[longhorn]

Reliability is the numero uno factor affecting the resale value of a particular vehicle. Steering feedback and handling are for the enthusiasts. The average joe is more concerned on the cost of ownership and maintenance of a vehicle. Here the Japanese brands Toyota, Nissan, Honda lead the pack. Ford is not even on the radar. It's only when you start moving up the value chain that people think of Ford, VW and Skoda and the likes. And that's precisely why there are fewer takers for these in the second hand market. Most Japanese vehicles don't even sneeze till you log atleast 50,000 kms on the odo, by which time the American and European brands already start giving electrical / mechanical parts faliures. Yes they are built stronger, but the Japanese are one up on reliability.

[sandeepmohan]

Originally Posted by GTO

Sold my March 2003 Honda City Vtec for 3.5 lakhs.

My brother's late model 2005 Ford Ikon 1.6 went for Rs. 1.2 lakhs.

I am not sure if this is a fair comparison. To start, the City Vtec was a couple of lacs more expensive to buy. I fully agree with the poor re sale on the Ford Ikon. As for the Honda, the Vtec edition commands a premium for the car it is and only folks who know what a vtec is, will pay so much. The Ikon was nowhere near the madness of a 2003 Honda City Vtec. This car, no matter how many owners has always been expensive in the used market. If you look at the non vtec edition, they would sell at about the same rate as the Ikon. Besides; Honda's part cost for those 2003 version City's are astronomical. It will actually make the Ford look cheap to maintain.

[dreadknight5]

Originally Posted by desertfox

In my personal case my first european car a Lancia Delta Intergale went to warranty repairs a record 14 times to the dealership Al Ghandi motors. Who can spare such time and energy.
.

hmm Lancia Delta was supposed to be one of their better models in terms of reliability. That was their last production car before being made as a subdivision of Fiat. Which model of Lancia did you have ?

[tharian]

Originally Posted by johannskaria

Few reasons for the low resale value for FORD's

1. Low brand Recall
2. High cost of ownership
3. Mediocre service experiences
4. High cost of the vehicles itself
5. Mixed ownership experiences
6. Unavailability of Spare parts in the open market
7. Ignorance in market development by the Ford company
8. Mediocre product mix
9. Slow sales and service point expansion
10.Mistake in evaluation of Indian market

Part of this true.
With the launch of Figo, many of these points became positives.

High cost of ownership still holds true for few models, but not on Figo's and Fiesta's. Few parts are still expensive.
Ex: The mudflaps on a Figo,set of 4 costs 1k. The plastic hinge for the glovebox(1) costs rs600. On the other hand, the O2 sensor which is expensive on many cars, costs around Rs800 for the 1.2 Figo. The ORVM(only glass-child parts stratergy) costs Rs300.

-Figo when released and still is compartively prices lower in the segment.
-Service experience depends on the Service Center and the rapport you buld with them. Till date, I have not experienced any bad service/support with my Figo.
-There are lemons in all segments and with all manufacturers.
-Spare parts not available everywhere, is reducing. Parts of Figo are available in a spare parts shop I visit(but I would not go anywhere near a non-OEM part)
-Service Centers in cities are well spread out and in average numbers for the number of cars Ford sells. I am not aware of other cities and towns.

Like others mentioned, most of Fords cars are drivers cars and the common man will not look at it that way . They will look at as a car with hard suspension, hard steering, low fuel efficiency, expensive to maintain.

Recently in the used car thread, a member had a choice of a 09 Swift VXI run half lakh kms and a 2010 Figo ZXI 1.2 with just 10k kms, both the cars were quoted at 3.5 laks and the Swift went for that much actually instantly. No idea of the Figo.

Regards

[HammerHead]

I feel the main reason is cost of ownership.
American cars are notorious for high service cost, low FE (petrol engines), reliability status is unknown unlike the Japanese one's.

Remember GM-Chevrolet, another American, took off only when they offered 3 year zero maintenance plan.

Things may have changed with latest offerings from Ford or Chevy but it will take lot of efforts and assurance to change image and same time when Japanese brands are getting stronger and stronger, introducing affordable cars and diesel engine as option.

If you look closely, at least in India, it makes lot of sense to pay more and buy a Japanese pre-owned car then others. I still recommend Maruti Suzuki/Honda in case someone wants to buy a pre-owned car especially when its his/hers first car.

[deetjohn]

I think most people look for relatively lower cost of ownership and maintenance along with the ease of selling the car (read popularity in the market) when looking into the used car market. And this strictly doesn't include the enthusiasts who covet the Fiesta S, or the Palio 1.6 or a Laura TSI of the world.

The old Fords i.e. the Escort, Mondeo, first generation Ikon etc. had high cost of ownership, average reliability, relatively lower F.E. Petrol sedans with bigger engines depreciate the most. Ford didn't have any fuel efficient small cars to arrest this depreciation back then. And the diesels were not that trouble free and was low in number. The Figo TDCi is still a relatively new car to change the overall perception in the market. And changing perception takes a longer time.

I feel the EcoSport will be the first Ford to command a good resale value in the market. It has that VFM aura, should be efficient and the cost of maintenance should be comparable to the other popular B+ and C segment cars and more than anything else, it is a super hit. For most, the popularity of a car is the biggest driver, used or otherwise.

But the compact SUV is not doing any favors to the fellow Fords. Has anyone noticed the number of used Fords on sale after the EcoSport got launched? Its quite staggering and is not going to help the resale value.

