What's the most amount of money you've lost on a car?

Zascar

I think I've been pretty lucky with most of my car history, usually bought well, got good use out of the car and happy with the price I got out of it. However my last one was a disaster. I lost 7k -which does not seem that bad - however I only owner the car for 9 months. It left a very sour taste in my mouth from what was supposed to be my dream car. But I was foolish, emotional and impulsive and I certainly learned a lesson. Then again I don't feel so bad when I hear some friends who bought new cars before the crash and lost huge money on them.

So what's the most amount of money you've lost on a car?

Scortho

800 over three years of ownership.
Because I sold it to my brother!
My parents have lost 60k on their merc:pac:
And then moan that the tax is the most expensive part of the car.

Sobanek

18k in depreciation

Max Power1

Hmm
I lost 500 on a rover 75 (after about a year of ownership so not so bad)
And, when I sell the golf for about 2k I anticipate losing about 2k for 2years and 35k odd miles of ownership so again not so bad.

tossy

Around 14k on a Bora,around 7k in depreciation and another 7k on mods,would i do it again - in a heart beat,it put a smile on my face every time i drove it and took the smile of so many other peoples faces

nogoodnamesleft

Not my car but one of my mates bought a Lotus Elise S2 (with the Rover K series engine) a few years ago. He bought the car for approx 16k with around 28k on the clock as it was some guys weekend car which was sold when the recession hit. Now my mate isnt the most mechanically minded individual and wasnt aware that such an exotic car may have its issues one being that you have to really look after it.

After about a year of ownership he didnt bother stopping one day when the coolant light came on (Rover K series engines are notorious) he ended up really cooking the head (apparently it got so hot it melted some of the looms around the engine before it finally seized). New engine required (sourced from an MGF with multilayered steel gasket and upgraded cooling system), shocks were another item. From what I heard the engine out job cost approx 5k and he sold it after less than 2 years for 10k. Loss of 11k in less 2 years....ouch!

Gary ITR

I bought an Integra TypeR for a small amount but then spent an absolute fortune on it. Now it's a shell sitting in my yard, I haven't actually added up what I spent on it but it'd probably be enough for a deposit on a house

colm_mcm

The only one i lost serious money on i kept for 4 years so it didnt really count. Ive been pretty lucky/cautious over all.

Worst short term one was the shogun which lost me about 800 in 6 months. In retrospect buying a 15 year old jeep in the UK and spending time and money on making it commercial was never going to be sensible.

Muppet Man

Bought new Golf GTI Mark V in 2008, tried to trade it in 2009 to the same garage where it was bought, with depreciation of 20k. I asked him was he serious? He said he was, so I left it and traded in against a Subaru Impreza, with 16k depreciation.

Red Kev

Mid 90's living in Germany I bought 3 911's (one was a write off), one a 912 (4 cylinder) and one a 1980 911 SC.

Drove the 912 most of the time as it was actually a better car to drive. Decided to restore the SC, spent over DM 15,000 (€7500) turning it into a class car, drove it for 3 months after eestoration and sold it. I probably lost €4000 on it overall over a period of 9 months, glad to say the guy who brought it off me still has it in the family and it's still in perfect condition, so that's one good thing that came out of it.

Brought a 1983 Jaguar XJ12 Series III for a two month road trip to Tunisia and Libya in 1997, had it for 4 months altogether, lost over €2000 on it in todays money but had a fabulous time with it. Did about 14,000 KM in it, never skipped a beat.

darragh o meara

Muppet Man wrote: »

Bought new Golf GTI Mark V in 2008, tried to trade it in 2009 to the same garage where it was bought, with depreciation of 20k. I asked him was he serious? He said he was, so I left it and traded in against a Subaru Impreza, with 16k depreciation.

Christ that's a lot for a one year old car...

