Has anyone seen how bad the '02 maximas have dropped in value since last month? It is Fu*king rediculous!!! About 3K in depreciation just in 1 month.

Yep, when i got my max at the begining of dec it was valued at 17.5, and now its like at 14k, sad really. Good thing i only payed 15k.

I think KBB is just catching up to the market. For about a year now KBB values have been terribly off. Cars have been selling for thousand less than KBB value because the market is a buyers market. Seems like nobody understands this for some reason.

Where I live everything is priced over blue book. I can't say for sure they are moving them at those prices but I'd suspect if they weren't the market would reflect that.

Please don't complain about the 02-03 maxes. Keep in mind that body shape according to the people is "old" now, since the 04-05 has been redesigned. On top of that, my friend paid $35,000 for his 04 max (brand new) with all the features you can think of. The same exact car now sells for $22-$24gz at the dealership. And now he's pulling his hairs out cuz he wants to trade that car in for a G35 coupe but the dealers won't give him jack shhh for it. Anyways I guess thats how it works, as sad as that is.

Can you imagine what us 2k-2k1 owners are going thru? Our cars are like 8-9gz lol. I bought mine for 14gz like 3 years ago.

Oh My God!!!!!

If you want a car that retains it value buy an audi or bmw, maybe infiniti. This is a Nissan we are talking about. The body has nothing to do with it. The covette and BMW body styling hasn't changed drastically in a very long time yet they still retain their value.

how much for an 01 SE auto....... 3K???

I have the window sticker from my car it was 29,700. I bought it used 2 years old great shape average milage for 17,500. That's like a 41% difference in 2 years if sticker price was paid. That's a pretty good hit..

No, not that low.. lol.. besides, do we really have to put a price on our car? Specially for the people that loves to MOD. Your car should be priceless, doesn't matter what the market value is, you should take care and look at your car like it's a million dollar car. Keep it clean, maintain it, take real real good care of your car, it'll outrun and outlast any brand new car.

Regional prices, 00-01's seem to only be a couple grand or so cheaper than 02-03's. Its strange.

Cars depreciate. They are not an investment. I figure 2K/year depreciation is avg. over3/4K per year is kind of high IMO. My cars have avgd around 2K per year from what I paid. Gotta research the market before you drop 20K+ or you will lose your azz.

I paid $22k for my '03 Maxima SE almost 2 years ago. Got it as the '04 was hitting dealers for $5k under msrp with 1.9% financing. Best deal I ever got on a new car. It had 6 miles on it and all the shipping plastic all over it still.

It's almost half paid for now and I only have 28k miles on it.

At this point in the game, my 02 Maxima is a keeper for several more years. That said (and barring a Mega Millions jackpot), I'll never get a brand new car again. I'm so tired of eating that initial depreciation.

Kratz74's statement is a reality that we all have to come to grips with at some point.

Not me. I don't mind buying a new car so long as I'm not getting raped by getting the latest and greatest. I refuse to buy a new car right when it comes out. Wait until the supply catches up with demand. Loss leaders are a good bet as well.

What's crappy about it is that the car depreciates at about the same amount you pay off of your loan each year.

I just checked mine at cars.com......it's about the same

just like every other model year maxima b4 or after you has lost value since it is 2005 and not 2004...it is officially 1 year older.

IB4TL!!

unless i'm swamped with money, i will never buy a brand new car. the initial drop in value is killer. cars are not like a fine wine that gets better with age.

like sammzway said as long as you take care of your car and dont beat the **** out of it who cares what the value is i bought my max back in aug and it was one of the best cars me or my family has ever owned. i cant wait until the weather starts to warm up so i can begin to do some serious mod's i wish i had bought my max sooner i have had nothing but good experiences with it!!

One of the major reasons our cars 00-02 is the fact that Nissan had to give out so many incentives for people to buy them such as cash back, dealer cash & such . All of these things hurt resale value hence the depreciation. Honda & Toyota were always considered the class of the big three. Nissan just fell short of those two & had to get people to buy there cars. You pay sticker for a new Honda CRV, Pilot, Rav, Highlander yet you can get $3000 dollars cash back on a Murano. Just like a Taurus not that I am compareing our cars to a Taurus but its the same thing that happened to that model. Until Americans buy American cars. American cars resale value will be puke compared to true Japenese cars.

