Man am I P.O.’d…..

We finally traded in our 2002 Jeep Liberty 4X4 last Sunday. We bought this Jeep in August of 2002. The Jeep listed for a little over $29,000 dollars and it was loaded with every option. We paid a little over $25,000 dollars for it which I thought was a decent deal. When we bought it we were able to take advantage of 0% financing which was great. Starting last December we decided to look for another car. There was nothing wrong with the Jeep other than the fuel mileage was horrendous. It only averaged 17MPG Hwy. My truck gets better than that and it weighs 8000lbs!!!!! We started noticing how bad the trade in value was on this Jeep and did a little checking up on-line.
We took a beating with this vehicle. After 2 years we were still over $2000 upside down. I have probably had 30 cars and trucks since I was 16 years old and have NEVER taken a beating like we did with this Jeep.

The trade in value of the Jeep was $12,500 after 2 years. Figuring from the sticker price of the vehicle (which is where you figure depreciation from) this is around a 60% drop in value in 2 YEARS!!!! I have NEVER had a car drop so much in value in 2 years. I could understand 5 years maybe but 2!!!!??? I know that I could have sold it outright but it would still not get more than $13,500.

I will never own another Jeep and I hope none of you were unfortunate enough to buy one because you will take a beating too.

We bought a loaded Honda Accord with the Navigation System and everything. I did some checking around and the Honda holds 51% of its value after 5 years. This makes the 6th Honda that we have owned and I am sorry that I ever strayed away from them.

Sorry guys and girls….I just had to vent a little. Hope you understand.


Britt

 

Oh by the way.....the Jeep had 22,000 miles on it and it looked like it came off of the showroom floor.

 

your jeep depreciation sounds normal for a domestic non diesel vehicle


sounds like you're used to honda's , they're kind of like CTD's when it comes to holding value

I bought my 01 dodge gasser for 27,000 plus taxes and stuff .......... traded it in after 2yrs on my CTD was only able to get 14,000 for it and that was a good price, black book said it was only worth 11-13K depending on condition............. oh yeah I still owed 16K on it when I traded it in ......... I feel your pain

 

Britt,

Sorry to hear about your Jeep experience. I have a 94 Wrangler that I bought used in 1998 for 9k. I added a hard top for 2k. It books at 5500 now. That averages out to about 9% depreciation for each year I have owned it. I also figure it is pretty close to "bottom out " as long as I keep it running and looking good. New cars, boats, rv's, motorcycles, etc.. usually take their biggest depreciation hits during the first 3 years of ownership, no matter the brand. Some, like Honda and Toyota, just take a little smaller hit. My good friend is a dealer, he tells me that their rule of thumb on trades are that they will offer 20% below low book. Thats why buying on someone elses dime (used) is so attractive!

 

My wife and I leased a Grand Cherokee back in 2000 that stickered out at over 36K. After three years, it had under 33,000 miles and we could have bought it from the dealership for under 16K. Glad we didn't have to take THAT beating.

Said "to heck with the Jeeps" and bought a 2003 Honda CRV EX outright. Excellent vehicle, and almost two years latter, it has lost very little value.

Love my CTD, but love my Hondas too.

 

I've never bought a new vehicle, and I don't think I ever will...

but whenever I'm talking w/ someone and they're telling me about some new vehicle they bought, I always compare the purchase to a new Cummins and go into resale value, etc.

Forrest

 

i don't see the value in buying a new vehicle, but with buying used, you never know how the vehicle has been maintained, or what the previous owner has done with it. that being said, i got my truck new, and the last 2 vehicles i have had were new. [diesel tahoe in dec 97, and brand new FREEBIE 2003 ram 1500 in feb/mar 03]

my next vehicle will be used [toy vehicle, nissan 240sx/silvia drift car ] when i win the lotto...

 

I have always bought a new vehicle. You are right there is no value in it at all. I have never bought a used one. I know that you take a huge hit in deprecation when you drive it off the lot. I have almost always at least broke even with my trades though. Like nickleinonen said, you don’t know what kind of treatment the vehicle has received if you buy used. I do my own maintenance on all my cars and trucks. I know what kind of treatment they get. I think that I’m also addicted to the “new car smell”.

I have never seen such HUGE deprecation in a car as this Jeep. To me this is inexcusable. More than 60% in 2 years? What a joke.

Please excuse me…. Still fuming

 

http://www2.nadaguides.com/uv/viewre...wPr=1&wPg=2032

Sounds like you got hosed!

 

Around here where we get lots of snow, used 4x4 2002 Libertys retail for $16.5k - $20K. Those with less than 30k miles retail at $19k. However the market appears to be flooded with them. not a good sign. People must be turning loose for some reason.
Nat

 

I think that people should always try to sell on their own for atleast a week or two before trading one in. The dealers have shore got a lot of overhead to support, but they don't get much of it from me! By the way I'm tight fisted but still might have flown somewhere to pay $14500 for that deal. And I don't think that we should give up on domestic vehicles yet, after all spend it here keep it here as much as possible. No pun intended. just my .002

 

The laws of suppy and demand are irrefuteable. Automakers are doing a much better job these days of ramping up production on new vehicle launches. If they see significant future demand, they build large inventories to satisfy that demand. What that means is 2 to 3 years later, when those vehicles come off lease, the price will plummet.

I was working as the CFO of a small auto lease company when the Ford Expedition hit the market. Those things were selling like hotcakes and many people were paying big premiums for them. Many had purchase prices between $45-$50K. Two years later, when we started getting them off lease, not one would retail over $20K. They were everywhere. We ran them through the auctions for between $16-$18K, and the company took huge losses. Of course, by then, the vehicle had lost its novelty and was just one of many full size SUV's, and wasn't particularly well built to boot.

 

The biggest disadvantage I see from the Liberty is it's lack of a solid front axle. It doesn't have as many offroad capabilities as the other Jeep models.

 

Unfortunatly If you could find where it is for sale at now its probably 25K or so. Seems the dealers have their own book values.

 

TF,

That sucks man.

I have always bought new vehicles, but when I buy one, I drive it till the wheels fall off.
The best vehicle I have owned so far, (cant count my ctd cause it's still too new) was a 1987 jeep cherokee with the 4banger and straight shift. I sold it in 2000 for $2500 with over 280,000 miles on it. Never did anything other than maintenance to it. Replaced one water pump and one thermostat. Still had the original clutch in it. I sold it to a local kid and I still see it everyday. The last time I talked to him it had over 300,000 miles but he had to replace the clutch.

I believe you have to drive a new car into the dirt in order for it to pay off.