Honda Jazz - Buy at 3, sell at when? - westbarbary

Good Morning to the Forum

I bought a Honda Jazz (02-08 model) in 2010 when it was 3 years old with 10,000 miles and since then I have increased the mileage to 50,000. It has been fantastic and I have had no serviceability problems, but it has been surprisingly expensive to run and has cost me 12,000 pounds including depreciation. I am considering selling it and taking advantage of the Yaris zero per cent deal and would be interested in the Forum's thoughts on the best time to sell a vehicle before fault rectification costs begin to increase. In the past I have worked on 'buy at 3, sell at 10' but I am begining to wonder if this is out of date and I would be better with 'buy at 1, sell at 5'. What are your thoughts?

Honda Jazz - Buy at 3, sell at when? - Wackyracer

I have always worked on the idea that a car loses approx 50% of it's new price in the first 3 years. I tend to buy cars and just hang onto them for as long as possible because they only cost me the price of parts to service them or repair them. Doing all the work myself saves alot of money.

Recently I was looking at cars on Motorpoint's website and the 1 year old cars they have do seem a good price which made me also wonder if it would be better to buy a 1 year old car instead.

Honda Jazz - Buy at 3, sell at when? - NARU

Recently I was looking at cars on Motorpoint's website and the 1 year old cars they have do seem a good price which made me also wonder if it would be better to buy a 1 year old car instead.

There isn't a general rule. Some cars can be good value new, others are better at one year or more.

We have three cars in the household. Two Toyotas bought slightly used (600 miles/3 months and 4000 miles/11 months) and an mx-5 bought new.

We tend to run them for 10+ years.

Honda Jazz - Buy at 3, sell at when? - Happy Blue!

" but it has been surprisingly expensive to run and has cost me 12,000 pounds including depreciation."

Has it really cost you £12,000 to run a Honda Jazz over that time? How many miles? What would a Yaris have cost you over the same time and miles??

Honda Jazz - Buy at 3, sell at when? - madf

We bought Yaris at 24k miles/2 years. It is now 13years old.

We bought Jazz at 300 miles and six months now 3 years old..

We tend to keep cars 10+ years.. Maintenance costs are minimal. They are relaible and I DIY Yaris, Jazz is under 5 year prepaid maintenance (first owner)..

Our Peugeot 106 D lasted 17 years before an accident wrote it off.

Honda Jazz - Buy at 3, sell at when? - Wackyracer

There isn't a general rule. Some cars can be good value new, others are better at one year or more.

I find it hard to believe that a new car can be better value than used one upto 3 years old, unless you are thinking that I'd be interested in manufacturer warranty (which I'm not). I would rather save £8k+ than to have a manufacturer warranty.

Honda Jazz - Buy at 3, sell at when? - NARU

I bought my mx-5 new for less than the dealer was asking for a 9-month old one. From the same dealer!

There was a significant manufacturer bonus in it for him, and it was the end of the month.

Honda Jazz - Buy at 3, sell at when? - gordonbennet

Yes, we bought the then new model Hilux brand new for less than we could find a used model in 2007, timed just right, 2 weeks later and TG's North Pole special saw them suddenly in demand and discounts unavailable.

I'm the other end of the spectrum generally, usually buy 6 years or older well serviced vehicles of low onership.

Last vehicle purchased is 15 years old, they are selected for their robust durability and lack of latest electronics, i do most of my own work (apart from my MB where i'm fortunate enough to have just about the oldest established MB indy on tap) which keeps costs down.

My method works for me, if i didn't self service/repair then i'd probably buy a 12 month old Toyota or maybe a Kia via the approved used scheme and get the 7 year warranty re-instated from purchase date and sell on when it starts to play up when out of warranty.

I suggest our OP keeps the Jazz well maintained and only sell when it gets unreliable.

There's nothing new out there remotely attractive, if you took the badges off you'd struggle to tell them apart, all have potential to land you with staggering bills out of warranty (or inside it if they can find an excuse) and increasingly more trouble than they are worth, the heightening fashion for bling image combined with fairy lights and concrete springs makes each new model less appealing.

Edited by gordonbennet on 05/04/2015 at 11:09

Honda Jazz - Buy at 3, sell at when? - Wackyracer

Now I get your point Merlot, a workmate did just that some years ago when buying a Clio for his daughter. Managed (by accident) to catch the saleman when he was just about to lose out on a bonus and needed just one more sale, he gave him the lowest price for a base model and gave him a car that was 2 trim levels up.

I tend to be of the same opinion as GB about the OP's question.

I still want to know how the car has cost the OP £12,000 during his ownership.

Honda Jazz - Buy at 3, sell at when? - Leif
I suspect it depends on the type of car and make and model. I drive small city cars, and one I bought at 4 years old cost me more per year than the next one bought new. I do high mileage, and after 7-8 years repairs start to cost. My earlier cars fell to bits at 9-10 year old. If you do repairs yourself then older makes sense. A new car comes with free warranty work for three years, new tyres, clutch etc, and with luck low repair costs for maybe 7 years. A one year old car might make sense, you get a big price drop, with most of the life left. But a broker can often source a new car for less than a one year old car.