Coffee Brake: There Is No Replacement for Depreciation
Welcome to another edition of Daily Turismo’s Coffee Brake, where the brakes are smoking hot and the coffee is in a cold drum. Today’s Coffee Brake question comes from DT reader Scirocconuts who writes “Maybe you could do one of those reader questions where the topic is this: find the car with the biggest difference between sticker price and
current price (adjusted for inflation). Must be in good
enough shape to be a daily (or at least weekend) driver.” Challenge accepted.
According to autos.msn.com (which is oddly one of the best resources for quick and accurate post 1988 car specifications) this 1991 BMW 850i cost $77,700 MSRP (before options). Adjusted for inflation that is $135,917.95 today according to the bureau of labor statistics CPI inflation calculator. The 850i is for sale in the SF Bay Area for a $5,000 asking price, meaning it is offered for 3.7% of the original sticker price. Reminds me of a few stocks I purchased around 2007…
Find a car with a bigger difference between sticker price and
current price — but remember it has to be daily drivable. Comments below.
Challenge accepted. 1998 Mercedes S600 . Original MSRP – $132,250, which is $196,315 today using the same calculator. Assuming you're a lousy negotiator and offer the full asking price of $3900, you just paid 2% of it's original MSRP, adjusted for Inflation.
Sheesh…just typed a reply and vanished when I clicked "publish"…happens more and more lately. In a nutshell, here's a Bentley that was $271,780 when new, or $475,000 in today's dollars. At a ask of $64,500, that's a delta of $410,000.
ebay.com/itm/Bentley-Other-Continental-R-2-door-coupe-1-0f-90-rare-factory-order-Continental-R-TURBO-CHARGED-/261572786327?forcerrptr=true&hash=item3ce6f3f897&item=261572786327&pt=US_Cars_Trucks
I just sold our w140 for $2,000 and everything work on it. I kinda miss it already, it was so overbuilt.
This comment has been removed by the author.
Many MB S55 AMG from 2000-06 readily available for under 20k. The speed of depreciation there amazes me. Was 100k+ new.
Auto Trader S55 AMG
How bout this merc! Up armour must of cost 2x the original price!
miami.craigslist.org/mdc/cto/4641423004.html
I thought that for sure this would only be fun if there was a jag and "non-jag" division but apparently mercs and bmws suffer from some pretty severe depreciation too!
I don't think jags look all that bad compared with some of these. My 04 XJ8 would have been around $60k new, around $76k in 2014 money. It is probably still worth 10% of that:)
If it is depreciation over time that would be almost any foreign luxury car
I am going to have to go with Tyga's (the Rapper) Maybach. 2.2 million dollar "investment" built by West Coast Customs complete with a convertible roof and 40" TV
Money well spent
This comment has been removed by the author.
1994 Bentley Turbo R
Sticker: $208,300 ($334,868.25 in 2014 dollars)
Current Value: $16,000 (Just sold on eBay
Depreciation: $318,868.25
That's still about 8% of the original sticker price, but geez that is a ton of depreciation no matter how you slice it. I think Vince is looking for the highest depreciation in terms of % difference between current value and sticker (not absolute value of the difference). I could be wrong.
Look up^^^^ Bentley with $410k in depreciation.
What's a nice used Maybach 57 going for these days?
Isn't the correct answer to the a Daewoo anything?
Original price: $$$
Current price: $0
Depreciation: Infinite
Oh, wait, has to be drivable.