depreciation....

[paolow]

right, the rib and I had some checks of our in and outgoings to streamline for the credit crunch (my buzzwords not hers) and I wondered why the hell she was paying monthly installments on a car from a fixed amount in her savings account. just pay it all and be done with it said I. and so she did. we were happy for a week before she declared - Im bored of my car - I want a new one. Evidently this was fuelled bu her release from her credit agreement on a boring but tbh pretty rock solid vx zafira. sides from massive windscreen pillars that block the view and a wierd old handbrake its a solid old car.
so she shops around and types and marques fly through my phone before she declares the xsara picasso the winner. "but its the same as youve got now" I said. apparently not. despite it being an almost identical slug of a boring kid transporter she has her heart set on it despite initially have designs on a rav 4. dismal also - but could be credible tow vehicle for my other car....
anyway. we have to sell the zafira - 06 plate and only 17k miles now so of course it falls to me to do that because im a man and its obviously my domain despite the fact its her fking car and it does the job just fine and the new car is just the fking same as the old one.
id like to say - but i persevered - but i didnt. I went straight to the nearest dealer with a comporable car and offered a straight swap.
we swapped an immaculate 06 zafira with a known history and still under warranty for a 55 xsara. she was in love at first sight.
she refused to drive it on a test drive becuase she was scared
so. i drive her car to make sure theres nothing untoward.
it strikes me that its the same fking car but a bit more crap. i tell her so.
she loves it.
i put it to the dealer that a straight swap for both cars would be fair
the dealer agrees. indeed, hes super keen on the deal and i would be too.
2 weeks later the gf now is the proud owner of a crappy 5k people carrier. despite my best advice the effective depreciation and cost of her motoring is roughly 12k on her stupid car over the last 30 months. the new car is tbh flimsy as hell and nothing compared to the car she just chopped in.
by my rekoning the cost per mile is about 80p per mile for this period. i cant stop her throwing good money after bad but jesus that must take some beating.
the scariest thing is that she doesnt even recognise the hideous loss that she has made.
seriously - were talking mortgage monies on a piece of steel she then discards.
she then has the fking cheek to take the piss out of my 72 rover becuase its 'unsafe'
...yes there are no back seatbelts - but its only you and me in it.......
what is it with people.
i honestly despair! do people really not sit back and look at the bigger picture? to think that, thirsty though my car is, shes an elegant old girl and a looker at that. depreciation seems to be so savage at the moment its unreal. ]
it used to be 40 percent in the first 3 years but now its 60 in the first 2! accurate?

Edited by paolow on Saturday 13th September 03:44

[shirt]

a picasso?

get rid of her, NOW!

[Jasandjules]

Surely you checked out the trade in value of your car before you offered the dealer a straight swop?

[Brown and Boris]

I always use Autotrader to get data and did an Excel spreadsheet to do the working out.

I know specs can change but I always look at the new, 12 month, 3 and 5 year values. I am not very bright so always presume that much cleverer people are buying and selling the right cars, therefore if I am buying nearly new I look for one which takes a big 12 month hit but then settles down. If I am buying new, knowing I wil get a kicking in the first 12 months, I use the 3 or 5 year values depending on whether I intend to keep it and to see what happens if I decide it is a wardrobe.

Buying a car is however, never a decision made entirely with the head, otherwise I would never have a Mercedes B class and a Lotus Elise.

[Baby Huey]

Sounds like you've been stitched up like a kippahhhh!

If you have one, I would close your joint account.

Edited by Baby Huey on Saturday 13th September 09:33

[The Moose]

is she shagging the garage boss....

cause you just got fked....

[sparkythecat]

No prizes for guessing who wears the trousers in your house .

[Kieran XJR]

I guess I should count myself lucky that the other half is compliant when it come to cars.

[paolow]

Jasandjules said:

Surely you checked out the trade in value of your car before you offered the dealer a straight swop?

thats just it! the zafira was cloes to 15k 2.5 years ago and values of them hover around the 6k mark now. just staggering.
To be fair she does do the tesco run / ironing / washing etc leaving me more time to slum around in my dressing gown surfing the net but shell dilly dally over which tin of beans is better value without a monster throwing away of cash bothering her in the slightest.
surely everyone cant be like this? I suspect though that many are.

