Depreciation

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My new A3 is available on 11th December.
Do I ask for the registration to be January 1st 2014 with a 13 plate or am I that anxious for an early Christmas present?
It seems as if waiting three weeks I will be quids in on resale in the years to come. Any thoughts?
 
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how long do you intend to keep it ?

3 years then it will make a difference.

10 years it'll make little difference.

i think a 14 plate makes mre difference, but means another 3 months wait.

reckon it'd make £500 - £800 difference dependanyt on purchase cost in terms of 2013 or 2014 registration.
 
the_lecht_rocks said:
how long do you intend to keep it ?

3 years then it will make a difference.

10 years it'll make little difference.

i think a 14 plate makes mre difference, but means another 3 months wait.

reckon it'd make £500 - £800 difference dependanyt on purchase cost in terms of 2013 or 2014 registration.
Click to expand...

I agree on the year and plate change dates I.e 2013,2014 December / January ( both 63 plate) and February /March (63 / 14 ) and August/ September (14 / 64 ) in all these scenarios there is a likely premium on a normal months depreciation be it £250 or £500 a month. Other factors come into play too!
If you are buying the car yourself I am told March new plate is the preferred date for purely financial reasons. Counter view is the value of Px but if you have use of other vehicles you could always sell early and or take a long holiday!
 
I had a similar quandry a couple of years back with a TTS, mine was registered in the December and I still wish I had waited until Jan the first at least.
Estimate of 500 to 800 pounds is spot on.

And your dealer will assure you that it will make absolutely no difference, dont believe him.
STEVE...............
 
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It makes little difference. Condition and mileage far more important than date/registration.

Personally I'd rather have the car under my care as soon as possible.
Audi will have it sat in a dirty field, open to the elements and potentially splattered in bird ****, which they won't clean and it will mark your paint (and unless you are very meticulous and take a paint light to handover won't notice until the first time you come to wash and dry, by which time it's too late).

Just get it when it's available and look after it.
 
The op actually stated either dec 2013 or jan 14, not a difference in the year plate. In that scenario there will be little difference in the value of the car...
 
You never know either - superstition could play a part, someone may not want a used 13 reg car. I know a few people who have purposely held out until '14 for their new car
 
I think, There would be a few hundred quid in it at most at 3yrs old (if pxing the car at the same time as an identical car with exactly the same mileage registered in December rather than January).This is because the market values change on a monthly basis and the valuation tools like CAP work on how old the car actually is rather than what month it was registered, and the climate at that time of course, I think the only benefits you would have if you took delivery in January are
1; In the back of your mind its a 2014,not a 2013. 2; would possibly make a difference if selling private (bit more desirable maybe??)

ON THE DOWN SIDE

It might alter the part exchange value though (if you have one) as the dealership will have valued your old car for when they would send the car to trade/retail it, and not taken into account any "book drop" that would happen in January??
You may be asked to pay the difference and that might negate any benefit in value you may get when trading the car in..
Just something to think about..Its just so you know what the dealership may say if you asked the question, It may not be the case..
Also
Some manufacturers also change the offers on certain cars in january (start of a new quarter) and may not be able to price protect the deal you got if Audi have got a price increase due..
 
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CraigI said:
It makes little difference. Condition and mileage far more important than date/registration.

Personally I'd rather have the car under my care as soon as possible.
Audi will have it sat in a dirty field, open to the elements and potentially splattered in bird ****, which they won't clean and it will mark your paint (and unless you are very meticulous and take a paint light to handover won't notice until the first time you come to wash and dry, by which time it's too late).

Just get it when it's available and look after it.
Click to expand...

Of course age and condition are important BUT in March 2017 I would wager that identical cars with one registered 28 February the other 1 March 2014 the 14 Plate will be worth several hundred pounds more..

The same goes for December 2013 and January 2014 (both 63 plate)

Just take a look at the on line Free valuations and play around with three year old 60/11 plates and see what I mean.


(December 2013 will be a 63 plate as will January 2014 BTW)
 
There will be a difference between Feb 14 / March 14, but I doubt there will be any between Dec 13 / Jan 14.
 
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It'd be an idiot dealer to think that a certain 2 weeks will depreciate a car more than a different 2 weeks just because an arbitrary calendar system decided that a certain number increased during one of those 2 week periods.
 
Not at all.. There are dates when different things happen. Kids born in August (31) can start school a year earlier than those born in September (1)..
Take a look on Parkers website - I just have.. S3 Sportback Technology 2010/60 versus 2011/60. Trade value on older car c£1300 less.. Franchised Dealer cc1380 less... Even with adjustment for mileage (£750-£800) those few weeks/days will cost you at least £500!! QED

Idiotic I know but so are many things in life!
 
