Resale value....ouch

I knew the Mustang's resale value was bad but when checking out used 392 challengers (love them lately esp low end torque and gearbox) i turned to the internet to see what my GT's worth.

Not much. But the Camaro and Challengers seem to hold their price better.

Oh well...keeping the Mustang then.

lazarus870 said:

I knew the Mustang's resale value was bad but when checking out used 392 challengers (love them lately esp low end torque and gearbox) i turned to the internet to see what my GT's worth.

Not much. But the Camaro and Challengers seem to hold their price better.

Oh well...keeping the Mustang then.

Click to expand...

I owned a 2016 Challenger ScatPac. I liked that car, but when a deal for a Shelby came along, I traded the ScatPac in on the Shelby. Before doing the deal, the dealer that had the Shelby also did Bluebook buys. I did the work up before going to the dealer and Bluebook quoted the car at $34,500. I owned that car for just shy of two years and paid $38,000 and some change not counting tax.
I was really surprised and skeptical that the dealer would honor it, but they did and I got my Shelby at sticker, minus the $34,500 for the Challenger.
For some reason they do seem to hold value pretty good.

Mustang ownership is a one way street. Don’t expect to trade in the car after a year and get something else. A loaded 5.0 seems to lose 44% as soon as you drive it off the lot (at CarMax). See the most incredibly stupid things done with cars on this forum. You should buy the car and keep it well after the payment period of five or six years but at this site that makes you a dinosaur. I saw the 5.0s go for 18-23 grand more than my six when I bought my car and that is insane! The dealers never stocked the base GT. I don’t know what you are buying for the extra cash but the resale always tells the truth.

A car is an emotional purchase and realize this when you buy a Mustang. You pay dearly for the bragging rights and as soon as a refresh or new model comes along you are forgotten like yesterday’s news. Is there even a forum for previous versions of Mustangs here? The six was EOL months after I bought it and I knew it all going in. I bought the cheapest base car and through fleet sales no less, that is how I buy a Mustang! Happy as a clam now but I am old and my ego is not tied to a car.

Fatguy said:

Mustang ownership is a one way street. Don’t expect to trade in the car after a year and get something else. A loaded 5.0 seems to lose 44% as soon as you drive it off the lot (at CarMax). See the most incredibly stupid things done with cars on this forum.

.

Click to expand...

That's why I bought mine to keep, I knew buying a brand new Mustang was not a good financial investment. But Oh well I wanted it and I will give it to my son when I'm elderly.

It seems that the value issue is plaguing the S550 only. My 2014 GT Premium had a window sticker of $36k. As everyone knows, there were incentives on the '14s just like there are on the newer cars, so I didn't pay MSRP. It seems that after 4 years, the '14 GT may still be worth around $25k in the retail world. I don't know what trade in value on that car is, but at retail, it's holding its value well.

On the other hand, my '17 GT Premium had a $44k MSRP and I'm seeing trade offers in the $28-30k range. I can probably get more on a retail sale, but not sure how much.

scott6809 said:

That's why I bought mine to keep, I knew buying a brand new Mustang was not a good financial investment. But Oh well I wanted it and I will give it to my son when I'm elderly.

Click to expand...

My same way of thinking. This was my first new car and I wasn't going to settle for anything less than what I wanted this time. The color, the performance mods, the wheels and tires, everything. After a divorce from many years of marriage, raising kids, fighting and scraping to raise a family, I was getting for me and I don't give a sh*t what the resale value is. I usually keep cars for many years and this one will be no exception.

There's no "issue". Unless you own a rare model or trim, Mustang depreciation is on par with the rest of the industry. If you like to buy cars instead of lease (like I do) you have to ride the depreciation curve and be patient. Either that, or save up a big down payment to offset the negative equity. But that's just how it's always been. If you cant stand to be in a car more than 2 years, you have to eat the depreciation and piss the money into the wind. This is made worse by 6+ year car loans. If you wait that 3 or 4 years on a 5 year loan to hit even on the depreciation curve, you'll be in a much better position.

Anyone who buys a new S550, base or top of the line Shelby (or insert other “packaged” S550’s here) as any sort of investment or thinks they will get top dollar on a trade is dreaming.

Question this:
Why would anyone pay $40k for a base GT w/400+HP or $50K+ for what is still a boxed GT w/some options and still 400+HP, when you can get an 800hp GT from Lebanon Ford for $39k....

http://www.lebanonford.com/lfp-800hp-mustang.htm

I've also been '18 shopping. My car is a base A6 '16 car. I paid ~29k OTD 18 months ago. The car currently has around 6k miles. I was offered 25.5 for trade on a 31k A10 '18. I thought that was a fair offer. After calculating sales tax savings, it still brings me to an OOP spend of ~6k to step up 2 years. That's damn near the cost of a supercharger.

If you have an '15-'17 and want to trade to an '18, lube up.

Whipple or TVS, here I come.

Keeping mine until it's paid off and then some.

jfccac said:

I've also been '18 shopping. My car is a base A6 '16 car. I paid ~29k OTD 18 months ago. The car currently has around 6k miles. I was offered 25.5 for trade on a 31k A10 '18. I thought that was a fair offer. After calculating sales tax savings, it still brings me to an OOP spend of ~6k to step up 2 years. That's damn near the cost of a supercharger.

If you have an '15-'17 and want to trade to an '18, lube up.

Whipple or TVS, here I come.

Click to expand...

mmm...


6k in about two years? For Ferrari’s that kind of mileage matters but not Mustangs. What’s the pressing need for an 18 anyway? I’ve driven Mustangs for decades but if you itch for a change lurk in other performance car forums. This place will just make you myopic to the possibilities. There’s a whole world of interesting cars out there. Take a look around. Just saying...

I've owned a lot of Mustangs over the years, some great, most good, some bad. I bought the 50th on my 50th and knew going in this would be my last Mustang. Unless I hit the lottery I'll be driving this until they won't let me drive anymore.

I usually will buy with intention of keeping for a long time. Reality is that I usually keep it just long enough that my trade-in or private sale amount equals what I owe on it at the time so I break even at that point. I eat the mod $ and move on to the next car I'll keep "for a long time".

One of the kickers is the typical discount. If (for example) you bought a 17 GT Premium with a ~$44K MSRP early in 2017 and only got a $2K discount and you go out looking to sell/trade, the start of depreciation curve is going to be the end of the year $6-7K discounts that people were getting. That is to say, even though you paid $42K, people are going to be calculating depreciation based on a $37-38K purchase price.

The same goes with current model year and all models of cars (not just Mustang). If you see current year discounts at the dealer of 10%, you are going to want at least 20% off a used one, even a really nice 1 year old <10K miles.

scottmoyer said:

It seems that the value issue is plaguing the S550 only. My 2014 GT Premium had a window sticker of $36k. As everyone knows, there were incentives on the '14s just like there are on the newer cars, so I didn't pay MSRP. It seems that after 4 years, the '14 GT may still be worth around $25k in the retail world. I don't know what trade in value on that car is, but at retail, it's holding its value well.

On the other hand, my '17 GT Premium had a $44k MSRP and I'm seeing trade offers in the $28-30k range. I can probably get more on a retail sale, but not sure how much.

Click to expand...

I would be interested to see what the market thinks but I doubt you will actually get 25k for a used 2014 Mustang GT.