[Jaggu]

Nice write up!

Depreciation holds good for anything and obviously in a business set up you are entitled to tax benefits and write off.

Every year a certain percentage of the value goes down, to have an idea check out how insurers calculate the % per year varying for first 4 years and comes to a residual value.

Thumb rule for a car, every single km run will bring in approx 1.5 Rs in maintenance above your regular petrol bill, always keep this in mind, so a 5 year car with 20,000 km will be better than 2 year car with 50,000 km, this is irrespective of manufacturer.

Well maintained (loving owner) cars obviously have an advantage that when it goes to market for sale, the genuine buyer (and there are, you need to be patient) will offer a better price, same holds true for the cars with regular service history.

Accidents are always a concern, if you had a meeting with your house gate also, you will have tough time convincing otherwise, and if it’s a major one, less said the better it is.

Brand yes it sure makes an impact and most often it’s a market created halo and also some smart business sense, Honda buy back ol cars do some good refurbishing and try keeping them off general second hand market to keep the second hand value perception high. Hard fact, after all this (defering to Ajmats view) Honda sell cheap in the market after they cross 3-4 years of age.

Accessories as said is best to add minimal and removed and put to use in that second car or sell separate (if you have the patience).

Ideally buy a car use it for 4-5 years and sell at approx 50-60%+ value if its moderate amount of kms logged or better make it the second car if that option is possible.

And if out there for a bargain and a budget, keep eye out for 1 year old car, with a desi wanna be NRI and give a thorough job at pampering to get the sweat smell off! And save couple of lakhs.

Big cars obviously are meant for guys with big pocket, so as a buyer they will not bother to go for a second hand with the kind of social reasons they believe in, so as sellers are hard to sell and wont mind selling at 30-40 % cost after 5 years. Good if you can buy them provided you are ready to afford the bigger tag attached to anything “up market”.

Maruti as a manufacturer holds value due to people confidence and popularity, rest all depends on case to case.

Financing options that we have now have turned the game in a very different way, both in new car and used car market.

At the end of the day IT EXISTS, and upto you how you can play it to your advantage.

Very honestly the very thought of depreciated market value holds back people like me at looking at a new car, so its actually playing to advantage of my bank balance lol!