When you look up the KBB value what do you go by?
The Trade-In, Private Party or the Suggesteed Retail?
just wondering because i'm trying to see what mine is worth.
Also, i have to pay car tax so how do they know how much my max is worth?
Thankee

it depends...if you want to sell it yourself, private party, if you want to trade it in on a new car at a dealership, trade-in, and suggested retail is what you would find if you bought your car at the dealer...

Hey I'm not complaining about my max's retail value at all. I bought mine for 18,500, and my gross insurance settlement was 18,1xx. I put on 20K in only 8 months. When it comes to automotive investments, I'd like to see another car match that.

if you guys like the car, and aren't worried about getting rid of it, who cares about the value? It's almsot as if people believe a car is some sort of investment. Man that has to be the worst investment i ever heard of.

Unfortuantly the only poor result of the cheapness of maximas is that they will get bought up, more people will buy them, and not make the car as special
or exclusive as it used to be. Such is life, if you are worried about car social status, just lease a car like every other fashion savy car owner and have the latest thing for 2 years or so until it's uncool.


Sorry for the harshness, but look eventually the car won't be worth d!ck, deal with it..

Even if the cars are depreciating quicker than they have in the past...in comparison to a lot of other cars and midsize competition....the maxima still holds its value much longer.

Like mjg said, (except for a few choice classics) cars aren't investments. When you buy a car, you should be prepared for it to be worth less and less each year. Even Toyotas and Hondas, which are supposed to have awesome resale value, depreciate. Maybe not as fast, but I'm sure no Camry owner likes to look at his $25,000 dollar machine in the driveway and know that it's only worth $8000 now.

If you don't want to take a hit with depreciation, buy a bicycle. Otherwise you will never be truly ahead on a car. I love my Maxes...

My dad had a used car dealership for awhile, and I worked there, and the Kelley Blue Book should be thrown in the trash. It's worthless. Especially the free quote you can get on the Internet. There are dealer versions you can buy, but the Blue Book still sucks. NADA is much better. I didn't read all the posts so I apologize if this has already been said.

Yup, as far as I'm concerned the market in your area is your best bet. If you're looking to sell look at autotrader.com and cars.com (might be others in different areas) and price your car accordingly. If your in a hurry be agressive in your pricing.

Come on! everything has a value!

First, if you want to keep the car forever until it dies, you want a car with the highest "actual" value with the lowest "financial" value... no matter the depreciation. thats where used cars come in handy (especially good maintained cars that are low on mileage).

If you dont want to keep the car forever, then you want a car that wont depreciate much, no matter the "financial" value. It think the lease is a better option for this type unless you get a bmw/mercedes/audi.

Im the "used car" type.

It was weird working at a dealer, and seeing people try to trade 04 Titans, Altimas and Maximas. Rule of thumb was they were always at least $6k upside down. You'd be hard pressed to find any car/truck that didn't loose 40% within the first year. By black book/whole sale standards, Nissan holds the most value..44% in 4 years was the Altima.

I could be wrong about this but I think the value dropped more once it hit 2005 due to the car being "older". I was watching the value of a few different cars but once it hit 2005 a few of them dropped...

Mike

i bought my 2000 SE at an auction in april 02 for 13000 (54k), but after taxes and dealer fees it was around 14500. The car was and still is mint by the way. And for me its a keeper. I take care of it and it takes care of me, so i plan on having it for years to come.

the fact is, they made millions of our cars, you can't look in a parking lot without seeing half a dozen max's. The value will reflect that. Hell, my car was built in 10/99, and bought in 12/99, so it's been on the road over 5 years now. Gotta face it, they're getting older, imagine what the 4th gens are saying. I ran into a 95 max, loaded, bose, cd changer, leather, 5spd, everything, had 72k miles on it............$4000
It's only time.