[forsure]

My friend's wife has, in two years, got through 3 new (or nearly new) Beetles, a year-old Mini, a two year-old Crossfire (which she kept for two weeks) - and ended up with an ex-demo Micra.
All bought/traded in at main dealers.

[amir_j]

Hope she has a lot of redeeming qualities as based on that i'd get rid of her

[Darkslider]

amir_j said:

Hope she has a lot of redeeming qualities as based on that i'd get rid of her

+1. She must give good head or I'd have gotten rid of my OH for being that monumentally stupid.

[Alexandra]

Darkslider said:

amir_j said:

Hope she has a lot of redeeming qualities as based on that i'd get rid of her

+1. She must give good head or I'd have gotten rid of my OH for being that monumentally stupid.

I don't see the problem here. She wanted a new car, they were both worth the same value, so were swapped. She's happy and no-one has lost out.

How is she stupid?

[dern]

Alexandra said:

Darkslider said:

amir_j said:

Hope she has a lot of redeeming qualities as based on that i'd get rid of her

+1. She must give good head or I'd have gotten rid of my OH for being that monumentally stupid.

I don't see the problem here. She wanted a new car, they were both worth the same value, so were swapped. She's happy and no-one has lost out.

How is she stupid?

If they were worth the same the dealer wouldn't have done a straight swap.

[Pat H]

Alexandra said:

I don't see the problem here. She wanted a new car, they were both worth the same value, so were swapped. She's happy and no-one has lost out.

How is she stupid?

Because she has swapped a car at trade price for an older, inferior car at retail price.

Two massive slices of depreciation for the price of one.

Or, if you want to look at it a different way, she has needlessly provided two lots of profit to car dealers instead of one.

It was a daft thing to do financially. But if it makes her happy, then so be it.

[hot metal]

Pat H said:

Alexandra said:

I don't see the problem here. She wanted a new car, they were both worth the same value, so were swapped. She's happy and no-one has lost out.

How is she stupid?

Because she has swapped a car at trade price for an older, inferior car at retail price.

Two massive slices of depreciation for the price of one.

Or, if you want to look at it a different way, she has needlessly provided two lots of profit to car dealers instead of one.

It was a daft thing to do financially. But if it makes her happy, then so be it.

In very very simple terms :
Vauxhall=good
Citroen=st

[Baby Huey]

hot metal said:

Pat H said:

Alexandra said:

I don't see the problem here. She wanted a new car, they were both worth the same value, so were swapped. She's happy and no-one has lost out.

How is she stupid?

Because she has swapped a car at trade price for an older, inferior car at retail price.

Two massive slices of depreciation for the price of one.

Or, if you want to look at it a different way, she has needlessly provided two lots of profit to car dealers instead of one.

It was a daft thing to do financially. But if it makes her happy, then so be it.

In very very simple terms :
Vauxhall=good
Citroen=st

If you swapped £7000 for £4000 would you expect your O/H to be impressed.

[matt uk]

paolow said:

..but shell dilly dally over which tin of beans is better value without a monster throwing away of cash bothering her in the slightest.
surely everyone cant be like this? I suspect though that many are...

One of our friends is chopping a perfect condition 55 plate Merc C320cdi with 14,000 miles on it, for a new Golf Bluemotion tdi type thingy.

Why?? MPG and VED!!

I politely asked how much that would save over the next couple of years once depreciation was taken into accout - she looked a bit blank and said "I've never really thought about it like that - but it'll save us loads!"

I later asked him if he got a good trade in on the merc - answer: "oh yeah, I reckon so, VW guy said it was the best he could do so must have been good".

Yet go for dinner with them as they're the first to suggest going back to someones house for coffee and dessert - "look after the pennies, and the pounds look agter themselves.."

Salesman's dream if ever I met one..

[Darkslider]

Alexandra said:

Darkslider said:

amir_j said:

Hope she has a lot of redeeming qualities as based on that i'd get rid of her

+1. She must give good head or I'd have gotten rid of my OH for being that monumentally stupid.

I don't see the problem here. She wanted a new car, they were both worth the same value, so were swapped. She's happy and no-one has lost out.

How is she stupid?

Others have replied with what I was going to say, but your post betrays the fact you have the same room-temperature IQ as the OP's partner when it comes to cars. He has a right to think she's stupid and be annoyed at the money she's thrown away, I know I certainly would be.

[iRoll]

Why does she want an MPV in the first place if there are only two of you?