Tragedy

I lost €200 on my first car over a year (purchased €1500, sold ~€1300).
I lost €750 on my second car, again over a year (2003 MG ZT diesel, purchased all in for €3750, sold for €3,000ish)
Current car cost €4,000, after 3 years is worth approximately €1,500. So not too bad!

CiniO

The worst I've lost on a car was on my recent Mazda 6.
I bought it in 2011 for 3900, and sold in 2013 for 1900, losing over half of the value. In the mean time I spend over a grand on maintenance.

The best I've done was in 2008 on Opel Astra 1.4.
I bought it for 2550, serviced it and changed bulb (35 euro), drove it for 8 months (12k miles) and sold it for 2550.
So pretty much owning this car for 8 months and 12k miles cost me 35 quid.

dgt

About €50, twas on my first Scrotum, bought in an auction for €250 all fees/charges inc. Rallied the balls off it and broke it for parts. After scrap I got about €200 back.

Not bitten since, thankfully

gizabeer

Zascar wrote: »

I think I've been pretty lucky with most of my car history, usually bought well, got good use out of the car and happy with the price I got out of it. However my last one was a disaster. I lost 7k -which does not seem that bad - however I only owner the car for 9 months. It left a very sour taste in my mouth from what was supposed to be my dream car. But I was foolish, emotional and impulsive and I certainly learned a lesson. Then again I don't feel so bad when I hear some friends who bought new cars before the crash and lost huge money on them.

So what's the most amount of money you've lost on a car?

What was the car ?

Zascar

Classic 911

Vote 4 Pedro

In August 2011 i bought a brand new Ford Kuga 2.0 diesel automatic for 37,000e just sold it last month, 2 years old, mint condition, 32,500 km on the clock and the most i could get fot it was 23,000e,
when you consider the load i was paying on the car and the depreciation tha'ts fairly shocking

georgefalls

Bought a 166 off a guy for €2200. Sold it back to him two years later for €2000.
It was like hiring it for two years for €200.. Happy days..!

lomb

Zascar wrote: »

Classic 911

Im thinking of buying one 1979-1983. What should I be doing right/ paying to not loose on it?

Voodoomelon

Muppet Man wrote: »

Bought new Golf GTI Mark V in 2008, tried to trade it in 2009 to the same garage where it was bought, with depreciation of 20k. I asked him was he serious? He said he was, so I left it and traded in against a Subaru Impreza, with 16k depreciation.

How is that possible, was it because of the MK6? Was the car pink to boot?

lomb

Anyone who goes out and buys something like a new S class is going to loose around 20k a year just on depreciation with another 4 on running costs. However chances are they wont be posting here as they will be busy working paying for their lifestyle choices. Cars are money pits from top price to bottom but you have to love them;)

Tragedy

lomb wrote: »

Anyone who goes out and buys something like a new S class is going to loose around 20k a year just on depreciation with another 4 on running costs. However chances are they wont be posting here as they will be busy working paying for their lifestyle choices. Cars are money pits from top price to bottom but you have to love them;)

Buy s320 cdi in 2008, keep 5 years, sell in 2013 and suffer less depreciation per year than Muppet Man suffered with his Golf GTI. A lot less.

:pac:

galwaytt

CiniO wrote: »

The worst I've lost on a car was on my recent Mazda 6.
I bought it in 2011 for 3900, and sold in 2013 for 1900, losing over half of the value. In the mean time I spend over a grand on maintenance.

The best I've done was in 2008 on Opel Astra 1.4.
I bought it for 2550, serviced it and changed bulb (35 euro), drove it for 8 months (12k miles) and sold it for 2550.
So pretty much owning this car for 8 months and 12k miles cost me 35 quid.

Lol on the Mazda........about 13k is my record for a 2.0 diesel Mazda MPV where the engine went awol and couldn't fix - sold it for scrap only 6 months after buying it iirc.....and that after spending 750 on a gearbox problem before that.............

