Elise Resale Value

2894 Views 16 Replies 14 Participants Last post by Bill Swizz, Sep 9, 2004

Derek

Discussion Starter · Sep 7, 2004

Many have speculated about the resale value of the Liz. Some have claimed that the cars don't retain much value in Europe. Here is proof that the Elise does hold it's value very very well in Europe.

1 - 17 of 17 Posts

biobaggie

· #2 · Sep 7, 2004

Interesting that the VX220 doesn't hold it's value as well the Elise.

I don't know if you can do a direct comparison between EU & USA since it doesn't account for the 'affordability' & 'availability' factor.
Still, I would think since the US is several years behind the rest of the world in terms of Elise availability, I would expect the resale to be higher than EU at least for the next few years.

fitfan

· #3 · Sep 7, 2004

availability has nothing to do with resale value - you can pick up a m100 for under 20k and they are more rare than the elise will be!

however the Elise will be more "respected" in the market, so should fair better, anyways, if your buying a lotus and PLANNING on it having great resale value.... uh.... go see a doctor fast!

zvezdah1

· #4 · Sep 7, 2004

fit,
but the m100 is 13 years old and has held it's value amazingly well, as the real world new price was $26,500. Pretty good resale for a 91.

The vauxhall has abysmal resale because it's not considered a performance, plus you've got to admit it's gosh awful ugly to boot.
Chris

TheProton

· #5 · Sep 7, 2004

I personally believe, although I'm certainly not counting on it, that the Elise will do rather well in resale value. Unlike Europe there will not be improved, more powerful Elise's coming out every few years. When the exemptions run that will be that. Also, any Lotus replacements will probably be yet another bigger, more powerful car, making this car remain unique in the US.

I would think this would be like the Land Rover Defenders imported into the US. They were only imported for a few years officially, they are somewhat unique in the US market, and nothing has come out since that is really similar. They have held there value in the US very, very well, while in Europe where you can still go out and buy a new one they have not. It's unlikely that the Elise as we know it today will ever be replaced, that should help it keep its value.

When you can go buy a new one for 42k a used Elise will go down in value quickly. Since this is already tough (waiting lists, etc), and will soon be impossible, I think we have hope for a decent value.

I plan on keeping mine for a VERY long time, so really it won't affect me either way.

-TheProton

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thegit

· #6 · Sep 8, 2004

From what I see on the forums and Ebay ads, the Fed Elise seems to have an above average resale value, thank-you very much.

m.

Genjuro

· #7 · Sep 8, 2004

fitfan said:
availability has nothing to do with resale value -

:huh: :huh: Time to go back to ecomonics class.

Sownman

· #8 · Sep 8, 2004

zvezdah1 said:
fit,
but the m100 is 13 years old and has held it's value amazingly well, as the real world new price was $26,500. Pretty good resale for a 91.

The vauxhall has abysmal resale because it's not considered a performance, plus you've got to admit it's gosh awful ugly to boot.
Chris

I drove an m100 about 1 1/2 years ago that the owner was selling on eBay. I found it to be a very undesirable car due to
it's over 6 second 0-60 times and it stark steering yank at each shift due to it's front wheel drive. I never really looked at them in 1991 so I am only going on hearsay, but this owner told me they had an MSRP of $40k in 1991. The high price was the last nail in the coffin for them. Too many $ and not the same car as the earlier Elans.

This car I inspected had 22k miles and was immaculate. It sold 1 1/2 years ago for the reserve price of $16K

Lotus Fury

· #9 · Sep 8, 2004

There are several reasons that the Elise resale value is high in England.

1. Great fun car.
2. Good gas mileage - gas can be between $5.50 & $7.00 a gallon there. Pain is dumping $50-60 or more into your gas tank in one full.
3. Low CO2 taxes (lowest tax class I think).
4. small car easy to park.
5. British people has a far greater appreciation for sports cars, especially a homegrown one.
6. Top Gear/Fifth Gear can't shut up about it (Good thing!)

Some of these reasons won't translate well to the US market but I also believe that the resale value will hold up well at least for 3-4 years and there is a larger number of them available. Lotus hasn't done much marketing for it, leaving it to uber-fanatics like us, to get the word out. In 6-8 months I doubt that the backlog for this car will go down much at all. If it does it will be due to production increases and not lack of customer demand.

OneFastLotus

· #10 · Sep 8, 2004

I think you should all wait to buy the Elise...then you'll get stuck with a heavier ( and possibly ugly) 2007 and I can laugh and point my finger at you.

Mini coopers in England are like chevettes, people toss them away like refuse.....here they're rare and like gold and sell as such. Not sure who said it didnt, but availability has EVERYTHING to do with price.

evomind

· #11 · Sep 8, 2004

ummm....u guys are half right when u say availability has everything to do with price....
its availability coupled with DEMAND that determines price.
lets face it....this car is NOT for everyone....its hard to get in and out of, its not an everyday car to 99.99% of the people who could afford one....
so, value for anything is determined by supply AND demand.

OneFastLotus

· #12 · Sep 8, 2004

evomind said:
lets face it....this car is NOT for everyone....its hard to get in and out of, its not an everyday car to 99.99% of the people who could afford one....

neither is a mini

fitfan

· #13 · Sep 8, 2004

My point exactly, its the demand that drives value, not availability... so IF the Elise is viewed as desirable, then it will fair well in resale value. IF its reputation tanks (i don't think so... but it could) then why would anyone pay high?

i would think the Elise will be moderate in resale (talking 7-10 years down the road) its will have a narrow (enthusiast) buyer market. once / if the "newer" lotus are on the street, the wider market will place the elise down as early and less "refined".

just my guess, who knows... i plan on seeing the hit 3-4 years down the road.

pcpacker

· #14 · Sep 9, 2004

A good Ford Pinto is very hard to come by right now. What I wouldn't pay for one of those!

Richard 350z

· #15 · Sep 9, 2004

Resale will be fine, as long as you don't walk into a dealer and pay $10,000 sticker for a car in the showroom.

Genjuro

· #16 · Sep 9, 2004

fitfan said:
My point exactly, its the demand that drives value, not availability...

You have to have both to determine value.

Pretty simply stated:

Understanding the laws of supply and demand are central to understanding how the capitalist economy operates. Since we rely on market forces instead of government forces to distribute goods and services there must be some method for determining who gets the products that are produced. This is where supply and demand come in. By themselves the laws of supply and demand give us basic information, but when combined together the are the key to distribution in the market economy... price.

http://www.socialstudieshelp.com/Economics_SupplyDemand.htm

Bill Swizz

· #17 · Sep 9, 2004

Perhaps you guys should look outside the US to see how the Elise has done for depreciation along with how the M100 Elan has done to compare that to your market.

In the UK.
An M100 Elan cost £26,000 new. Today they Cost about £7-8000 and this has been constant for a few years.

An Early S1 Elise cost £19,500 7 years ago. Today that car if in good condition will cost about £10,000. This price seems to be holding fairly constant with a few poor condition higher mileage cars going for £9,000 and as S1s get written off fairly frequently the price may well stay at this level.

The UK is a far smaller market than the US but prior to the US release more than 90% of all Elises sold have been sold in the UK, which means the UK has taken as many Elises a year as it is proposed the US will get.

The situation has changed a bit recently with current cars suffering more depreciation initially due to the introduction of the toyota engine but this does not seem to have come down to the early cars. I guess the elise is perceived as an exotic sports car and people expect to pay more for them so they hold their value well.

Basically don't worry about depreciation, it will not be bad and just look at the fact you have the cheapest Elises in the world as the Toyota engined Elise here costs about £30,000 or about $52,500.

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