go with the market. A second hand car appears to have no value. So it's buy and cry. Under these conditions I would not even consider a new or demo car. How is that going to help the car market? Eventually it will impact on new and demo car sales and it might bring up the used car market and it may well get quite a few people into financial difficulty. As it stands I have come home and worked out a plan which I shall blog about. I am not giving my car away. If the market doesn't value it at all , then I do. I'll keep you posted.
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