18k on a manual 968 sold for 6k is another beaut.
1987 911 3.2 bought for 28k sold for 22k after 1400 miles is another sweetheart....:rolleyes:

Best purchase ? My 1989 Suzuki RGV250K, in 1991. Still have it. Worth twice now what I paid for it. My recently restored 1987 Vespa comes close: worth about 1200 now, having cost me 400 in 1992.......

galwaytt

Voodoomelon wrote: »

How is that possible, was it because of the MK6? Was the car pink to boot?

Indeed. how so much.

And, faced with that loss -why didn't you just keep it ?

BMJD

not as much as my bank, thank you half-rule

unkel

CiniO wrote: »

The worst I've lost on a car was on my recent Mazda 6.
I bought it in 2011 for 3900, and sold in 2013 for 1900

You actually sold your car for 1900? You are a winner, sir! The buyer probably never was on boards.ie
Who did you sell it to?

nogoodnamesleft wrote: »

After about a year of ownership he didnt bother stopping one day when the coolant light came on (Rover K series engines are notorious) he ended up really cooking the head (apparently it got so hot it melted some of the looms around the engine before it finally seized). New engine required

Unfortunately 99.9% of K-series engines were owned by ignorant people like that. Fortunately 0.1% of them were bought for next to nothing by people like me. Owned one for 5 years for peanuts money, never a problem

CiniO

unkel wrote: »

You actually sold your car for 1900? You are a winner, sir! The buyer probably never was on boards.ie
Who did you sell it to?

Why?

I sold it to just a random guy. He inquired about the car, came over to see it (from other side of the country) and he bought it.

I'm actually really sad that I had to let it go for so little, but that's perfect example what tax system is doing to used car market in this country

Zascar

lomb wrote: »

Im thinking of buying one 1979-1983. What should I be doing right/ paying to not loose on it?

Don't go cheap - if anything by the expensive one that's had the money spent on it. Doing the other way around is a massive risk (where I failed). Buy from a dealer for confidence. Buy in the UK. Don't buy a targa (seriously). Get a FULL Pre Purchase inspection (pay £250+) to know everything thats wrong with the car. Insist on full history.

I could write pages but on this but that's the main stuff. I just wished I had listened to the people who gave me advice like this. Could have saved myself a fortune.

rocky

Haven't yet sold any of my cars to realise the loss, but about 1300/year for an 08 Swift, bought for 9500 in 09, just before the scrappage scheme was introduced :rolleyes:.

advertsfox

I lost €950 on the Mazda 6 but made a nice €700 profit on the Passat TDI - all for the want of that diesel engine.

PS: Hoping for profit on the GP this evening too.

guil

Where do I begin haha. In 04 I paid 9500 for a 99 3dr focus. Year and a half later I sold it for 3650 after making ****e of the passenger side of it. Bought a wrx for 8k and 8 months later sold it for less than half that.

pajor

All of it. 700 to buy a 1998 Corsa. Five months later I scrapped it :pac:

Matt Simis

Paid £21k for the Phaeton in the UK, then paid EUR16k VRT in Ireland, which was a terrible idea as the car became grossly overpriced (Ireland value at EUR40k vs UK value at £20k). Eventually traded it against a Porsche Boxter S which was a value around the low 20s.

jayok

Ah here, these are all small figures...

My BMW 325 paid €32K for it in 2007, sold 4 years later for €5K, so that's circa €6,750 per annum, if we add maintenance costs in, it actually cost me nearly €35K for 4 years of ownership.

Never again.

tw0nk

I bought a MB C200 cdi for 17k in 2010 and sold it for 6.5k this year, so loss of 10.5k in 3 years, over 3.5k per year loss, thats excluding interest on bank loan.

Depreciation is unbelievable on cars, especially pre-2008 models with high litre engines

lomb

[QUOTE=tw0nk;86229521

Depreciation is unbelievable on cars, especially pre-2008 models with high litre engines[/QUOTE]

Theres no economic or logical reason to sell then if its still good which it should be?

cerastes

lomb wrote: »

Theres no economic or logical reason to sell then if its still good which it should be?

