I was thinking to myself about this, I see 5th gen 2k2 and 2k3's going for around $20k or less. I see people buying them now for around $16k as well. Now take a 2k2, new even with almost no options it was like $25k, so in one year of having the car basically re-sale of it sucks. I bought my 2k2 used like four months about with 9k miles for $18k with tax, reg etc included and thought I was getting a deal but now I am starting to wonder since I see tons of 2k2 and 2k3's going for pretty cheap...Pretty soon the ricers will be able to afford them and rice them

 

trust me i know. my 00 value droped $2K overnight when the ugly 04s came out.
paid $16,900 which was a damn good price at the time (jan 03)
current private party - $12,270
trade in - $10,475

 

We're getting raped on the resale...but I plan on keeping mine until it turns to dirt anyway...

 

i got mine for a really good price: March 03 $13,200, fully loaded w/ winter package. (SE)

 

Can't be that bad, were it not for the accident my car would still go for $16,980 for Private Parties (KBB Value) and $16,250 for trade-in.

And i bought mine late 2001 (A 2002 SE) - which makes my car a little over 2 years old.

That doesn't even put me at 1/2 devaluation over the two years - which is in-line with the Accord and Camry of similar trim/year/mileage.

 

My Max is worth more to me than ANY dealer.
Trade in value= about $7k
Money owed= about $11k
I'm keeping it until the engine turns into liquid magma.

 

I don't know about the rest of the country, but I own a used car lot in Mass. I see Maximas at the Nissan factory lease return sale in Windsor CT. This is a dealers only sale, you must be a dealer to buy cars there. A few weeks ago, I bought a 2k1 GLE with 31k on it, and I paid almost 16 grand. A 2k3 with 7k on it sold for $21,000. Then, on top of this, there's a buyers fee, and others costs associated with getting the car ready to re-sell. I guess I need to go to another state to buy cars. If anybody in Western Mass or Northern CT. is paying cheap money for a max that came from this auction, it probably was a unibody/frame damage car. Nissan HAS to declare this when selling the car, and they sell for thousands less than non-damaged cars.

 

Yup, Nissan depreciation is pretty bad.

Bought my 99 5spd fully loaded with every option for $17k in Feb 2002 with 43k on it. The sticker said $19,995 I think. Now at 82k miles it's worth:

Trade-in: $9,253
Private Sale: $10,902
Dealer Retail: $12,827

So even near-term resale on the newer used cars can be pretty high, but I know I probably didn't get the best price. But it was the only decent 5spd in the area and I loved it so I don't really care. I can't see myself trading this car anytime soon. Love it!

 

I know that fully loaded 2ks are still going for a good amount, especially the 5-spds.

 

im in mass also and i only paid 13,200 for my 2k fully loades se

 

I've been buying Nissans for 13 years and have noticed that the year in which the generations of Maximas change is the pivotal time when value of the prior generation takes the biggest depreciation hit. This was the deciding factor that helped me decide to trade my 2k Max for the 2k4. Value did not change much from 2k to 2k3 because frankly there wasn't enough of a change to the 2k1 thru 2k3 to cause the 2k to look dated. It was easy to update the 2k to look like the following three years if one so desired.

The drastic change in the 2k4 though has put more than a year's aging on the fifth gen. I would miss my third gen out of the family if I would sell it now, yet I am yet to miss the 2k even though I enjoyed that car for the three years I've owned it. My only regret was doing the 36k service one month before trading, but at the time I didn't believe the concept car seen on FreshAlloy would really be the sixth gen.

 

Why is your 2k only $7k trade in value? I traded a 2k this past May for twice that. Do you have very high mileage then?

 

YEP... 95k and counting.

 

Wow, Chuck, you sleep in that thing man? Or are you a salesman? Now that's the true mark of a Maxima enthusiast. My '91 has ~140k miles but my son is trying real hard to change that.

 

maxima resale sucks

but you have to use it to your advantage and buy them used they are reliable cars so no reason to buy them new.. except giving the dealer 5-6 grand for no reason.

 

I'm approaching 110k on the 2000

my 97 had nearly 150k when i sold it

 

Yep again. I used to do outside sales in PG and Montgomery County, MD.
Plus the occasional rides to NYC and Atlantic City really put on the miles.

 

I've said it before, Maxima's hold their value well in MA. I was at Clay Nissan in Dedham MA and they had 2000 SE's with 30-45k miles in the $20,000 range, and people were buying them! Nissan is getting popular and this should help the resale values somewhat... Any car with high miles is going to be worth less, my 2000 GLE with Meridian has 35k miles and it is holding it's value well.

