Potential Octavia owners beware !!

[bobski]

I agree with you woofy. Perhaps the extended warranty is too attractive. Upfront cash versus possibly selling more cars. There's no doubt a balance sheet that says its more lucrative to stick with the extended warranty.

[Timbris93]

Cars are not an investment, you are certain to lose your money in the end.

[brad]

Cars are not an investment, you are certain to lose your money in the end.

Unless you can afford to keep them for 30+years

First car I owned was $800 (69 Torana 1200) . THey sell for $10k+ now.
2nd car was an $800 XT Falcon - now worth $15k+
72 Ford Capri 1600 ($2.5k) now $15k+
ZD Fairlane 302 ($400) now $10k+

I've owned so many cars that were cheap back then & now worth a fortune.

My BILs BIL has a Phase 2 GTHO that he's owned since new. AT one point he was offered $450k but the market has fallen -it's only worth $250k now

I have a mate that is looking at buying the last of the HSV Clubsports & storing it as his retirement fund.

Somehow I can't see that happening with a SKoda - maybe with a Golf GTI but not the Octy.

[aslsw]

When I bought my Skoda, I deliberately avoided the issue about resale value - people told me that Skoda was an unknown brand, people would steer clear because of DSG problems, the massive depreciation hit in the first few years, etc. I bought it because for me, the value of the car is not just in the price and ultimate resale value but also in use ie. I'm going to drive it everyday, go on long trips with it, I want it to be the car I want. So I went ahead and bought it, and loved driving it every time I got behind the wheel.

Now, I know that I have reached a point in life where I can be like this - certainly, when we were younger with less income and also with kids the decisions about cars were a lot harder. But if you can, I think you need to look beyond the raw numbers.

I had to sell my car before the end of the lease period (overseas job) and definitely took a hit - just under $3,000. The accountant in me was sad, but then I realised that this worked out to be less than 3c a km. I think even the memories of driving that great car were worth it!

[tigger73]

Potential Octavia owners beware !!

To be honest the lower resale did put me off purchasing a new Skoda. There are often some pretty keen deals getting done on old stock/models. This obviously doesn't help the resale price when cars are getting discount $10-15k off the sticker price to shift them when the new model comes through. This is the same thing Hyundai used to do (massive discounts on old models) and it killed resale.

Having said that when I was looking around for a new work car a couple of months back it seemed the diesel RS's didn't seem to have nearly as good a resale as the petrol variants. It must be some sort of Skoda RS anomaly that the diesels depreciate quicker. Usually it's the other way around.

[spud75]

I will sell my diesel manual RS if some one wants it. 17000km, 2yo this april. Offers over $55k considered.