Probably change of usage/requirements/finances
but
Id rather keep a car than dispose of it at a greatly reduced amount.
When Im selling they seem to be greatly depreciated, when buying they are inflated as its a model in demand??

ofcork

Paid 13800 for a laguna in 2005 and got 2800 as a trade in 2 years later.

Eoin

In depreciation, 10K on my 2000 320d after 2 years or so. I also had some whopper bills during that period, so it was more expensive again.

Dutchie

Paid 52,000 for a Lexus IS220d sport in 2007 (celtic tiger ya see)
Sold it for 16,000 in 2010!
Difference 36,000, ouch!

What made it even more painful was that the Lexus was a pile of S****

scwazrh

My old lad paid €96,000 for a merc in '06 , its now worth about €14k ...

Senna

Biggest I've lost was about €1.5k on Honda Prelude that I sold after a year.

Voodoomelon

scwazrh wrote: »

My old lad paid €96,000 for a merc in '06 , its now worth about €14k ...

I wouldn't mind that so much, if he has kept it for 7 years, he's certainly getting his moneys worth.

If he sold it after 2 years i'd find that hard to stomach, far more of a loss on a per-annum basis.

delly

As I had a few company cars, my first owned car was a Punto. Bought for €2,200 and sold for €1,200 2 and a half years later. No real issues with it over the time.

Currently have the '01 318Ci which was bought for €1,800 and I will have for 2 years in January. I've spent around €500 in maintenance with common E46 issues, but if sold tomorrow I would imagine I wouldn't lose much of my original €1,800. Bangeromics was not necessarily the desired choice, more a case of financial necessity. It has however opened my eyes to being able to buy a well picked car for small money, while keeping a strict eye on maintenance. Having experienced it, I don't think I could ever shell out big money on a car even if I was flush, with being prepared to pay bigger tax if the trade off is little depreciation. Some of the figures posted are just staggering!

goz83

In the process of losing €1700 on a 1990 mini. Bought for 1700. Put 2.5k into restoring her. Selling on Friday for €2500. Just wasn't the right time for me to own one. Only bought in April and finished in June. Had restoration done professionally.

scwazrh

..

Vote 4 Pedro

The Ford Kuga i had bought new in 2011 for 37,000 and sold in 2013 for 23,000, thats €14,000 lost, works out at €580 a depreciation month
then the €590 a month on the loan
well rid of that.

mullingar

Its stories like these that make me happy with my old 98 GS300 that I bought 8 years ago for €9k with a silky smooth 3.0L engine and auto box.

It has been super reliable, costs buttons to service (DIY) and is much cheaper to own than any high depreciation car especially with its LPG kit so it has diesel fuel costs!.

unkel

CiniO wrote: »

Why?

I sold it to just a random guy.

Because of certain videos a regular boardsie would have seen

lomb

Vote 4 Pedro wrote: »

The Ford Kuga i had bought new in 2011 for 37,000 and sold in 2013 for 23,000, thats €14,000 lost, works out at €580 a depreciation month
then the €590 a month on the loan
well rid of that.

Thats near par for the course tbh. Depreciation runs at 20% on a reducing balance basis. So year one =20% of 37000= 7400
Year two = 20% of 30k= 6k
So two years depreciation I would expect to be 13400 euros and you loosing 14k isnt far off the par.
A 60 grand car would be 12k year one, 9500 year 2, 8000 year 3 which gives near 30k in 3 years.

Victor Meldrew

pajor wrote: »

All of it. 700 to buy a 1998 Corsa. Five months later I scrapped it :pac:

That is €140 a month. or €4.60 a day.

I "lost" a grand on a 5 series I sold after 3 months... But that would have been annualised depreciation of €4K, so that's to be expected.