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-   -   When is the right time to sell your cars (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/3557-when-right-time-sell-your-cars-3.html)

Agreed, They do perform, but are you sure in long run that to 7 - 8 yrs down the line? I have seen my friends Santro 2000 model; Seen in Service center more than on road :Frustrati , similar case with my relatives Accent 2004 CRDI. Also i have hered many complaints against Hyundai Quality from their owners. I cant comment anything more as i never owned a Hyundai stupid:. But had good times with my Matiz (Another Korean- Daewoo motors)

Factors that would affect selling an existing car

1. It has run anywhere between 75k-100k kms in a period of 4-5 years. Maximum value of the car has been extracted by this time/distance.
2. Newer and better technology is the order of the day. A car that is new technology today becomes old technology in a couple of years down the line. More and more people are attracted to the technology aspect now.
3. The "bling" factor. I would say this affects only people with deep pockets. This breed can afford to change a car every two years or even earlier.
4. The cost of upkeep has started to hurt the wallet. Time to sell the car and go in for a new one.

My two cents.

Upgrading to a new car is as equal as upgrading to a new mobile phone, with the only difference of time taken for counting the cash (ready cash) or the amount and time taken for paying back (on Loan). Utilitarian aspect of a car or a mobile has died long time back atleast with the middle class and above. Otherwise we would be seeing only Maruti 800 or Premier Padmini on the roads and Nokia 2110 or 1100 in everyone's pocket. Gone are those days, now people want to upgrade new mobile and new car every 6 months (provided he/she has the fulus to spend).

Personaly speaking, I dont mind selling my car and buying a new one atleast every year. Practical side of not able to do that is = Depreciation of each month, second hand sale value, any model getting out of fashion too soon, enormous amount being wasted in the sell and buy process etc. But I would not consider any of the above obstacles when I reach a stage "sit in a restaurant with the family and order things from the menu without looking at the price" or "pick up things in an exclusive branded showroom without even glancing at the price tag". Hope everyone gets a clue !

My seven year old Accent petrol GLS (2001) just completed 120,000km a couple of hours ago. And every one of those has been reliable, and enjoyable. Apparently I'm amongst the privileged !!

In a lighter tone
1. Sell your car when its resale value is equal to the down payment required for your new car
2. Sell your car when the loan is paid off :)

I don't think one should sell his car until it starts costing more in maintenance or you are passionate about different cars. If you are the kind of person who like driving new cars they you may switch cars every year or 2 but if you are the kind of person who is looking for value I recommend keeping car for 7-8 years or until maintenance starts costing too much.

For example, I bought NHC GXI 4 years ago for about 800k, now if i sell this car I will not get more then 350K, even say after 5 years car will not get me more then 275K. So to run my car for 5th year it cost me only 75K. Now say after 4 years I decide to buy new car for around 800k it will cost me 200k in depreciation in 1st year vs 75k depreciation of my old car so I am paying 125K more for new car. This difference will grow allot in 6,7,8th year between new and old car and cost of maintenance will not match against cost of depreciation you pay for new car.

So, IMO, its good practice to sneeze more juice out of the car if it is in good condition and have not faced any accident. I am planning to keep my NHC for 7-8 years or till it starts having trouble.

My replacement of the car would be based on the engine troubles(50000+km)/suspension(comfort) issues/Poor drop of mileage and performance.If it is second hand bought at 2-3 lakhs,sell it in another 3 years or after 30000kms of usage ).If it is a new car with 5Lakh(Swift in my case) i will wait until it clocks 5 years/50000kms whichever comes first and take decision by that time based on the criterias mentioned.

When you should get rid of your car?

It doesn’t matter if you like it or you don’t. It doesn’t matter if its new or old. It doesn’t matter if it is giving trouble or not. It doesn’t matter if it is a new generation car or it is a vintage.

We are talking about scenarios that might just force you to let her go. However the choice / decision is subjective and it totally depend on individuals. Would like to discuss the “extreme” scenarios and “just like that” reasons to get rid of your car. Yet more focus on extreme ones.

Buying and owning a car is journey, some get life time pleasure and some get bumpy ride. Some choose to live with the pain and hick-ups but some don’t. Each one of us buy a car with different objective, for some people its their first car, for some people its their n’th number, some people buy the car for economy, some buy it for performance, some people buy it for looks and some people buy it for comfort. But sometime there are situations when you realize that your objective is not being met despite of the fact that lots of evaluation is done before we make the decision.

Sometimes your car meets your expectation, but there are other reasons which makes it difficult to keep, it could be natural error or artificial one, it could manual error or some disaster. At the end of the day you feel distressed, frustrated, stupid and sometime even cheated and you feel you should get rid of your car.

What could be such situation? Penning down some of my thoughts.

