Prius heavy depreciation?

I saw the kbb PP value dump on mine to $19.2k @ 13k miles down from $20.3k in first of September , $1,100 in one month! Seems it might be due to the 2011 model year arriving.

But the craigslist prices seem to be holding pretty steady. Prius resale is nothing like a good used Civic EX. You won't see Honda discounting those much on new sales.

Need hybrid demand to go up and then I sell. don't drive mine to work anymore, it's pointless discomfort.

So, I choose to drive my 22 year old Toyota pickup that the air district would like me to scrap. No way. I need it.

 

Kelly's is one data point but it is hard to find a KBB car lot. So instead I'd bought my 2003 Prius using Ebay and posted this chart on December 19, 2005:

My Prius was at 49,300 miles and $17,300. It is now 5 years and 85,000 miles later, about 135,000 miles. What is the going price for a 52 MPG car with less than 135,000 miles?

No one can predict the future but expecting a car price to go up seems optimistic. Warranties can run out the ticking clock.

GOOD LUCK!
Bob Wilson

 

I think that Toyota has it figured out, My 22 K machine can be bought by me after my 3 years lease for 15.7K (residual value) . Or if it really depreciated faster than that, I can give it back to them, and they eat the depreciation. Leasing is a way of locking in the depreciation ahead of time, when you are not sure what the future will bring.

 

Exactly! When gas is $2.50, everyone needs an SUV. When gas is $3.50, everyone needs a hybrid. Funny how most people don't take into account how much gas $10,000 can buy when they dump their gas guzzlers in a panic. I guess every sale helps the economy...

 

unless they're buying on payments they cannot afford.:loco:

 

I was at the dealer yesterday for service and walked around outside. I saw 27 Prii in a row, plus another dozen scattered around, so I guess you're right. They just moved to a larger facility, they're doing okay it appears.

 

Really, for large dealerships, it's very common to have an inventory of between 20-40 of a particular model, that's priced in the low to mid-20's. Inventories will thin out as the price moves above $30K, ie, I would not expect to see more than a handful, if that of fully loaded V's.

 

I say at $3.50/gal people (in the US) will complain while still driving their SUVs. In today's dollars, $4.50/gal is where I expect a significant shift to hybrids or efficient diesels to start. Of course, I pulled these figures scientifically from my rear orifice and seasoned them with gut feeling and intuition.

 

Another drop in 2010 Prius prices -
10/8/10 Toyota Sunnyvale

III w/nav - $23,588 net cost 16 avail (that's $800 down from last week)

V w/ nav only - $27,988 27 avail (down $700 from last week)

What a difference 2 years makes. Remember this thread with 1,000 posts between June 2008 and December 2008.

http://priuschat.com/forums/newbie-forum/48970-prius-waiting-list-support-group.html

I remember talking with salesman at Norcal dealer, June 2008, he gets a call from North Carolina - 'do you have such color, package Prius' ... no.

 

Buying a Prius because one plans to sell it . . . well there are some problems I don't have a lot of sympathy.

Bob Wilson

 

Yap, those 2 years made a lot of difference, not just for prius pricing, look at the stock markets, unemployment, etc.

However, believe me, waiting list for prius will come back. wait for another oil crunch, it's a matter of time. Hint: peak oil.

 

Three years from now who knows where oil will be. If it's $50/barrel our Prius' resale will be even worse. However, if you can sell it during an inevitable bubble (as there will be, as there is for example in gold today), then you can take advantage of the hysteria. Back in 2008 you couldn't even get a Prius without waiting on a list and now they come with happy meals.

Other events can impact. It seems almost a total lock now that darn near all "unintended acceleration" events for the Toyotas were just driver error but it helped push sales through the floor (and that's when I got mine, the public fear helped if one could cut through the FUD and take advantage of the situation).

 

I think most people have no plans of selling their Prius soon after buying. It's the ones who don't see a problem coming (or brush it off like me) that get into trouble.

That said, I have a huge problem with handing over the keys to someone paying 12 grand less than I did on a couple year old vehicle that's barely broken in. That's just bad policy.

 

I traded my Prius at the height of the recall hoopla, and got $19,110, vs the $24,430 I paid for it new three months earlier. It had 4,000 miles on it, and had had the brake recall reprogam done. There was nothing wrong with the car. I felt abit pissed at Toyota, because people were saying they hid stuff to try and avoid paying for the recalls that needed to be done, and people lost confidence in them. I asked them to make up the difference to me, and they refused. I was disappointed, because this was my first Toyota, and I liked it.

 

I notice you list a 2010 III in your profile, did you purchase another Prius, or do you no longer have a Prius at all?

 

Oil production from oil sands and new deep water exploration would not be feasible at the $50 price. We have a price floor in oil.

As for gold, yes, we have a mini bubble right now, I just sold my holdings to repurchase later at a discount as the gold bubble is just beginning.

 

One thing I noticed when I looked up my 2010 V as a used model. On KBB and NADA there was no differential for which model. I thru V are all lumped together. The pearl paint option wasn't listed either. There are options to add such as NAV, leather, and JBl etc, but the other differences and cost of the V model are not factored in. This is a plus for IV owners and a negative for V owners it would seem. Seeing that I'm not planning on selling mine, the only time that would become a factor is in the event of a collision where a vehicle might be total loss.

 

Info graphic explains depreciation.

Depreciation Infographic: How Fast Does My New Car Lose Value?