Buying Secondhand? Big Aussie Cars Come Up Trumps for Safety

[BBDOS CV8]

SHOPPING around for a safe second-hand car? Think big and Australian.

The locally made large family cars from Ford and Holden have been identified as a fairly cheap, safe bet once their first owners decide it's time to let them go and move on.

The finding is one of a number released yesterday from a 17-year study of more than 2.8 million car crashes investigated by Monash University's Accident Research Centre.

The centre, along with road safety interest groups including the Transport Accident Commission, VicRoads and RACV, has packaged the study as a consumer guide to help buyers choose the safest possible second-hand car.

Interesting reading. Monash University Accident Research Centre works with Holden to improve crash safety, and are jointly responsible for the design and development of de-powered airbags; which help avoid serious injury and death for physically smaller people when they go off.

There is still an upside to big Australian-made cars - safety. It also notes that Aussie Utes are safer than vehicles such as imported light commercials as they share primary and secondary safety characteristics like crumple zones and airbag systems with the sedans they are derived from, unlike imported vehicles such as the Toyota HiLux (Highlander) which are poor performers.

MUARC Safety Survey

[demonv8]

2nd hand Aussie made cars are cheap to, thanks to the massive depreciation that we new car buyers are stuck with. Thanks Holden...NOT!

[TKR]

Originally Posted by demonv8

2nd hand Aussie made cars are cheap to, thanks to the massive depreciation that we new car buyers are stuck with. Thanks Holden...NOT!

Please take some time to learn a little more about the industry before making such an absurd comment. Commodore has been the biggest selling vehicle in Australia for some time no which means there are a lot of them around on the 2nd hand market. Supply and demand = what they are valued at 2nd hand.
Also as most companies are the #1 buyers of new cars they get depreciation (by the tax dept) allowed for over their period of ownership.
Did you buy your Commodore new?

Also, please check the depreciation rates for the likes of BMW and Porsche. It makes for some interesting reading.

[BBDOS CV8]

Large Australian cars are cheap to buy secondhand because of the large number of ex-lease (Including many private 2 year old) ones available. Used European cars are cheap secondhand because apart from the special models like the M3 people don't want to risk expensive repairs. Check the resales on a 3, 5, 6 or 7 series BMW - they depreciate as much or more than Holdens do. Even an M3 BMW has not much better % retained value than an equal year Monaro. And there are 44 '02-05 Monaros on Carsales.com in victoria today compared to one only M3 around those years; which pushes up demand and price. Interesting to see how long they hang around.

............E46 MY2004 Coupe 2dr Man 6sp 3.2i ............V2 Series III CV8 Coupe 2dr Man 6sp 5.7i
Prices based on km ............40,000 - 70,000 ....................40,000 - 70,000
Trade in .........................$76,600 - $83,100 ...................$28,500 - $31,300
Private sale ......................$88,800 - $101,500 ...............$34,200 - $39,900
New Price .........................$142,000 ...............................$59,350

Max % retained ..........................71% ............................... 67%


Even the resale of the much-vaunted Camry is not much higher as a percent after three years, and partly because 1/3rd the number were sold, and more to private buyers, less to fleet (which bought at a discount and sold cheaply). Picking two fairly equivalenly-equipped cars:

...................................2003 TOYOTA CAMRY ................................2003 HOLDEN BERLINA

Description ..................MCV36R Ateva Sedan 4dr Auto 4sp 3.0i ...........VY II Sedan 4dr Auto 4sp 3.8i
Prices based on km ...............60,000 - 100,000 .................................60,000 - 100,000
Trade in ............................$10,800 - $12,400 .................................$11,800 - $13,300
Private sale ........................$13,600 - $16,400 ................................$14,700 - $17,600
New Price ............................$35,990 ..............................................$41, 790
.
max % retained ........................... 45% ........................................42%

So low resale on Holden because it's Holden is pretty much a myth. Hometruth: second hand cars sell for less than new ones. Old secondhand cars sell for even less.

Now that the sales of large cars are lower, and especially now Holden has far less fleet discount on VE, I would expect those that are left to depreciate less come next year. A year ago, 2 year old Falcons and Commodores were selling ex-fleet at auction for much less than $20K. Now there will be far less of them, at least partly because of the changes to personal income tax and marginal tax rates in the last budget, which made private sal-sac leasing less viable.

[nota]

Some of these TAC crash safety claims defy credibility

Take the 1980s for example. The Mercedes S-class (W126) was considered to be among - if not the - the safest passenger cars of its era. Remember this television advert? They were built like a tank and equipped with airbags & pyrotechnic seat-belts etc

Yet they rate worse for occupant safety than crappy EA Falcons! (which offer none of these life saving features)

And why does Audi A4 rate equal to Daewoo Cielo?

