Hamin

Hi everyone,

We are moving whole family to AD and looking for a good used car. I hope can deal directly with any of expat who has plan to sell your car. I was advised that buying a brand new car is not a smart choice.

A Lexus ES series with recent year of registration or Nissan Maxima or Altima equivalent are of my consideration

Do you guys have any other recommendation for us?

thanks in advance

Oyibopeppeh

Huh?

mentalist

Probably referring to the high rate of depreciation.

Hamin

yes, because of quick depreciation. 1 year around 20% off

britexpat76

Search the forums for buying a used car in Bahrain. Substitute the word Bahrain with Abu Dhabi and you will get a good idea.

scrubbedexpat141

Dubizzle.

I bet there are loads of Altimas.

busybee2

maxima's are bad choice, they are very expensive on insurance and usually driven by certain nationalities.

busybee2

yes but you can at least trust that as a new car it hasnt been hammered......

Robajob

Here's a good link on the subject

http://tinyurl.com/bp8tb6f

Not much help maybe, but it made me chuckle...

OleJanx

flares

brilliant...forums are the same the world over (although the correct use of your/you're in the Saxo bit is a bit of a spoof giveaway)

Miss Anne Thrope

My sense is that the depreciation curve here is different than in western countries. Traditionally in the west the maxim is that the car loses 20% of its value when you drive it off the forecourt and then follows a fairly straight-line loss of value up to about 5 years. Here it seems (to me anyway) that the initial loss in value is much lower, particularly for Japanese and German brands, and it starts by following a straight line for about three years and then dips dramatically. There is a much larger market here for "almost new" cars and that might account for why they hold their initial value. I guess the dip is associated with the ending of the warranty period.

This is all based on anecdotal observation but it was striking enough to me that I went against years of instinct and bought a new car last time around. My previous Dubai vehicle had been a year old when I bought it and then keeping it for 4 years proved to be a year too long when I went to sell as it only had value for the export market. Be sure to confirm the model year and not just the age if you do buy a used vehicle btw.

Millhouse

I agree with you... Can I ask what car you had and why it only had value to the export market (says Millhouse whose tuner is now 5 years old...). My sense is that Japanese brands do seem to hold their value for quite some time and beyond the 5 years you suggest (unlike the American brands that are basically sold for scrap at 5 years). Unless that is just wishful thinking from my side!

Miss Anne Thrope

Sorry if this does not conform with your theory: Lexus RX330, in perfect mechanical order and relatively modest odometer number (about 65k if I remember), CD player was frigged but otherwise pristine. I think there may be a point with "prestige" brands that there is more value available for export of older models than in UAE. I was satisfied with the trade-in value compared to what I could see similar vehicles being sold for but the buyer told me he could only send it for export. It was clear that there was a big drop in value after year 3.

Hamin

thanks very much for your suggsestion.