I wrote this in responce to another post about trade-in value and feel it is worth it's own post.
I'm sure I'll be getting some flame on this one but this is how I feel. We have no one to blame but ourselves.

Just my feelings...
There reason our limited edition trucks aren't worth what we feel that are worth at trade-in or in a private party sale is because we, the people who own Lightning sell them cheep.

The resale value would be higher if five years ago people who traded-in or sold there 99's to get a 00 then a 01 etc. would have demanded the price they were worth we wouldn't be getting robbed right now when we go to sell.

I don't know what everybody elses situation is but I'm not taking it in the a** with no lube from a dealer or anyone else. Hopefully the value of the Gen 2 will go up when people who want a L figure out that they can't afford a new Gen 3.
So when the Gen 3 comes out and you want it don't give your current Lightning away just to get it.

To all those potential Lightning buyers, if you can't afford the most likely $40,000 + price tag of a Gen 3 you better get a 03 as soon as you can because when I decide to sell my mint 02 I'm not giving it away.

Off my soap box

 

I always thought if you only buy a car to make money on the sale later...

You should be owning a used car dealership!!!

 

"worth" is a completely relative term.

I'm just glad I live in a free market society.

BTW: If anyone buys a new vehicle thinking they are going to take a small loss on it? Or *feel* that they *shouldnt* take a big loss on it? They are only kidding themselves. There are much more effective ways to "not loose" as much money.

I bought my Lightning to have fun with. period.

WOT

 

The Lightning wasn't limited enough or expensive enough to be what you want it to be. What you should really worry about is the next Gen Lightning being $36K. While more expensive, it wouldn't be out of reach.

I know I wouldn't want to be a new Mustang owner right now either, their value will go to pot when the new model rolls out.

-Mark

 

Trade in or resale value is usually determined by what the market can bear (along with the the "book" says). The dealer is in it to make money so of course they are going to give you as little money as they can for a car and try to jack the next guy who wants it. If there is little demand for a used L, the dealer is going to offer you even less so they have more of a margin to work with.

For new cars it works the same kind of way, they try to jack you for a "Market Adjust". Around here dealers are trying to get 10K over sticker on a new Cobra. That 10K isn't built into the price of the car once you roll it off the lot and it becomes used. As St. Louis said, they aren't limited enough, but also demand isn't high enough. Wayne Ford, for example had 5 L's sitting over there the last time I looked, and 3 of them were '02's.

You got that right. I had a 2000 conv. Vette for a year and I lost 10K on it, and I sold it privately.

 

In my opinion, if the new 04 Lightning is $40K+ it will help with the resale value of the older ones; there'll be a lot of people who can't or would be unwilling to pay the extra cost for the new model. If it comes in at $36K as mentioned above, it's not enough more to stop most people and it's a lot more truck. This won't make my 03 worth as much.

But also as has been said, I plan on driving the 03 until the new one comes out. I didn't buy it for the investment, I bought it for the fun. And I'm a Chevy guy; but Chevy has nothing to remotely compete with the Lightning.

Jody

 

Most people finance their auto purchases. Interest rates are so much lower on new vehicle purchases that used vehicles have to drop big time in price to compete. You can finance a new L at 32k for the same payments as a used L at 27k, who is going to buy the used one? If you want to drive an L and not suffer depreciation, you need to buy a first generation. All vehicles depreciate until they bottom out after about 8 to 10 years, then the inflation factor kicks in. Inflation, just another way the government steals from the public.

 

A 1996 BMW 850CSi debuted at more then 100k.

Now you can get one for $36k.

That car was alot more rare, and alot more expensive then ours... nothing is a gaurentee.

Daniel

 

You have a good point But you just dont understand all the factors into selling a vehicle.I am a self employed used car dealer and i can assure you,Selling a truck,car ,whatever is not as easy as you think.Selling one while interest rates are stuck at 4% is impossible.its simple math actually.Its funny,Some people think what they have is worth so much money but dont want to sell it themselves.If you think your Lightning is worth so much,try and sell it,Youll soon end up waiting,and then trading it in and take more of a bath because of the time you wasted.EVERY month/season you wait to sell,you lose big $$.....Those same people wanna steal whatever they are buying from the dealer.DEALER wins every timeTrust me

 

You'll always lose money on vehicles, barring something that was produced in the hundreds or something. You'll lose even MORE money if you bought your vehicle brand new.

I hope we were all intelligent enough to realize this (anyone who is old enough to drive should...).

However I do agree with you that the prices are falling faster than they should. It seems that depreciation has taken the same toll on the Lightning's value as any other car, even a bit more than some imports. The production numbers are still by far less than a Camry or Accord, yet the depreciation seems similar.

But then again, look at the gen 1 Ls. Purchased for about the same price (this includes inflation), you can now scoop a mint low mileage one up for about 10-13k.

Bottom line: buy an L to drive. Mod the heck out of it. 10 years from now it may be only 10k in the books, but you'll have a nice truck with enough memories and kills to make everything worth it (hopefully)

The only ones I feel truly sorry for in this case are those people who bought the L thinking that it would actually become a collector's item. But then again, if they only keep 2-300 miles on it total, maybe 20-25 years from now it will appreciate some.

There was a 60s/70s Chevelle SS in the Dupont Registry a couple of months ago. It had something like less than 30 miles on it, original everything down to the little nipples on the tires, dealership mats, etc etc. They were asking 270,000

 

PoneyXpres,
I couldn't agree with you more.

 

I'm gonna try to sell mines outright..If I can't get what I want well just pay it off and keep it...Wouldn't hurt to try anyway..

Thing I was concerned about with my guilty conscious is that it would just be my luck if the day I sold it to a happy buyer a plug launched..

 

And just to add my $.02, I think the Lightnings were doing very good on resale until Ford brought out the SC Harleys. They are everywhere, and if you go to a non SVT dealer, and even some SVT dealers you will be told that there is no performance difference. I wish they had kept the Lightning power train more excludsive.

 

Man,
Did I make it seem like I was saying I bought a Lightning as an investment? If I did, that is not what I was saying.

Basically what I'm saying is what was said above. The bottom is droping out of the value of these trucks. I undersatnd the supply and demand. The new purchase VS the used purchase.

lightningstruck, maybe I am in La La land wishing but if people who own these trucks wouldn't cave to a dealer or would hold there ground when selling private this drop out the bottom would slow.

I'm by no means saying I should have a huge profit from my sale of a used truck but I don't want to be diping in my pocket to pay the difference of what I owe and what I sell for.

 

my plan from the begining was keep truck forever and not sell it then you dont have to worry about resale.