[redimpss5]

To bad I can't buy one!

[MonaroSS]

Originally Posted by demonv8

2nd hand Aussie made cars are cheap too, thanks to the massive depreciation that we new car buyers are stuck with. Thanks Holden...NOT!

Then lets make car depreciation tax deductible, pro rata up to but not beyond the luxury car tax threshold, for private individuals. Americans make their private home loans tax deductible as they want to promote house ownership. Why not promote new car ownership. As the big Aussie family car depreciates so much because there are so many of them in the market, then they will benefit the most.

Other benefits are it would lower the national fleet age, which would improve safety and help the environment as well as protect jobs.

I'd nearly consider re-electing Howard for that. Somebody send the idea to the PM - I don't think I could bring myself to do it.

[hq308]

Depreciation is a fact of life with new cars and really with most things you buy. At the end of the day a second hand car is only worth what someone will pay for it. You're not really losing money on depreciation, you're paying extra for the privelige of being the first owner of the car and therefore knowing it's history, you're also paying for the warranty and the piece of mind of knowing that (in most cases) you'll only be spending money on servicing and wear and tear (tyres etc)
Now think about the next person buying your car, he has very little idea as to how the car has been treated previously, he won't neccessarily know if the car has previously been in an accident and he can never be sure what condition the mechanicals are in. Sure you can look and get a good idea about these things but you will never know because there are so many crooks in the second hand car market. Also in most cases second hand cars are out of the manufacturers warranty and therefore at risk of possibly needing costly repairs later on. At the end of the day, you get what you pay for.

[demonv8]

Originally Posted by TKR

Please take some time to learn a little more about the industry before making such an absurd comment. Commodore has been the biggest selling vehicle in Australia for some time no which means there are a lot of them around on the 2nd hand market. Supply and demand = what they are valued at 2nd hand.
Also as most companies are the #1 buyers of new cars they get depreciation (by the tax dept) allowed for over their period of ownership.
Did you buy your Commodore new?

Also, please check the depreciation rates for the likes of BMW and Porsche. It makes for some interesting reading.

Point partly taken. The blame falls on Holden to, they release new models to close togther, add in series 1,2,3 models and this all helps to accelerate the depreciation of their 'previous' model/series vehicles.

And yes, I did buy my vehicle brand new, so I more than others on this board know the sting of seeing a car worth over $50K depreciate to only $15K 5 years later. Though I wil never sell my car, I was looking at getting a VE HSV earlier this year, but there is no way they will offer a good enough deal on my VX SS.

Yes, luxury cars depreciate more, but they are still worth much, much more than a Holden vehicle.

[BBDOS CV8]

Then do the smart thing - buy a car that's ex-demo or a year or 2 old and let someone else take the depreciation hit. But then it's a bit like marrying a non-virgin, you have to live with the knowledge that someone else has been in the saddle!

Pays your money, takes your choices. I paid $53K for my car new, it's worth $40K if I'm very lucky but I consider I've had $15K enjoyment out of it. But then I'm not intending to sell anytime soon.

[TKR]

Originally Posted by demonv8

Point partly taken. The blame falls on Holden to, they release new models to close togther, add in series 1,2,3 models and this all helps to accelerate the depreciation of their 'previous' model/series vehicles.

They have to keep changing these days because the consumer expects it.

Originally Posted by demonv8

And yes, I did buy my vehicle brand new, so I more than others on this board know the sting of seeing a car worth over $50K depreciate to only $15K 5 years later. Though I wil never sell my car, I was looking at getting a VE HSV earlier this year, but there is no way they will offer a good enough deal on my VX SS.

If the Australian market is changing as fast as the New Zealand market, the days of a private individual buying a brand new vehicle every 3 years is definitely coming to an end. Over here (NZ) even leasing is starting to creep into the 45 month term. I personally believe the large increase in 'leased' vehicles over the past 5 or so years has led to the biggest hit in depreciation as lease companies sell large volumes of vehicles onto the used car market. I also think the Aust market of 1m per annum is unsustainable and this is hurting your 2nd hand values. In NZ, I think we sell somewhere around 70k new cars a year but also import 100k + of used Japanese imports. Now every man and his dog has a car ( or 2 or 3).

Originally Posted by demonv8

Yes, luxury cars depreciate more, but they are still worth much, much more than a Holden vehicle.

Yeah but to lose 20k on a Commodore over 3 years is much more palatable than 50k + on a Euro regardles of the trade price at the end. For instance a 5 year old BMW M3 Coupe for NZ$69k - down from around $150k new.