• You bought a brand new car with loads of money. But you got a lemon. You car is giving you lots of trouble, every now and then she is in garage for some spare part replacement under warranty or some repair. You are tired and worried about future once the warranty gets over. You are confused. Should you get rid of your car?
• You have a five year old car, which is absolutely trouble free. Your loan payment is over. Extended warranty lapsed. So far your car has been good to you, but you know it has done the duty and growing old. You also know that after 7 years second buyer wont get the finance as well. Should you get rid of your car?
• You bought a fantastic car. No problems at all. But your boss is sending you on long term foreign travel (more than 2 – 3 years) for business reasons and there is nobody at home who will use your car. Should you get rid of your car?
• You bought a lovely new car. And after couple of months you realized that the company launched the new version and discontinued the one you own. You feel cheated, your car’s resale value is going down drastically. Should you get rid of your car?
• Your car is just 8 months old. Doing absolutely fine. But the other day you stuck in floods. Repairs costing you half the cost of the car. Should you repair and keep? Or should repair and sell? Or should you get rid of your car as is?
• It doesn’t matter how old or new is your car, you met with an accident, a kind of total crash, you repaired it. Now you have a faith in your accidental car or not. Should you get rid of your car?
• Your car is 3 year old and done its duty very well. But newer version is scheduled to launch, news is confirm and you have seen the scoops too. The new launch will have impact on resale value of your car. Should you get rid of your car?
• You have vintage in your garage, not being used just lying there since ages, unnecessarily occupying the space. No value addition except the pride of owning it. You get the offer, Should you get rid of your car?

There could be many such scenarios when you should actually get rid your car. Post your thoughts on this. Also post your queries here if you are facing similar situations.

These are necessary scenarios in which one does not have a choice, but to part with one's car.
There is somewhat a similar thread by GTO.

Thread opened by GTO talks about 5 year old car, I am trying understand every possible scenario, it doesn't matter how old is your car.

On a lighter vein - when you find that your car mechanic has become your best friend.

Whenever I have parted with my car, it was because I got bored with it over time. Never till date did other scenarios like breakdowns, troubles, heavy maintainence, etc. come into play.
Modern cars are built to last a lifetime, but we can see some older cars being preserved nicely by owners, this implies quality then was also good. Now, mechanically the cars have become more sound.
With cars, there's a 2-3 years itch, if one can overide it, then comes 5 years itch, if one goes beyond this, 7 years is the time when one feels like changing, but once past this, chances are that car will be preserved for antiquity.

Very Interesting thread. My analysis of parting with 5 cars earlier have been varied reasons -
- Santro - 3+ years - similar to bhp1 was getting bored plus wanted to upgrade to a Sedan
- Corsa - 1 year - not exactly the car i wanted as Sedan but was available cheap and hardly used. Was going happy until i became eligible for a "co owned" car and could not get the corsa included in the scheme since the co had a condition of new cars. So this time it was the lure to save some personal income tax.
- Ikon - 2 years - everything was fine until i decided to part ways with the company and condition was either i pay and keep the car (over 3.75Lacs) or i sell it. Sold it and repaid to company. I dread this decision, might as well got it financed again and retained it.
- Accent Viva Crdi - 2 years - again good buy, the diesel tank was keeping my pockets also happy when somewhere the lure of an SUV kicked in. Lo!! Here i go sold it and bought an used Safari. I dread this decision again.:Frustrati
- Safari - 8 months - i would say good experience but troubles galore. More visits to TASS than in my parking place. More or less fits in to the first point given by Throttleking.

All in all i might have lost close to 2Lacs because of the "frequent flyer" in me. Hopefully life gets more peaceful now with the Corolla.

Regards

Buddy Carbalinga, let me tell you about my experience with Corolla, though its the only car I have'nt got rid for 4years, before that every 1-2 years had been changing time for me, but its also the car which I wanted to get rid the most!
There's just no damn excitement in the car!

I'm a little confused with the objective of this thread. My answer is very short: "Never, if you love your car". But then it will vary from person to person.

GTO's thread was more focused than this. Anyways, reasons are way too many and very specific to each individual. But, if it were me, I do try to buy the right car (the one that appeals to me around the purchase time - which can be about 1 or 2 years for making up my mind) and then I keep it till I can move on to a better car. I had a M800 as my first car, then when I had a Zen as a company car, then I picked up an Ikon 1.6 SXi and then when I left company I gave it back to them. In the new company, I got a Vectra in the UK. But now trying to get back to India and look for a new car.

The options are plenty now in India and I am very sure it will take me quite a while to find my next car. Once I buy it, it will stay for a long while I guess. And I have never worked out if I lost money on cars, I got plenty (of fun) in return anyways. Don't we all? That's why we want a great car in the first place, right?

BH.