Realistic trade in price?

**BenT** · 03-05-2015, 04:14 PM

Hi,

Thinking of trading my 2014 Polo GTI for a 2015 one but not sure what I'd get for mine.

I bought it new in April 2014. It's just a standard 5 door with DSG and 22,500 kms.

What do you think?

They say a car loses 15% in value every year as a rough guide, but when you're trading in it's a wholesale transaction so I guess I would get even less.

Thanks for any thoughts.

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**Darkhorse Developments** · 03-05-2015, 04:18 PM

best to sell private to gain more money. Look on car sales at all the same ones as your and get a average price /km range to work with

**BenT** · 03-05-2015, 06:32 PM

Thanks to car_nut for his PM about prices. I tried to reply but his mailbox is full.

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**car_nut** · 03-05-2015, 08:04 PM

Originally Posted by BenT

Thanks to car_nut for his PM about prices. I tried to reply but his mailbox is full.

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oops! had a good clean out but you may need to resend thanks BenT

**brad** · 04-05-2015, 07:55 AM

Originally Posted by BenT

Hi,

Thinking of trading my 2014 Polo GTI for a 2015 one but not sure what I'd get for mine.

I bought it new in April 2014. It's just a standard 5 door with DSG and 22,500 kms.

What do you think?

They say a car loses 15% in value every year as a rough guide, but when you're trading in it's a wholesale transaction so I guess I would get even less.

Thanks for any thoughts.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You lose 20-30% off the RRP in year 1 depending on how well you bought in the first place and what the reputation of the car is. After that it settles at about 10% per year for the next 4-5 yrs and almost nothing after that.

Buying new cars at retail & quickly trading in at wholesale is a losing game - especially if you are a private / personal use purchaser.

Given the 2015 is a new model with all the excitement around it, the deals won't be fantastic either (just guessing)

**wai** · 04-05-2015, 09:48 AM

You are going to lose a lot more than 15% per year in depreciation. Then there is the GST, registration, number plate transfer (if you do that) that you will lose. It will be more like 30% and higher.

Is there any particular reason for selling one that is around 1 year old?

The largest chunk you lose is in the first year because it has the highest base to apply the percentage to. After the second year, the depreciation is calculated on 70% of the original purchase price (less the other amounts). At the end of the 3rd year, it is (30% of 70%) of the original price, and so on.

You may also find a dealer wondering why it is being traded after around a year. They may offer you less than standard because there might be something else they need to allow for.

**nat225** · 04-05-2015, 10:43 AM

Is it to do with getting the new 1.8L tsi engine? It should be a better one than the 1.4L twincharge.

**nat225** · 04-05-2015, 11:01 AM

My wife had a golf6 118tsi, bought new with some options for $37500. 1 year and 24000km later, i traded that in (while they had it in the workshop for a new engine) for $25500 for a mk6 gti.

So that was a 32% depreciation in under 1.5yr.

Both cars were from the same dealer and salesperson.

In saying that, i negotiated hard on the gti and got a 11% discount from $49.5k down to $44k.

**YellowLemon** · 05-05-2015, 04:11 PM

Originally Posted by nat225

So that was a 32% depreciation in under 1.5yr.

Yep that's about par for course. It used to be best to keep a used car for 10 years then sell when the big stuff starts braking. Though with the DSG problems, now everyone is selling at 3 years

And as you say, new engine needed at 24k kms? Enough said on VW quality.

If your car is good then sell it private, everyone wins (except the dealer who misses out on the markup). Trade-in is for cars that have problems and you couldn't in good conscience sell it to another person.