GLE 400 depreciation
Discussion
Hi all,
I've got a 3 year old GLE 400 which has 'lost' circa £1k per month since getting it in September - this is based on the WBAC valuation every month and average 800 miles per month. I'm in 2 minds whether to keep it or not as having known this rate of depreciation I would have had a new one (can't imagine there's much more depreciation than this in the first year !) I know it's a bit like a crystal ball but would you expect tis rate of depreciation to slow down anytime soon? Is this due to general used car prices dropping or over last 4 months maybe something specific to SUV's? Thanks in advance !
I've got a 3 year old GLE 400 which has 'lost' circa £1k per month since getting it in September - this is based on the WBAC valuation every month and average 800 miles per month. I'm in 2 minds whether to keep it or not as having known this rate of depreciation I would have had a new one (can't imagine there's much more depreciation than this in the first year !) I know it's a bit like a crystal ball but would you expect tis rate of depreciation to slow down anytime soon? Is this due to general used car prices dropping or over last 4 months maybe something specific to SUV's? Thanks in advance !
If you had put your car details into WBAC on the day you were buying it, the value would have been £2k-£5k less than you paid for it for due to the dealer margin, unless you bought privately.
Check out the price of similar cars at dealers as that will give you more of an indication as to its value.
BTW what did you pay for it as £1k per month on £50k is less of a % than £1k on £20k...?
Check out the price of similar cars at dealers as that will give you more of an indication as to its value.
BTW what did you pay for it as £1k per month on £50k is less of a % than £1k on £20k...?
This kind of depreciation on a high value premium car is a fact of life, and trade values are rarely strong in the depths of winter.
The only way to smooth things out is to keep the car for a decent length of time and enjoy it!
I think cerb4.5lee (or something like that) has a thread on a GLE400d in which he comments on depreciation - might be worth taking a look at that.
The only way to smooth things out is to keep the car for a decent length of time and enjoy it!
I think cerb4.5lee (or something like that) has a thread on a GLE400d in which he comments on depreciation - might be worth taking a look at that.
Have I got this about right: you bought a GLE400 in September - 4 months ago - I'm assuming for about £50k (from looking at the price of 3 year-old ones on Autotrader), and I'm assuming from a dealer (as very few people will buy that sort of thing privately). You are now concerned that WBAC - the modus operandi of which is to buy off private individuals then sell to the trade who will in turn sell on to another private individual - says it will give you £46k for it? If anything it sounds like you're doing very well, and if that gives you the heebie-jeebies then buying expensive cars is not for you.
BlueJ said:
This kind of depreciation on a high value premium car is a fact of life, and trade values are rarely strong in the depths of winter.
The only way to smooth things out is to keep the car for a decent length of time and enjoy it!
I think cerb4.5lee (or something like that) has a thread on a GLE400d in which he comments on depreciation - might be worth taking a look at that.
Yes and I was just going to make a post. We've lost roughly a grand a month on ours too. Paid £76k for it brand new just under 3 years ago, and AutoTrader are currently saying £37.5k trade in. The only way to smooth things out is to keep the car for a decent length of time and enjoy it!
I think cerb4.5lee (or something like that) has a thread on a GLE400d in which he comments on depreciation - might be worth taking a look at that.
We have done 78k miles in it now though, so that won't help. But it does give you a rough guide though. It is the Premium Plus model too.
cerb4.5lee said:
BlueJ said:
This kind of depreciation on a high value premium car is a fact of life, and trade values are rarely strong in the depths of winter.
The only way to smooth things out is to keep the car for a decent length of time and enjoy it!
I think cerb4.5lee (or something like that) has a thread on a GLE400d in which he comments on depreciation - might be worth taking a look at that.
Yes and I was just going to make a post. We've lost roughly a grand a month on ours too. Paid £76k for it brand new just under 3 years ago, and AutoTrader are currently saying £37.5k trade in. The only way to smooth things out is to keep the car for a decent length of time and enjoy it!
I think cerb4.5lee (or something like that) has a thread on a GLE400d in which he comments on depreciation - might be worth taking a look at that.
We have done 78k miles in it now though, so that won't help. But it does give you a rough guide though. It is the Premium Plus model too.
I suspect the OP will find a steeper curve than he he wants, there won’t be much levelling out.
Chamon_Lee said:
cerb4.5lee said:
BlueJ said:
This kind of depreciation on a high value premium car is a fact of life, and trade values are rarely strong in the depths of winter.
The only way to smooth things out is to keep the car for a decent length of time and enjoy it!
I think cerb4.5lee (or something like that) has a thread on a GLE400d in which he comments on depreciation - might be worth taking a look at that.
