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A glut has used-car depreciation accelerating

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Re: A glut has used-car depreciation accelerating

#241
post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How can the price of gas can be at or near cost, when the difference between two stations across the road from each other can be easily 20%?

Can you provide a concrete example? I can't recall ever seeing such a disparity in the US having lived in the midwest, northwest, and east coast. Perhaps you're in a different location?

Costco is 20% cheaper than all other stations in Toronto. So either Costco is selling at a loss (unlikely) or there's plenty of profit in gas for gas stations.

Re: A glut has used-car depreciation accelerating

#242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like we have a solution: open up the auction for individual buyers to keep auction prices up.

Opening up the auction to private individuals doesn't bring more buyers, as the brokers are just middlemen -- all the cars they buy get passed on to end customers in a matter of weeks. It may bring more money, if people are willing to pay more to disintermediate the brokers. However, this adds a lot of headache and risk for the auction operator - tons of uneducated customers who won't be able to pay, try to back out…

This is what I do. Friend of a friend is a dealer. He's at the auctions every other day. I just put in an order with him and he'll call me when he finds something good. I trust him. Having had a bad deal yet. Charges $400.

Re: A glut has used-car depreciation accelerating

#243

Tangentially in the business. Two recent stories told to me: 1) Saw at Manheim Auto Auction (one of the largest) 300 Nissan Leafs run through the auction line in one afternoon ahead of some of our cars. Drop in "value" of leafs went down 10%+ in one day. All were recently off lease. 2) For similar reason, Santander is holding 4000+ cars on auction lots "waiting for pricing to stabilize". Reality is, when they run tho…

Leaf is a special case because of the battery degradation issues. 100k miles on a Leaf is basically end of life (unless you buy the $5k battery replacement). That being said, you can pick one up in California for $5k in perfect condition with Definitely a niche thing for heavy urban areas that have the charging infrastructure though. I can't imagine owning one in the Midwest.

$75 per month for insurance? You gotta get Metromile. My payment is usually under $25 and hasn't ever gone above $30.

Re: A glut has used-car depreciation accelerating

#245

Tangentially in the business. Two recent stories told to me: 1) Saw at Manheim Auto Auction (one of the largest) 300 Nissan Leafs run through the auction line in one afternoon ahead of some of our cars. Drop in "value" of leafs went down 10%+ in one day. All were recently off lease. 2) For similar reason, Santander is holding 4000+ cars on auction lots "waiting for pricing to stabilize". Reality is, when they run tho…

Leaf is a special case because of the battery degradation issues. 100k miles on a Leaf is basically end of life (unless you buy the $5k battery replacement). That being said, you can pick one up in California for $5k in perfect condition with Definitely a niche thing for heavy urban areas that have the charging infrastructure though. I can't imagine owning one in the Midwest.

5k, how? I don't see any less than 8k on autotrader.

Re: A glut has used-car depreciation accelerating

#246
post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kinda curious how electrical vehicles will fare during a mandatory evacuation or disaster. If you don't have a full charge, there's not an easy way to get a full charge, and so you will just not have transportation the full route.

Have you seen what happens to gas stations during a mandatory evacuation or disaster? With no electricity, gas can not be pumped from the tanks. Even when it can, there is immediately a line-up of 100s of vehicles. (I see this very often in West Africa)

This happened after hurricane Sandy: http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/Two-Arrested-for-Ga...

Re: A glut has used-car depreciation accelerating

#247
post #51
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is true, but the value of your car plays an important role in that expense. And expected depreciation is an important factor to consider when buying a car.

That's only if you intend to sell it for more than scrap value some day. Any car I buy is getting sold to the junkyard for $500 in 10+ years and 200k+ mi. How steeply it's paper value declines between now and then doesn't matter much to me.

Ha! Good luck with that. Scrapped cars are down to like $60/ton.

It seems reasonable that the scrap steel and used car markets would be correlated... If self-driving cars cause a drop in car ownership, it will be a good time to figure out a previously-uneconomical use of steel.

Re: A glut has used-car depreciation accelerating

#248

Tangentially in the business. Two recent stories told to me: 1) Saw at Manheim Auto Auction (one of the largest) 300 Nissan Leafs run through the auction line in one afternoon ahead of some of our cars. Drop in "value" of leafs went down 10%+ in one day. All were recently off lease. 2) For similar reason, Santander is holding 4000+ cars on auction lots "waiting for pricing to stabilize". Reality is, when they run tho…

Leaf is a special case because of the battery degradation issues. 100k miles on a Leaf is basically end of life (unless you buy the $5k battery replacement). That being said, you can pick one up in California for $5k in perfect condition with Definitely a niche thing for heavy urban areas that have the charging infrastructure though. I can't imagine owning one in the Midwest.

A LEAF is really just an electric golf cart. No real value as a car.

Re: A glut has used-car depreciation accelerating

#249
post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you provide a concrete example? I can't recall ever seeing such a disparity in the US having lived in the midwest, northwest, and east coast. Perhaps you're in a different location?

Burlingame CA, California Dr @ Broadway. A & A Gas has regular at $2.72, while Chevron is at $3.20.

The Burlingame A&A is notorious for being the one of the cheapest -- if not the cheapest -- places to fill up between SF and SV. In this case, it's likely that the Chevron literally across the street just decided it's not worth playing that game, hoping instead to appeal to the crowd who wonders if the cheap competitor is actually up to par.

The fact that the Chevron gets any business at all seems to validate this strategy at first blush.

Re: A glut has used-car depreciation accelerating

#250
post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How can the price of gas can be at or near cost, when the difference between two stations across the road from each other can be easily 20%?

Can you provide a concrete example? I can't recall ever seeing such a disparity in the US having lived in the midwest, northwest, and east coast. Perhaps you're in a different location?

I've seen it frequently, especially when road configuration makes one station more convenient to, e.g., a freeway on/off-ramp.
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