I know others have posted about this before but I'll use this forum to Rant just the same. To quote from the outstanding Zeppelin album Physical Graffiti, my Jag is "Ten Years Gone".

I know they depreciate but for the love of Mike, since last June she's taken a $2500 hit. Nearly $1000 per month drop in value. Ridiculous. 70k miles, looks drives and feels like new, I had the car for sale to make some room for my other cars but I'll pitch the others and take my Jag to the grave before I succumb to market pricing like that.

Honestly I love the car anyway but as I live in Minnesota, don't drive the car in the winter, lost a garage stall due to a move, it was looking like a no brainer to sell. Nope, the car is still worth $24k to me, not the $19,700 KBB values it. Parting with it was bothering me and KBB made the decision for me.

So I'll live with it, occasionally stepping into the garage late at night, removing the car cover, shedding tears of sorrow/ joy during the upcoming 6 months of well salted roads, while longing for the first heavy rain to wash the salt from the streets so I can Joy ride once again.

I feel better already, but fricken KBB can bite me.

 

I know how it feels ! My 2003 XJ6 Sport cost me £10,000 in 2010, (new price nearer £40,000), but I saw a similar one to mine, (same year), in a recent car show in Manchester on sale by a dealer for £3600. Depreciation is a fact of life, I'm afraid, unless you own the "right" classic car. It's not worth me selling it really.

 

This jag is a keeper-you love it,we love it,forget about the money.

It's going to be a classic anyway.

Bonded and riveted aluminium-it's the only aircraft technology I can afford.

Maybe I should leave it to the local classic 'plane museum. lol

 

It's the age old question on cars regardless of brand

Buy it new and drive it to death
Lease it new to keep the payments down and trade it in 3-5 years
Buy it at the 3-5 year mark, save the depreciation and drive it to death

Different cars will depreciate at different rates but a general rule the more popular, read boring, the slower the depreciation

A low volume car like a jag will deprecate much more than a toyota or even a merc. Look at it it this way you are paying for the uniqueness.

I's expect the new generic cars from jag to depriciate much slower. IE the XF and to a lesser extent the ftype where the x351 xj will be the same.

Rare or limited numbers only equate to the price if they are also popular. Remove the popular and the price goes down a lot. If your buying an XJ used that's a good thing. Its also one of the reasons I have not traded to the x351 even though I have purchaed my XJR's new going back to the x300

Cheers
34by151

 

Its the same in Australia
My x350 has lost money in the last year and
I have also spent quite a bit to get it where I want her
But I still wouldn't change her for anything
Having just sold my Xjr6 I'm down to 3 cars so I'll just keep looking who knows lol

 

I bought my 04 XJ8 in the closest thing to perfect condition I could ever imagine, for 7,900 on the dot with brand new tires and 71k miles. It will be paid off soon and mine forever, I couldn't imagine getting rid of it with as attached as I've grown.

P.S. Love the Zeppelin reference.

 

The problem with these cars, and other luxury sedans, is that once the warranty is up the repair costs can be horrible. Unless you can work on the car yourself it can be prohibitively expensive to maintain one. I looked at a CL55 AMG and a CL60 AMG before I bought my XJR. The price was similar, but the potential maintenance costs for the Mercedes were staggering. They both had the ABC active hydraulic suspension, which I found could run over ten grand in parts alone to repair, as opposed to 2k for rebuilt shock from Arnott on the XJR. A coil pack on the CL60 was $1250, dealer only, although just $160 from Autozone for the CL55.
When replacing normal wear items approaches the value of the car, the value becomes zero. I have a 1991 Porsche 944 Cabriolet. I love the car, but timing belt/water pump replacement is a $4,000 job at the dealer, maybe 2/3 of that for an indy, and around $500 if I do it myself (and I do.) Hard to put a value on the convertible (564 made) but the coupe is around 4-6 thousand. Kind of hard to justify if it needs a 4k belt.

 

This is the first time I've seen this... KBB has my 04 XJR about 3k less than NADA, which is what I'd expect from KBB and NADA. What I didn't expect was the one I'm looking at now, an 05 XJR, where KBB has it 2k MORE than the NADA listing. I've never seen KBB higher. Wonders never cease...

 

First Ragman, thank you for your service.
Second, sorry for the loss of Betsy. She looked to be a well loved set of wheels. I checked around locally for an XJR but only found an 07 with a salvage title priced over book. With your price range and part of the country, I presume buying national is too pricey anyway.

Third, since I posted, I rechecked KBB today. I don't know what algorithms they're using, heck, I'm not sure if they know, but my 05 Super V8 went back up a couple grand and is now valued @ $21,351 very good and $21,864 Excellent. No I didn't make a keying error the first time or the last. Oh well. Unless someone walks up to me and says "nice car, name your price", I will enjoy the ride.

Speaking of which, my wife and I took Rose out for a drive to the St Croix for a little autumn scenery along the river bluffs on the Minnesota side of the river.

No joke, "Kashmir" came on the radio. Another Zeppelin classic from the same album. Well suddenly I'm back in 1975, only the woman I'm with now is far more stunning than the one I dated back then and of course the Super V8 is a tad different than the 64 Impala Super Sport.

The hearings worse, but he sound system is better, we cranked it up, slowed down, leaned back, held hands and misremembered the good old days. Other than that, "this song remains the same"
I think I have my playlist picked out for this weekend.

 

Thank you for the thoughts and the scenic mental views. I'm from northeast Indiana, about 20 miles from MI and 3 miles from OH. Love the rides there on my Harley. Have yet to have a Jag in IN, but I'm looking forward to the drive.

Bets didn't deserve what she got. I equated it to putting down a pet. I asked repeatedly if there was anything else that could be done.

I've been getting myself psyched about the 05 XJR. I'm hoping it's all they've hyped it to be and they accepted my low ball offer. The sunroof won't open, so I need to tend to that, but Soon enough! If she's mine that is. It's been up for sale since December and these folks have had her since March, so I think it's been waiting for me.

Not going down Milleville Rd in Chesapeake, even though it's 1/4 mile from my house, for a LONG time. lol

 

Your XJR will be money in the bank!

Appreciating?