when my ride is out of the shop i'll get the number. thanks man.

 

You have to consider the fact that your X sold in 2003 which means it's well over 5 years old. Most car's shed 50% of their value in the first 3 years and usually 30% in the 1st 18 months. A car that holds 50+% of it's value in the first 3 years is a rarity (think Prius or Mini). Your X probably sold in the neighborhood of $36K out the door. That means your car has held around 40% of it's value over the span of 5 years. That's much better than most cars including BMW, Benz, Audi, etc. and in line with Lexus. Also, the car market is in the tank. All values are suffering, both new and used.

Your car's resale is heavily affected by where you live as well. High population areas have lower resales because there are more cars available to choose from.

Finally, cars are not investments. Only 0.5% actually appreciate. The depreciation factor of cars is why I yet to buy a new car in my 19 years of driving. I'll let that first buyer (sucker) take the huge hit in the 1st year or two and then snag the barely used car which is still under warranty. Plus, I get to buy cars I couldn't otherwise afford.

 

+1 million.

Gotta love the "gotta have it new and I'll pay over sticker for it" buyers!

 

I couldn't agree more, I have never bought a brand new car in my life.

I picked up my (well actually my wife's) 2003 g35 two weeks ago. I bought it private party from a woman in San Franciso who probably paid around $32K new for it. It has premium, navigation, HID and only 28,300 miles. I bought it for $11,500 (poorly advertised.)
She paid $20,500 or more to drive the car for 28K miles!

 

Seems like the Natl. Automobiles Dealers Association would be more for the dealer

 

smart.

+1...this is good advice no matter what socioeconomic level one has


regarding buying used--as long as you do all that you can to minimize the chance of buying flood damage, theft recovery, previously wrecked/frame damaged vehicles that risk not being safe with airbags and structural integrity and such.
Do your own careful inspection, request service records, carfax, do a thorough review and test drive and then get a trusted professional to check it for accidents and any other issues

 

rob...at the rate depreciation has gone...the car is worth more to me than the market. I still think my great car should fetch at least 20k (granted it was 40k OTD from the dealer) yet the market only responds to about 12k. I'm driving my car to the ground at this point

 

+1! Thanks for talking me into keeping my car bro!
-GP-

 

good to have you back bro!!! let the RE-MODDING begin!!

hit me up whenever you need to talk about wheels, life, how fvcked up our car is looking, etc.

 

me too

 

you are absolutely correct. but i don't know if me and my ride are 'til death do us part.'

 

its cool bro, as long as you and i are till death do us part. we will always have my G SEDAN for my backseat pimpin.