...... are in the toilet.

I have a base '06 GV, 2wd, automatic in very good shape. It has 22k miles on the odometer (normal mileage is 18k). I was going to trade it in this past weekend for a new '07 Jeep Liberty Limited, 4wd, automatic.

I did some homework before heading to the dealer. I could not believe what I read. Kelly Blue Book values for my '06 GV are:

Trade-in value.......... $13,950
Private party sale...... $14,925
Retail value.............. $17,050

I went to three Chrysler/Jeep dealerships, none of them would come close to KBB trade-in value. The most any of them would give me in trade was $12,500.

By a comparison, the Jeep Liberty holds it's value very well. I kind of figured the resale on the GV would be low when I bought it just because it was a Suzuki, now I know.

I regret not going with the Jeep last year instead of trying to save a few $$$ by buying the GV. Oh well...

 

That's why I don't buy them new.

We got our year and a half old '03 GV in March of '05 for $12,500 with 22k on the clock.   The original owner had purchased it for something like $23,000 in August of '03.

Don't feel too bad.  I know a guy that purchased a brand new '03 Chevy S10 ZR2 4x4 for something like $23,000 and then found out it was instantly worth about $12,000 without even getting to the first oil change.  Talk about depreciation!

I might be in the minority
- I purchased mine with the intention on keeping it for between 8 & 10 years.
I figure by then, I won't care too much about trade-ins as any value will be neglibible.

So did we.

I just refuse to pay markup on these things.  Most new cars depreciate so fast it's insane.

There are exceptions, ever looked at a Toyota Tacoma?

my '01 2 door tracker is worth next to nothing with 84k miles on it.  but i'm doing what camduncan is doing - keeping it for a while.  i wouldn't have bought a new car unless i planned on keeping it for a while - otherwise i would have gone used.

I kinda like my GV the older it gets.... being someone that plans on keeping it, the older it gets and the more it depreciates the more comfortable / obliged i feel about mod'ing / off-roading it.    ... newer and expensive cars are just cause for stress (for me)

So, I took advantage of resale value and just bought a 2006 Grand Vitara luxury version for $16,500.  That is about $8,000 less than for a new one from the local dealer.