Just how badly can a Vauxhall depreciate?
All cars depreciate, but Vauxhalls depreciating is out of this world
The day finally came. The day as a petrol head I had been waiting for since I first started driving. The day I finally purchased and drove away my first 'real' car. Although I had driven my parent's cars for the previous two years I had never owned my own car that had my name in bold letters on the V5 document. The car I chose to purchase was a 2012 Vauxhall Astra GTC SRI 1.4 turbo (I had to include the 'turbo' as that at-least adds 1000bhp) and drove it all the 4 hour drive back to my hometown to show my parent what I choose to buy, which was only going to end in two ways; approval or 'you *include expletive* idiot!'.
Fortunately for me, it was definitely the former of the two and they were pleasantly surprised with what car I was able to purchase for the relatively little money paid. The car was owned by a retired couple who lived abroad and used the car for when they were home, which wasn't often, less than 90 days per year max. This meant that the car had only 27,000 miles on the clock which for a 7 year old car, is I think we can all agree, is barely anything. The couple were the second owners of the car, however, they bought it from Vauxhall in around 2015/16 and unsurprisingly the car sales man even managed to get the pensioner to buy the car with a 3 year service package. What's more, the car was an SRI model so not the top spec, but also not the poverty spec which meant the car had at-least some toys. On top of this my car had one crucial option, all around parking sensors, which I think is a no-brainer on the GTC as visibility is just non existent. This option cost around £300-£350. With this in mind, the car brand new in 2012 cost around £20k-£21k and I bought it for as little as £5.5k.
This highlights that my car, which sat on the drive most of the year and had 27,000 'gentle' miles had lost at least 70% of it's original value in a relatively short time. I can't help but think that for the cars price and the other rubbish that you can buy for the same price as £5.5k, that I in fact bought quite a steal. Instead I could be driving something like Fiat 500 or a Citroen C1 for the same money, which are basically just 4 wheels, a steering wheel and a metal shell around them. All I hope, is that the depreciation of the car has plateaued and I don't sell it in the coming years for £4.
Have you suffered bad depreciation with your car or bought a car for a steal? Comment below.
This is my first article on DriveTribe, so hold out in the comments.
Andrewe
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Comments (1)
Even if it is worth 4 pounds in a few years, you did pretty well!