robertj@tektronix.UUCP (Robert Jaquiss) (09/06/84)
------- Recently while car shopping a salesman told me that if I bought one of his used Mercedes cars that if I took good care of it I could sell it three to five years later and get the same ammount of money out as the purchase price. This sounds like a great sales pitch; is it even half true? If I get enough response I will summarize for the net. Robert S. Jaquiss Jr. ucbvax!tektronix!robertj (uucp) robert jaquiss@tektronix (csnet) robert jaquiss.tektronix@rand-relay (arpanet) (503) 627-6346 (audio phone at work)
mzal@pegasus.UUCP (Mike Zaleski) (09/07/84)
Recently while car shopping a salesman told me that if I bought one
of his used Mercedes cars that if I took good care of it I could
sell it three to five years later and get the same ammount of money
out as the purchase price. This sounds like a great sales pitch; is
it even half true?
As a letter writer to one of the car magazines I read recently
pointed out: the person who can afford a $40,000 used Mercedes
can probably buy the new one for $50,000. If you think about it,
this is obviously true and sort of says something about the
claimed value of used Mercedes. The person who wrote the letter
said he was having trouble finding interested parties.
If the used Mercedes was cheaper (say $5,000 to $10,000), the
salesman's claim might be true. However, what has inflation done
to your money over those 3 to 5 years? As an investment
strategy, this seems a little weak unless you really want the car.
Incidentally, I once bought a car that I sold for exactly
what I paid for it - a 75 Chevy Nova that I bought for $719
and sold a month later in somewhat worse condition (I needed
a car quickly since my real car needed serious work.)
-- Mike^Z [ihnp4!, allegra!] pegasus!mzal Zaleski@Rutgers