The Depreciation Fairy Bedevils Capt. Mike

Mike Solowiow
by Mike Solowiow

When I was a little boy, my father regaled me with tales of magical creatures that lurked in the Ardennes Forest, the Alps and the high steppes of the Cossack Frontier. Dozens of ’em. And yet Dad forgot the one about the Magical Depreciation Fairy. You know: the creature that lurks in vast concrete expanses that harbor shining metal dragons that enslave weaker members of our society. I shall now inform the Best and Brightest of the characteristics of the Magical Depreciation Fairy, lest ye fall victim to its devious ways.

I discovered this common, yet elusive creature in the environs of Oklahoma, where I heeded the call of a shiny Dodge Challenger SRT 8 with a manual. It was the only example of said vehicle in all of Oklahoma City that did not have dealer tack-ons, nor an adjusted market value sticker. At 2000 hours (8 p.m. for real people), the settled price for the Challenger came to $42,500, from $45,185. Trade in value for my VW Jetta TDI, $13k. Done. My plan: export the Challenger to Europe (where I will reside in three short weeks), drive it for six months, and then sell it on consignment. The broker for the deal was OK with the news from OK.

Overnight, a fat, hairy, sweating beast with golden rings and wings bounced through the lot, dusted my Jetta with depreciation dust, left dirty hand prints on my hood, and bounced on down to HUMMER to create more havoc with the already beleaguered brand.

Next morning, I discovered the value of my Jetta had suddenly and otherwise inexplicably dropped from $13k, to $10k. Apparently the Depreciation Fairy’s friend in used cars couldn’t get the promised trade-in value after calling “the markets” the next morning. The Depreciation Fairy’s friend, The “Waste My Time Fairy,” kept me in the dealership for four hours whilst we discussed, called around, and tried to find a cure for the damage caused by the mythical miscreant.

Once the Fairy’s magic started to weaken, I called the broker in the Netherlands, told him the deal was off due (to mitigating magical malfeasance), and walked out. At least the “Banish the Customers” Troll was afoot; from 0800-1230, nobody graced the Dodge dealer’s door besides myself. Seems like the dealer would kill this Troll as its keeping his three children from being fed (yes, he really did use this line).

Moral of this tale: there be but one way to keep the Depreciation Fairy at bay. Get it in writing.

Mike Solowiow
Mike Solowiow

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  • Beemernator Beemernator on Mar 02, 2009

    Years ago I was interested in a Ford Mondeo. I went to three dealers for a quote. All worked from the same price list and gave the same 10% discount. There was no trade-in involved. Somehow they came up with three different numbers. I figured that if the pre-sales experience was like that, the after-sales department was going to be worse. I got a BMW 328i instead. Good choice, even if I have to agree with myself.

  • Kurt. Kurt. on Mar 02, 2009

    Mike, You might want to look into the legality of selling an American car to a European citizen. In many countries, there is a SOFA that allows American service members to bring cars from the US "duty free" but they can only be returned to the US, sold to another serviceman, or sold as scrap. This is to prevent local citizens from getting vehicles that don't conform to local laws or have not paid the customs taxes. And gas today is $2.28 on base.

  • Wolfwagen Is it me or have auto shows just turned to meh? To me, there isn't much excitement anymore. it's like we have hit a second malaise era. Every new vehicle is some cookie-cutter CUV. No cutting-edge designs. No talk of any great powertrains, or technological achievements. It's sort of expected with the push to EVs but there is no news on that front either. No new battery tech, no new charging tech. Nothing.
  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
  • Oberkanone Where is the value here? Magna is assembling the vehicles. The IP is not novel. Just buy the IP at bankruptcy stage for next to nothing.
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