Buy Passat or stick with Golf

homerjk

Hey everyone,

Sorry for kind of re-posting this thread but I think my question got lost in my old thread.

In that thread unkel mentioned i was crazy if i thought it was going to get €5k to €6k for my Golf. Regarding the price for the Golf I was just going by this. And mine is a late 98 registered car. Is Carzone not a good benchmark, are they way overpriced?

My current car is a 98 VW Golf Mark 4 1.9 Tdi 120K. I bought it in June 2005 for €7500 with 95K. I bought it off a dealer who had it as a trade in. There was only one previous owner from new, a priest. He had it VW serviced every 15000 miles. I did not get it serviced as it was due its NCT at 115K. I had it pre NCT’d with a mechanic who was recommended by a VW dealer as he had learned his trade working in VW garages and was now working for himself, fixing mainly VW cars. It passed the NCT until 09-08 (but it won’t be called for NCT until 12-08)

Basically I'm leaving the country in Sept 08 so no matter what car I own then, im selling it.

I'm just conscious of losing a load of money on the Golf. I was thinking of maybe trading up to something to try and minimize the loss. I don't know whether I'm making this too simple and assuming its too easy to get a buyer for a car.:o

What about his scenario, maybe my maths is wrong...
1. By the time I leave Ill have a car loan left of €1500. So if I kept the Golf and going by galwaytts €3k valuation (don't worry I'm not holding that as gospel!) I would be left with €1500 over.

2. Say I bought say a 01 diesel Passat for €8.5k to €9k. If I was lucky with the Golf now, I would only have to outlay another €3.5k to €4k to buy it. Then when selling next year I would only have to get €6.5k to €7k to be in the same situation but I would have a younger car which would be easier to sell no? The major assumption is the valuation of the Passat in 15 months time. I could be way over valuing it which would make this point moot!

Also I can start selling my car a month or 2 months before I go so I wont be in that much of a rush to sell it. I can also get my dad to sell it after I leave so it wont be a total ****e or bust choice!

Again, your informed advice is greatly appreciated!

fits

I dont think you're going to save any money by trading up, and you could very possibly lose some. You have a good running car, it wont be difficult to sell, just keep it, unless you really want a change.

Victor Meldrew

you typically lose money every time you sell a car (unless you are lucky and are willing to commit all the effort screening calls etc) and a golf will hold value better than a passat. If the golf is good and you trust it, stay put,

alias no.9

You lose money on every transaction. The choice is do you stick with the golf and sell it when you're moving on, one transaction; or do you sell the golf, buy a passat and sell that when you're moving on, three transactions. By all means buy the passat if you want to, but do it in the knowledge it will probably cost you more in overall.

bazz26

homerjk wrote:

Hey everyone,

Sorry for kind of re-posting this thread but I think my question got lost in my old thread.

In that thread unkel mentioned i was crazy if i thought it was going to get €5k to €6k for my Golf. Regarding the price for the Golf I was just going by this. And mine is a late 98 registered car. Is Carzone not a good benchmark, are they way overpriced?

Yes they are overpriced. Most carzone prices are inflated "asking" prices. What the car actually sells for can be totally different. Plus alot of those asking prices are from dealers who offer a warranty which you would not.

homerjk wrote:

My current car is a 98 VW Golf Mark 4 1.9 Tdi 120K. I bought it in June 2005 for €7500 with 95K.

You paid €7,500 for the car two years ago put 25k miles on it, your expecting to get €5k or €6k for it now. By that you would only have lost €1500 or €2500 on it in two years. I'm afraid it will not work out that way in reality.

Imo you will probably get €3,500 tops for a 9 year old Golf TDi.

colm_mcm

you'll never minimise a potential loss by spending more money on another car. Stick with what you have

Also I reckon your Golf will fetch 4,000

homerjk

Ok Lads, thanks for that, I think i will stick then.

Jesus i just hope i have some money left over after paying off my loan, even 100 quid to make me feel better!