Resale Value: Japan vs Korea

[2000crvlx]

Ok, I know that everyone here knows that Jap vehicles hold there value better that Korean vehicles do, but I have some interesting numbers for you to look at here.

Fist off I went to Kia's website and looked up the MSRP of a 04 Sorento. For close comparison I chose an LX 4wd which is close to the CRV in equiptment.

Second I went to Hyundai's website and did the same thing with a 04 Santa Fe. I chose a GLS 4x4

Third I went to Honda's website and chose a 04 CRV EX. We all know what it has.

What I wanted to do is age each vehicle by 1 year and 32,000 miles.
I went to NADA.com and looked up the suggested retail price on each of these being a 2003 with 32,000 miles on them.
I went to Kelly Blue Book to find out the trade in value on each of these.

Here is what I found:

04 Kia Sorento MRSP $24,600
03 Kia Sorento Retail $20,700 $ lost if you sell out right $3900.00
03 Kia Sorento Trade in $12,275 $ lost if you trade it in $12,300.75

04 Hyundai SantaFe MSRP $23,089
03 Hyundai SantaFe Retail $20,950 $ lost if you sell out right $2,139.00
03 Hyundai SantaFe Trade in $13,100 $ lost if you trade it in $9,989.00

04 honda CRV MSRP $23,040
03 Honda CRV Retail $22,425 $ lost if you sell out right $615.00
03 Honda CRV Trade In $14,400 $ lost if you trade it in $8,640.00


I don't care for KBB very much because I don't know of any banks or car lots that use it. I always think the #s are way off, but I decided to put them up anyway. In all 3 cars, I would pay more attention to the used retail value because if you trade it in at a car lot, the dealer is going to always look at retail to find out what he will be able to sell it for.

[jeeplikens]

I did the same thing awhile back and found that overall, there isn't much a difference in value. I don't buy my car's for investments. I drive them. I keep them till they cost more to repair then worth (84 VW Jetta, 14yrs, 93 Ply Voyager, 11 years -still drive it). But as far as value, here is just a little something I look for.
The Liberty had 1 recall (ball joint) for 02/03 models. The V had 1 safety, 1 general and a butt load (like the 2002 libby) of TSB's. The Santa Fe, 1. My point? Resale, reliability. It comes down to all the little nickle dime things we find wrong with our cars and those we chose to over look. My Jeep might not be worth a plug nickle in 10 years but if it performs as well as my VW or Minivan, then it's worth more to me than what NADA says. And I'm sure Consumer Reports would have some lame reason why it lasted or performed better then they say it would.
But, after doing some looking around, I found it odd that I would find this:

IMPORTANT NOTICE

The American Honda Motor Company, Inc. has requested ALLDATA restrict access to Acura and Honda repair information by individual consumers. You will unfortunately not be able to register for access to Acura or Honda vehicle repair information, technical service bulletins or recalls.

Now, why would Honda do that? Makes me go HUMMM! [/url]

[2000crvlx]

I dont know what the hell ALLDATA is talking about. Maybe Honda does not like them for some reason. Here are 2 websites that gladly give you full TSB and recall information on all Honda's.

http://www.mycarstats.com/
http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/problems/recalls/recallsearch.cfm

The later is a government site.

Also just to let you know that with the exception of exotic cars, Resale value = reliability. If a car can only run for 100,000 miles it is not going to be worth the same at that point as a car that can run 200,000.