A brief history of my uncle's shite

[JohnDeere]

My uncle had to give up driving last year after suffering a stroke.  He kept a good history file of his motors, and if anyone's interested, I can scan various items - like lots of interesting old invoices (going back to his 1959 Ford Prefect) and various Ovlov 340 brochures from the early 80s.   He's had some 'interesting' chod, the highlight of which must be the pink 1973 Renault 12 (I need to search for photos).

 

But first, a lesson in depreciation.  My uncle bought 1-2 year old motors, often towards the end of the model cycle, and sold years later for buttons.  Since 1978 he kept a record of how much he paid and sold for.

 

So... which do you think is the best/worst depreciator of the following selection?  I'll post the numbers (£/%) a little later after you've had time to guess...

 

• 1977 Alpine in 'sandy gold'... bought at 1 year old in July 1978 for £2850, sold in May 1984 - kept for nearly 6 years  (first car I'd seen with a fag lighter!)
• 1982 Volvo 343 in silver ... bought a couple of years old in May 1984 for £4,100, sold in Feb 1987 - kept for just under three years  (unce always suspected it had been in a prang earlier in its life as nothing quite lined up right)
• 1986 Volvo 340 in blue ... bought a year old in Feb 1987 for £5,495, sold in Jan 1996 - kept for nearly nine years (very dependable)
• 1995 Volvo 440 in 'peacock green' ... bought ex-demo in Jan 1996 for £12,250, sold in Feb 2004 after eight years (god awful heap and some eye watering invoices in the pile)
• 2002 VW Golf povo spec model in flat red ... bought in Feb 2004 for £10,500, sold in June last year after ten-and-a-but years (if only every VW in life was as reliable as this one has been)

 

One of them wins the award for the most overall deprecation (in both £ and %)

Another wins the award for the biggest drop per year

And while Golfs are never popular here, guess which one did best  

 

[xtriple]

The Golf?

[Ghosty]

The 440 will be the one where all the value fell out of it - the invoices imply reliability issues. I don't think I've seen one in six years since my art teacher PX'd her grey tasselled-cushion-filled L-plate one for a 207CC. 

Golf will be the one for per-year depreciation, I'd say it lost a bit under a grand a year.

If not, the other way round?

[Jim Bergerac]

Most overall depreciation would be the 440, I suspect the drop per year one would be the 340 as it was kept the least time.

[Bamboocarman]

I would suppose that the Alpine would be the most worthless at point of sale, in view of terrible rust and general unpopularity.

[JohnDeere]

So... 

 

Alpine - bought £2850, sold £200 ... 93% depreciation in 5.8 years of happy* ownership.  15.9% a year.  But only £1.23 a day - not the worst!

Volvo 343 - bought £4100, sold £2145 ... 48% depreciation in 2.8 years. At 17.3% a year, this was the worst overall - showing that selling after three years is an expensive way to go

Volvo 340 - bought £5495, sold £1000 ... 82% depreciation over 8.9 years, but only 9.2% a year, costing £1.38 a day.  Really quite good.

Volvo 440 - bought £12250, sold £750 ... 94% depreciation over 8 years, a costly £3.92 (three times more than its predecessor!) a day to run (but only 12% per year drop)

Golf - bought £10500, sold £1500 ... 'only' 86% drop over 10.3 years,  just 8.3% a year, £2.38 a day

 

Moral of the story: Volvo 340s were gr999.  440s were shit.  Golfs may be shit, but higher residuals make them cheap to run.

[JohnDeere]

So... 

 

Alpine - bought £2850, sold £200 ... 93% depreciation in 5.8 years of happy* ownership.  15.9% a year.  But only £1.23 a day - not the worst!

Volvo 343 - bought £4100, sold £2145 ... 48% depreciation in 2.8 years. At 17.3% a year, this was the worst overall - showing that selling after three years is an expensive way to go

Volvo 340 - bought £5495, sold £1000 ... 82% depreciation over 8.9 years, but only 9.2% a year, costing £1.38 a day.  Really quite good.

Volvo 440 - bought £12250, sold £750 ... 94% depreciation over 8 years, a costly £3.92 (three times more than its predecessor!) a day to run (but only 12% per year drop)

Golf - bought £10500, sold £1500 ... 'only' 86% drop over 10.3 years,  just 8.3% a year, £2.38 a day

 

Moral of the story: Volvo 340s were gr999.  440s were shit.  Golfs may be shit, but higher residuals make them cheap to run.

[Bamboocarman]

A neat piece of accounting there: very good food for thought, thanks.

[Stroller133]

*pendant warning* the golf is probably cheapest per day too in real terms. The "value" of £2.38 a day is probably less in 2002 - 2012 than £1.28 was in 1978-1984.

[In The Pit]

Interesting stats but I'd still choose the Alpine over the Golf.