[sandeepmohan]

Had an Ikon and had I held it any longer, it would have lead to divorce.

The car was old and I do admit that I made a mistake with the purchase. However; I did not expect it to be a bomb to maintain. I never had to wait for a spare part. Everything was available at Metro Ford. It was the cost of the spares that ruined it completely. I could never really trust the service centre too. Every time the car went in for some fix, the original problem gets addressed and another one comes up almost immediately after I drive out. The quality of the spares, I can only speak for the Ikon, were pathetic. I replaced three air conditioning diverter valves in two years. How on earth did Ford India miss addressing a quality issue when they have been making the part for over 10 years and this was a common problem with the Ikon. Each trip cost Rs. 2700 and this had to be done at least once in 10 months. That is how often it failed. Then there are genuine problem areas. The Ikon had the worst brakes ever. In all the time they made the car, nothing was done to improve the braking ability.

I bought the Ikon as a nice fun to drive car. It sure was fun to drive but a complete wallet drain in terms of maintenance. The Fords sold today are not expensive to fix but their service centre experience can be a hit or massive miss.

[condor]

Partly true on the higher cost of spares. I agree that parts are on the higher side. But reliability on the newer models has been good. I have not had to change anything on my 4.5 year Ikon TDCi, except for a wiper motor & a/c divertor valve (under warranty). I think only 2 replacements during the warranty period is good - one cant give it a negative rating. The divertor valve went kaput again recently - then again this part is known to fail, but it also has a permanent work-around too which many Ikon owners have implemented.

The battery required a replacement after 4 years, which was again a above average life.

A lot depends on how the car is used.

[CoolFire]

+1 to that. I too own an Ikon TDCi (2009) and a Figo (2012). For me, the maintenance costs have been quite reasonable, even compared to Maruti vehicles in similar category.

Unfortunately, resale value is still low compared to Marutis or Hyundais. Hope Ford get it better with the ecosport, if it sustains the current momentum.

[siddarthbh]

The second hand market at the end of the day is a slightly speculative and highly perception driven market especially in the sedan segment. The fact that someone is looking for a second hand car means that he/she is looking at low cost of ownership (capex + opex). No doubt the Japanese cars win this hands down because of their reliablity and long shelf life.

I have a Ford Fiesta 1.4D which was picked up second hand and have loved it every bit. Also have had no issues with service quality at Metro Ford and cost of spares. In fact the only time an issue was not resolved, they went out of their way to ensure it was fixed quickly once i reported it in their customary after service call. However, i was extremely jittery while buying a second hand American car thanks to the GM Opel Corsa i had before this. The negative perception about Ford mainly stems from Escort/Mondeo/ Ikon brands and inconsistent service people have reported. But then I did a bit of research on ownership reports and reviews and finally picked it up. A lot of people will go by perception even if things have changed as it has with the Fiesta, Figo and hopefully the new Ecosport.

[tj123]

I think the earlier generation of Fords cars were not that reliable and fuel efficient , leading to higher cost of maintenance, this formed a perception amongst customers that Ford cars are expensive to own. Hence low demand in used car market, leading to lower resale value.
In the last 3 years Ford Figo has slowly but steady help Ford back win customer confidence on lower maintenance and cost of ownership. The batten is now passed on to EcoSport and I am sure in couple of years’ time Ford cars will hold its value in used cars segment along with other peers.

Resale value of a model depends heavily on its sales success. I personally owned a new Figo diesel Titanium and I sold it after 7 months, I just took a depreciation of less the 8%, which I feel was very quiet good.

Ford with its one Ford strategy is bringing in better models /technology and this will change the age old market perception.

[ajmat]

What contributes to resale

1: Product - the demand for it after market
2: Maintenance - perceived costs
3: Brand - overall brand image as well as snob value
4: Availability - too many means price could come down

I don't think we need to worry too much about Ford's resale value compared to Chevrolet, considering the impact of the brand in the latest mess.

Figo and Ecosport resale should hold out unless a comparable rival comes along

[yogibear007]

Originally Posted by ajmat

Figo and Ecosport resale should hold out unless a comparable rival comes along

Truly said. Over the years, due to various launches and the extended warrantees provided at the time of sale itself has changed the perception about Ford slowly but surely. My friend had a 2006 Icon which went well for initial four years and afterwards started giving trouble. In fact, irritatingly, the temperature control knob on the AC panel was changed so many times that they had stopped bothering it after three replacements altogether and every time it was a charged replacement. Two years ago he took delivery of Figo for his wife and the feedback he has given is great. This coming from a repeat customer. In some cases, Ford has been first to introduce new technology that they have introduced worldwide only recently like the sealed auto gear box of Ford Fiesta. This was way different than the VW guys who keeps claiming about their transmission even though there are instances of technical glitches and failures of these transmissions.
All of this has been helping Ford to maintain a slow but steady increase in the reliability index which helps the resale value preposition substantially in the end. products like Eco Sport will only help that image provided Ford does not goof on the lines of their compatriots.

[greenhorn]

Originally Posted by ajmat

4: Availability - too many means price could come down

I disagree with this. Usually cars/bikes which have mass adoption tend to be the ones with higher resale values - Case in point the Zen Estilo vs Wagon R.

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by greenhorn

I disagree with this. Usually cars/bikes which have mass adoption tend to be the ones with higher resale values - Case in point the Zen Estilo vs Wagon R.

....and too many used Honda Accords, Ikons, Baleno's etc are my case in point