Top 10: Britain's worst depreciating cars. #6 - Vectra

[Vauxhall Thru & Thru]

Top 10: Britain's worst depreciating cars.

Number 6: Vauxhall Vectra

http://cars.uk.msn.com/News/Top_ten_...entid=11348940

6: Vauxhall Vectra: 17.8% - High volume cars bought in huge numbers by fleets and other commercial buyers are always in danger of epic depreciation, especially when the trade knows there’s something much better around the corner. And the Insignia’s gain is the Vectra’s pain, the big Vauxhall feeling the pinch as its more glamorous successor comes on stream.

Crazy deals on new and nearly-new Vectras mean you can now get a delivery mileage car for under 10 grand, with predictable effects on used values. Glass’s reckons a retained value of just 17.8% after three years but given the state of the market you’d have to say that was an optimistic assessment.

[Trev]

2 weeks ago got £6760 for my 06 plate 56k mile 3.0 CDti Siggy Elite and was quite pleased with that considering I paid £14300 in march 07 when it had just under 4k on the clock as ex-VX management car.

One of the main reason I went for the Siggy was high depreciation (29% according to WhatCar at the time) and it had already lost £13k (47%) in less than a year when I bought it!

You have to accept that if you go for a fleet volume car with low percieved market standing it's gonna get hit by the dreaded 'D'.

I think we'll all be holding onto our cars for a lot longer going forward as we realise the new products, in most cases, don't offer a huge leap forward and the cost of having 'the latest shape' to impress someone else just isn't worhtth paying. There's plenty of other things to spend time and money on and life is jsut too short.

A decent spec Vectra C is a hell of a lot of car for not a lot of money and will do most things most people want

[Robbie69]

TREV, well said, what's the point? Got a young family and i'd rather just keep my car and spend my money on my family having fun!

[neilshaw1980]

If I didnt need a 7 seater I would be tempted with a Alfa 166, only holding onto 12% of its original value after 3 yrs, that has to be a bargain.

[_ZS_]

Anyone who purposely goes and buys a new Vectra (or any car in that sector) is mad, when you can get a 6 month old one for less than half price.

[merikiito]

Holy poo Trev, thats a massive loss. Would have been cheaper to have used a taxi.

Quite a few years back a friend brought a Astra GTE for his wife to travel less than 1 mile a day in. She was too lazy to walk to work which was at the bottom of the street. When he went to sell it we worked out that it has cost something like £70 a mile for the time they had owned it. When we told him amazingly his wife started to walk to work the next day!!!

[Hideous]

It sounds really bad there, but when you look at all used car prices (mass produced ones) they are all rock bottom now. So, if you want to change to another car, yes - you get a low selling price for your current one but you also get a low buying price for your next motor. Evens it out a little bit.

[brifen]

Well I've never had the luxury of buying a new car or even nearly new, always seam to be on a budget. So I love the big 'D'.

It means i can have a well spec'd car at a reasonable price which actually has not got allot more 'D' to do from what I pay for it. I usually hover round cars being 5 to 6 years old. This also has advantages as most of what is going to wrong with the car already has.

Bri.

[mucklestone]

Anyone who purposely goes and buys a new Vectra (or any car in that sector) is mad, when you can get a 6 month old one for less than half price.

Generally the kind of person who sells a car after 6 months or a year proberly doesn't take much care of it!!!

My friend has a company car, they sell them after a year. (only corsas but still) I tell you theres no way on earth you'd want one if your saw what they went though in 6 months (They are asbestos consultants, samples and overalls in and out the cars all the time, grounded on building sites as well) They are registered in private names as well so you'd never know.....

[Trev]

Holy poo Trev, thats a massive loss. Would have been cheaper to have used a taxi.

Quite a few years back a friend brought a Astra GTE for his wife to travel less than 1 mile a day in. She was too lazy to walk to work which was at the bottom of the street. When he went to sell it we worked out that it has cost something like £70 a mile for the time they had owned it. When we told him amazingly his wife started to walk to work the next day!!!

Didn't think of that, 52k miles in a taxi would certainly have earnt a big tip

Not worked it out before but my 20 months or so of ownership cost me 14.6 pence a mile in depreciation. I was being paid a £3k a year allowance and 30 pence a mile by my company to run (fuel, insurance, servicing, tax, the lot) and still cheaper for me than a company car

Needing a car as a business tool means a totally different choice made to owning one for 'social & domestic'.