Parkers are a very very rough guide. They dont buy cars or track the market conditions as much as they should.
If they were accurate enough they would buy cars off customers and nobody would trade in. All the while parkers would be knowing they would be able to give top money to people and still sell the cars on and make money.But they dont, why?
I see it all the time working in a dealership. Also bear in mind that different specs of car with different engines will depreciate in different ways depending on what the markets doing.
Eg; Generally convertables are worth more in the summertime because the demand is higher.
Eg; The gas guzzlers nowadays are worth peanuts as people dont want to spend a fortune on fuel..
Its not as easy as having a general rule for all used cars.Theres allsorts of defining factors..
 
Or the one in best condition, or with the features/options i want, etc... age is at the bottom of the list as far as 2 weeks are concerned.
 
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If you are worried about depreciation why are you buying a brand new car ???.
The day you drive it off the forecourt you have lost a load of money, the day after the car isn't new.
There are ways to mitigate depreciation but they mainly involve buying cars 12-18 months old. Still have lots of warranty, still look like new. Put a personal plate on it and who would know it's not new, apart from yourself.
 
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It is cheaper buying a new car with a decent discount than a demo. Or wait and buy a one/two year old car.

I want a new and un abused new S3 8V so no option .
 
PilotAudi said:
It is cheaper buying a new car with a decent discount than a demo. Or wait and buy a one/two year old car.

I want a new and un abused new S3 8V so no option .
Click to expand...

I agree. I like having a 'new' car rather than one someone else has owned before me. Also it means I can have exactly the specification I want and not what someone else has decided.

I've had new cars for the last 45 years and Audi and VW models tend to hold their value better than a lot of other makes and if you keep a car for around three years the depreciation tends to balance out over buying second-hand.
 
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Spot on H ... I've not been buying brand new cars quite as long as you have but...
Buy new
Get good discount
Look after it
No silly mods

Sell after 2-3 years and move on up.

Works for me..
 
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Outside? My dealer keep all their cars properly. No delusion here!
 
steeve said:
I had a similar quandry a couple of years back with a TTS, mine was registered in the December and I still wish I had waited until Jan the first at least.
Estimate of 500 to 800 pounds is spot on.

And your dealer will assure you that it will make absolutely no difference, dont believe him.
STEVE...............
Click to expand...

Thanks all.
I agree with you. The salesman said 'why do you want to wait' and I explained and added 'you know this only too well'.
To be fair he has targets to meet and a manager to badger him but think a three week wait is neither here or there.
 
As a salesperson he will get paid on that deal, if that makes him shy of his personal monthly target he will lose his performance related bonus and could have a dramatic effect on his wage. If the 3 week wait was within the same month its not an issue but if it goes into another month thats another story..They will be quite keen to get you into the car this month.
 
Having been some one who has bought and sold a few cars recently and been in the same situation I can tell you that there is a difference in value between a december car and a january registered car. Same as there is a difference between the registration numbers (13 or 63). In my own experience its between around 500 and 800 pounds.

Obviously key to any car value is its condition, but as you would be comparing the same vehicle registered 2013 or 2014 that gets cancelled out.

As the dealer will be keen to get his numbers for 2013 you may well find he will reduce the cost of the car by that amount, mine did.
 
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My car was delivered a couple of weeks before 01/09/13 but dealer hung unto it so it was a 63, that was what my employer wanted too since they were buying and it affected resale after 3 years so I guess it does make some difference in certain circumstances.

If it's close to your delivery maybe better to wait rather than have a late reg current plate because that won't matter to somebody buying it at first glance they would still treat it as 6 months older.
 
By waiting till May 2014 instead of taking delivery of a 2013 December car With S performance Pack , panoramic sunroof, Misano metalic paint , tinted window , i saved over $4,750 .

Yes the price of a Australian S3 with those extras above is around $ 75,750.00

Most of the early adoptees paid full retail and as the cars here have been detuned to 206 KW instead of 221 KW i would hate to see the earlier retuned cars until they get the tune right for our conditions .

So yeah for me a 2014 car is a win win situation
 
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If you. An wait until January then wait, if your trading in something else you may have to jump and do the deal, sell the old car and pay cot the new one and girl him to register for jan
 
dieseldoug said:
If you. An wait until January then wait, if your trading in something else you may have to jump and do the deal, sell the old car and pay cot the new one and girl him to register for jan
Click to expand...

?????????????
 
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