I was checking on ALG Residual values (Resale value) for the Honda Fit I plan to buy my wife and was suprised to find it was about 10% worse than a Honda Civic! How can that be? I figured the fit would hold its value as good or better than a Civic.

Here are the #'s from Honda's Competitive Comparision:


ALG Residual Value after 36 months
07 Fit: 48%
07 Civic: 59%
07 Civic SI: 59%

ALG Residual Value after 60 months
07 Fit: 31%
07 Civic: 41%
07 Civic SI: 41%

 

Total guesses here, but here goes:

1)
The current Fit is near the end of its design life, and will be redesigned in the next year or two. The Civic was new for 06, so it's still early in its life cycle. There's always an 'unearned' depreciation hit when you buy an older model car. Assuming the next generation Fit will be priced in the same ballpark as the current one, the market will probably adjust downward on the late model used ones.

Of course if the depreciation #'s for the 05 Civics aren't worse than the 06's, that shoots that theory......

2)The Civic has way more positive name recognition than the Fit does - everybody knows a Civic is a top quality car. In North America, the Fit is still a fairly unknown quantity, if people have heard of it at all. Based on that alone, you'd have more prospective buyers for the Civic than the Fit and therefore more demand.

3) Civic isn't a hatchback. Americans as a whole traditionally hate hatchbacks. Thankfully this seems to be changing. Plain old supply and demand again...

I'd still get the Fit - it's way more practical for me than the Civic is, and is of the same high quaility that Honda's all seem to have.

 

Fit will hold better value in real life simply there are not many of them out there..:D

 

I don't get this, the Fit hasn't even been on sale for 12 months yet, let alone 36. How do they know what will happen to the re-sale value? The Civic maybe because there are like 7(?) generations of Civics to look at and guess what it will be, but the Fit is brand new to the US market.

Another thing to consider is that re-sale is a function of selling price. Right now (at least in my area) the Fit is selling at about 1-3k over MSRP. If they all of the sudden start selling new fits at MSRP than the re-sale value of your fit that you paid 3k over for is going to take a huge hit. On the other hand if fits continue to be scarce than you may be able to sell your used fit over MSRP down the road.

All I know is that when I was looking for cars I could buy a Kia or Ford or something with about 40-50k miles on it for the same price as a honda with 150-180k miles on it. I wouldn't worry about re-sale unless honda really steps up fit production or this model only lasts like 2 years (which I doubt) and becomes kind of a rare car. I would think either of those things would hurt re-sale value (unless of cource the new fit sucks, which is possible).

 

When I was considering a Civic Si a few weeks ago, the dealer was much more willing to deal on the Civic Si's that he had on the lot than any Fit.

They were talking crazy talk, like knocking of $1400 right off the top before we really even started talking seriously about anything. I've never seen them discounting Si's this way. These were of course the sedans. The coupes were not discounted this way.

I decided on a Fit anyway!

 

The dealer I bought my Fit from was willing to give me 15k USD for my 16k mile 5MT Fit, which I've had for almost a year now. That translates to about next to nothing in the depreciation department. But as for 3 years from now that is surprisingly low number.

My 1999 Civic Si on the other hand still MSRP's (according to KBB) with it's mileage (44k) at about 70% of it's MSRP after 8 years.

 

i dont buy it. it all depends on the buyer. sold my 91 Si HB for 3 grand.....half primered. if there is a desire, there are wallets

 

Don't get me wrong. I sold a 91 CRX Si not long ago for 4 bills. I just didn't understand why they would be discounting the new sedans so much. It set me back a little. I didn't expect the discount on a new Si.

 

those are just guides. it's going to be how the buyers look at things and the demand. I've blue booked several cars i've owned and never was able to sell it near that price but then some cars I sold over kbb or whatever guide that was out there.

those #'s are important though if you end up leasing since it's a guess of future value.

 

it's funny how people now are trying to sell used ones for more than brand new ones...

 

It doesn't really surprise me actually. Think about it from a buyer's prospective, you can buy a new fit (for about 2k over MSRP in this area) and have a 6 month or more wait, or you can get a lightly used one for the same price (counting the dealer markup) right now. This is especially true if you have a MT car.

 

It was that way with the MINI for the first 3 years. Depending on options, you could actually sell a 6 month or less old MINI for more than what you would owe for it and have extra left over to put down on a new one.

However, No offense here people, Honda's are not MINI's! Honda makes far more Fit/Jazz than BMW/MINI makes COOPER's. And Honda, while a good car, doesn't stand by its product like BMW does. MINI covers all maintenance on the car for the first 3years or 36,000 miles. The only thing not covered on a MINI for the first 3/36K is the tires. I doubt that Honda gives its owners free wiper blades... Or free oil changes... Another thing, Honda does not limit the number of cars it imports to control resale value.

 

the reason used fits are more than new ones is because they still have rediculously low milage and they are honda certified so instead of 36k miles warrenty you have a nearly new already broken in fit with a 100,000 mile warrenty so its not to funny it actually kinda makes sence :D considering the warrenty is probably a couple thousand dollars

i still love you tho :D