Yes and I was just going to make a post. We've lost roughly a grand a month on ours too. Paid £76k for it brand new just under 3 years ago, and AutoTrader are currently saying £37.5k trade in. The only way to smooth things out is to keep the car for a decent length of time and enjoy it!
I think cerb4.5lee (or something like that) has a thread on a GLE400d in which he comments on depreciation - might be worth taking a look at that.
We have done 78k miles in it now though, so that won't help. But it does give you a rough guide though. It is the Premium Plus model too.
I suspect the OP will find a steeper curve than he he wants, there won’t be much levelling out.
They're lovely cars I reckon for sure. Comfortable with the air suspension, roomy/good performance/mpg(around 40mpg), and for me the interior is really nice too.
We've had ours almost 3 years and 78k miles now, but they aren't immune to niggles though. We had a big issue with the windscreen cameras, and that took 3 visits to fix at the dealer. But I'm still not sure if the none OEM windscreen that we had fitted after only 9 weeks of ownership(we picked up a chip annoyingly that quickly turned into a crack) caused that though(or the camera was faulty anyway).
Ours absolutely eats through rear tyres as well, and it is about to have its 7th set of rear tyres fitted, but it is only on its third set of fronts though. Plus the rears tyres are 325/35/22...so not cheap!
However it went in for a service on Monday, and I'd noticed a humming/turbine like noise that it was making, so I asked the dealer to look into for me. They found out that the rear diff was faulty, and it was an imminent fail, and too dangerous to drive. So I'm now without it for about a week(I do at least have an A-Class as a loan car though), while I wait for parts from Germany. Thankfully it is still under the 3 year manufacturer's warranty(just!).
I'm starting to think that the rear diff has always been faulty though, and that would explain why it eats through rear tyres I reckon.
We also had a period of the car thinking that it was overheating(it wasn't), but it kept throwing it into limp mode, and the fans were mega loud like an aeroplane taking off! Merc couldn't get to the bottom of it, but all we've done differently is use the stop/start, whereas before we'd always turn it off in comparison. It hasn't thrown itself into limp mode since(touchwood).
Hope that gives you a feel of them. We both still love the car, but are not sure what to do next now really though at the moment.
We've had ours almost 3 years and 78k miles now, but they aren't immune to niggles though. We had a big issue with the windscreen cameras, and that took 3 visits to fix at the dealer. But I'm still not sure if the none OEM windscreen that we had fitted after only 9 weeks of ownership(we picked up a chip annoyingly that quickly turned into a crack) caused that though(or the camera was faulty anyway).
Ours absolutely eats through rear tyres as well, and it is about to have its 7th set of rear tyres fitted, but it is only on its third set of fronts though. Plus the rears tyres are 325/35/22...so not cheap!
However it went in for a service on Monday, and I'd noticed a humming/turbine like noise that it was making, so I asked the dealer to look into for me. They found out that the rear diff was faulty, and it was an imminent fail, and too dangerous to drive. So I'm now without it for about a week(I do at least have an A-Class as a loan car though), while I wait for parts from Germany. Thankfully it is still under the 3 year manufacturer's warranty(just!).
I'm starting to think that the rear diff has always been faulty though, and that would explain why it eats through rear tyres I reckon.
We also had a period of the car thinking that it was overheating(it wasn't), but it kept throwing it into limp mode, and the fans were mega loud like an aeroplane taking off! Merc couldn't get to the bottom of it, but all we've done differently is use the stop/start, whereas before we'd always turn it off in comparison. It hasn't thrown itself into limp mode since(touchwood).
Hope that gives you a feel of them. We both still love the car, but are not sure what to do next now really though at the moment.
cerb4.5lee said:
They're lovely cars I reckon for sure. Comfortable with the air suspension, roomy/good performance/mpg(around 40mpg), and for me the interior is really nice too.
We've had ours almost 3 years and 78k miles now, but they aren't immune to niggles though. We had a big issue with the windscreen cameras, and that took 3 visits to fix at the dealer. But I'm still not sure if the none OEM windscreen that we had fitted after only 9 weeks of ownership(we picked up a chip annoyingly that quickly turned into a crack) caused that though(or the camera was faulty anyway).
Ours absolutely eats through rear tyres as well, and it is about to have its 7th set of rear tyres fitted, but it is only on its third set of fronts though. Plus the rears tyres are 325/35/22...so not cheap!
However it went in for a service on Monday, and I'd noticed a humming/turbine like noise that it was making, so I asked the dealer to look into for me. They found out that the rear diff was faulty, and it was an imminent fail, and too dangerous to drive. So I'm now without it for about a week(I do at least have an A-Class as a loan car though), while I wait for parts from Germany. Thankfully it is still under the 3 year manufacturer's warranty(just!).
