Resale Value

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Just a question, how much is resale value linked to the quality of the car? Or is some of it just artificially created (ie, crappy car, but popular). I ask because I keep seeing Audi cars being much cheaper on the used market than their other luxury counterparts. In a year or 2, I would like to get a car, and that look like great cars for their price, but is there something I should be aware of for them?
 
A lot of times, the biggest effect on resale value is simply age. Seeing a 2009 M3 vs a 2001 M3 will essentially clench it for a lot of people. Plus the badge can represent a lot of value too, which might be why you see so many cheap Audis. Beyond those, if the car is in good condition, you can drive up the price from the Blue-Book value (Those might just be an American thing...) and remember that whoever wants to buy it will bargain it down, so it is reasonable to up it a little over what you expect it to sell for.

As for recomendations for you as a buyer, it really depends on what car you're looking at. If you've ever seen the Top Gear where they all bought the same make of car and tested it, you know what I'm talking about. I can't say a lot about Audi model quality or anything, which is why Google was invented :D Keep in communication with the person you're buying from, and if it's online, ask them to get a dealer check and send verification to you. If you do that, you may be asked to pay for it, though. What it really comes down to is that every car is different, and I personally don't know of old Audis having any aging issues.

Finally, really shop around, because you can get some rediculous deals with old cars that were worth 100,000 dollars in their day, and with aging are worth around 6,000. This was on Top Gear and American Top Gear, and there are old Bentleys and Super-Mercs for very low prices (I don't know what you're price range is, but a Bentley >10,000 is a steal anywhere)

Hopefully this was somehow helpful :D
 
Depends on dozens of factors, including but not limited to: Age, badge, market demand, rarity, ubiquity, specification, class of car, size of the car, geographical location, etc etc.

Cars with a great badge aren't immune to high depreciation - supercars haemorrhage money unless they're particularly rare (and even then, market demand matters - the Bugatti Veyron loses money, the Ferrari Enzo gets more expensive). Large luxury sedans also lose money at a ludicrous rate, whatever the car - Rolls Royce Phantoms, Maybachs, BMW 7-Series - all fall like a stone.

A BMW 3-Series will hold its value a lot better, and it has a lot less value to lose too, but even then it depends on the model. A volume model in high demand will hold its value used better than a volume model in low demand, but fifteen years down the line the one in low demand may be worth more as it's now rarer, so depreciation depends on circumstance too.

Geographical location? Well, if it snows all year round then an Audi with Quattro may hold its value better than a FWD one, but in Texas the Quattro will probably lose value quicker as it offers no real advantage to used car punters.

It's not even all quality based either. Here in the UK at least city cars hold their value better than virtually anything else because they don't cost much in the first place and there's always a queue of people wanting something cheap to run.

It's not unusual that after five or ten years for a Ford Fiesta, Focus and Mondeo to all cost the same price, even though brand new the Focus was more expensive than the Fiesta, and the Mondeo even more so. It doesn't matter that the Mondeo is faster, more comfortable, more spacious etc, because the market puts higher value on the Fiesta's qualities instead.

So depreciation? Largely arbitrary at face value, based on loads of different factors that vary massively depending on loads of other different factors.

There are two essential rules: Always pay what you think something is worth, and never buy a large French luxury car brand new.
 
Demand and offer. Simply as that.
Here in Luxemburg, Subaru's STI are not that rare, but demand is larger than offer, so we have crazy prices on them (+20000€ for a 8 year old with 80000km)
Gazolines in Europe are cheap, diesel worth a lot more.

My dad's A6 3.2 broke down with 320000km. Now as to tie over till the new A6 arrives, we bought an A4 2.8 quattro for 4500€ with 90000km on the clock.
The same in a diesel would have been a lot expensiver.

So for the price, there are a lot of factors coming in (like home said), and some people sell them a bit under the price (need money fast, something fishy,...) or are ridiculously over priced (saw an bmw 3 csi for 24000€, my little bro got his for 8000€)

From case to case...
 
Thanks for your replies. Really informative. As for going for the Used supercar, I would love to, but maintenance and insurance would probably run me dry very fast. :)
 

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