I'm starting to think that the rear diff has always been faulty though, and that would explain why it eats through rear tyres I reckon.
We also had a period of the car thinking that it was overheating(it wasn't), but it kept throwing it into limp mode, and the fans were mega loud like an aeroplane taking off! Merc couldn't get to the bottom of it, but all we've done differently is use the stop/start, whereas before we'd always turn it off in comparison. It hasn't thrown itself into limp mode since(touchwood).
Hope that gives you a feel of them. We both still love the car, but are not sure what to do next now really though at the moment.
Wife’s 330e is due to go back and we need a bigger car. I love the look of these. We've had ours almost 3 years and 78k miles now, but they aren't immune to niggles though. We had a big issue with the windscreen cameras, and that took 3 visits to fix at the dealer. But I'm still not sure if the none OEM windscreen that we had fitted after only 9 weeks of ownership(we picked up a chip annoyingly that quickly turned into a crack) caused that though(or the camera was faulty anyway).
Ours absolutely eats through rear tyres as well, and it is about to have its 7th set of rear tyres fitted, but it is only on its third set of fronts though. Plus the rears tyres are 325/35/22...so not cheap!
However it went in for a service on Monday, and I'd noticed a humming/turbine like noise that it was making, so I asked the dealer to look into for me. They found out that the rear diff was faulty, and it was an imminent fail, and too dangerous to drive. So I'm now without it for about a week(I do at least have an A-Class as a loan car though), while I wait for parts from Germany. Thankfully it is still under the 3 year manufacturer's warranty(just!).
I'm starting to think that the rear diff has always been faulty though, and that would explain why it eats through rear tyres I reckon.
We also had a period of the car thinking that it was overheating(it wasn't), but it kept throwing it into limp mode, and the fans were mega loud like an aeroplane taking off! Merc couldn't get to the bottom of it, but all we've done differently is use the stop/start, whereas before we'd always turn it off in comparison. It hasn't thrown itself into limp mode since(touchwood).
Hope that gives you a feel of them. We both still love the car, but are not sure what to do next now really though at the moment.
Realistically I don’t think we could get the budget to work anyways for the next 3-4 years so smaller GLC has entered the mix.
Stories like this about Mercedes always makes me apprehensive however. I’ve never known anyone to have a trouble free period.
CG2020UK said:
Wife’s 330e is due to go back and we need a bigger car. I love the look of these.
Realistically I don’t think we could get the budget to work anyways for the next 3-4 years so smaller GLC has entered the mix.
Stories like this about Mercedes always makes me apprehensive however. I’ve never known anyone to have a trouble free period.
We were lucky with the 2017 GLC350d that we had from new in fairness. We covered over a 100k miles in that over a period of almost 5 years, and the only thing that failed was the waterpump, but from what I've read they only have a shelf life of around a 100k miles anyway. Realistically I don’t think we could get the budget to work anyways for the next 3-4 years so smaller GLC has entered the mix.
Stories like this about Mercedes always makes me apprehensive however. I’ve never known anyone to have a trouble free period.
It was a really good car, and I'd definitely recommend them. However they do suffer from the crabbing issue, whereas the GLE doesn't in comparison.
As others have said, the fact that there is only a c.10% drop suggests that the underlying trade value is stable.
It's likely that there has been no change in the price that a trader would pay in January 2025, compared to what they would have paid at the end of summer 2024.
Dealers do need to charge a fair mark up on trade prices in order to cover their reasonable costs of sourcing a car, preparation, sale, warranty etc. The cost of that service has been paid for, and no more by the sound of things.
Trade prices actually tend to rise a little in the New Year as dealers look to buy up stock for the spring, and of course being a 4x4 means this car might be more in demand over the winter as well.
It's likely that there has been no change in the price that a trader would pay in January 2025, compared to what they would have paid at the end of summer 2024.
Dealers do need to charge a fair mark up on trade prices in order to cover their reasonable costs of sourcing a car, preparation, sale, warranty etc. The cost of that service has been paid for, and no more by the sound of things.
Trade prices actually tend to rise a little in the New Year as dealers look to buy up stock for the spring, and of course being a 4x4 means this car might be more in demand over the winter as well.
cayman-black said:
Thanks Lee, I will go and see one soon.
You're welcome Paul. 
You'll have to let us know how you get on.
What I like most about the GLE is that it knows its lane, and it doesn't pretend to be sporty(like the X5 does for example), and it is more focused on the comfort/relaxing thing for me. I'm still a fan of the X5 though, don't get me wrong.
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