 

Not only Maxima depreciate a lot all new or recent car!!

Just buy and return to dealer, let say, a week later and you're gonna loose 10-15% of the value easy!!!

50% of the value is lost in the first 4-5 year. Whatever the brand or model (some are worse than other for sure)

IMO Maxima aren't the badest depreciation car!!!

 

Exactly I agree!

 

Not mine $8,235 trade KBB
Will keep till it dies
Nothing less then 250000

 

DAMN! I wish I was in MA! I've been trying (not too hard) to sell my 2K2 Max GXE w/15.1K miles. I've so far only gotten low offers from $14K (from an idiot who thinks he should pay almost $1K below Edmunds trade-in value) to $16.5K. I got one for $16K and another for $15K... whatever...

I personally will NOT let my car go for Edmunds private party value. I'd rather keep it.

 

Excellent idea.

Don't be so quick to grab your ankels! The Max is a great car, if you don't get what you want for it right now be patient if you can.

One more thing, according to KBB my loaded 2000 GLE's trade in value is between $13,400-$12,620 and Edmunds rates the trade in value at $13,592 (low miles between good and excellent condition) not to bad...

 

Apparently Nissan Averages a 48% depreciation over 3 years (car is worth 48% of it's original value).
Oddly enough most other car manufacturers are in the 45 -50 % range and even the fabled honda resale is only at 52%

I'd bet that just about all the car forums out there have a thread about how their car is depreciating faster than they want

Personally depreciation is my friend. Since maximas last forever (look at my 95) I always buy my maximas approx 2-3 years old with all options for around 14K. Saves at ton of money over new.

 

If you browse the Accord forums, it is very common to hear of guys getting ridiculously good trade-in offers on their cars from Honda dealerships. US consumers are so brainwashed into thinking that Hondas are God that they will pay ridiculous prices for them used. Way more than they ought to, or what the cars are truly worth. There are enough people that want new Hondas *so badly* but can't quite afford them that they will gladly take a one year old model with some miles on it for only a grand less than a year newer car with zero miles. Flat out ridiculous, but they want it and will pay for it. A few guys with 2003's have traded in for 2004's due to numerous 1st year issues on the 03's and they have not even gotten hurt on trade-in. AT ALL. Now try doing the same thing on a Maxima and only one thing will happen.



So if you're ever wondering how and why Honda guys are always trading their cars so often, it's not because they're rich. It's because they can. Resale is so darn good they you really can trade every 1-2 years and never really get hurt. You'll never get rid of your car payment that way, but you never really get hurt. That's one of the best things about Honda. When you buy a new Nissan it's much more of a committment and you'd better be darn sure you like the car a lot. Because in comprison to a Honda, it's resale is going to drop very quickly.

 

I do agree with most of you guys on the resale value if you were planning on trading up or selling it after a few years. Sure, when you buy it brand new, in a few years it will take a big hit on depreciation. With every car you look at, it's always going to hit on depreciation on the minute you drive it off the lot. I can understand in comparison with Accords and Camrys, you do have a good point but Maxima usually hold well especially a ten year old Maxima. I seen a 2 gen Maxima, even it had a lot of miles on it, fetch for nearly 3 grands. That's a lot for a really old car. That's the bright side you have to look at. Maxima are not the worst resale value. There are car manufacturers that has the worst resale, for instance with Mitsubishi. I used to owned the first two gen of Mitsubishi Galant. The resale really sucks big time. That my 89 Galant was only seven years old and it was only worth nearly nothing which was 1500 bucks. That is bad! The second gen was not worth holding on. I have been wanting a Maxima since H.S which it was still expensive for a used one. So suffice to say, I don't plan on selling my Max until she dies. They are the best car out there. At least to say, Accords and Camry doesn't even cut the same class of refinement as the Maxima. In my local paper, it's very hard to find a Maxima for sale. So it makes you wonder if people really keeping them since they are worth it in the long run.

 

The one good thing I will admit is...Nissan's do sell well though. When I sold my 99 Limited SE it sold pretty fast, and after that I had a 2000 Grand Cherokee for a little while which was $17k with tax and reg. 6 months and 9k miles later I had trouble getting $10k trade in for it, and ended up just taking the $12k private sale for it taking a huge hit. With school and gas mileage I had to get rid of it, plus the problems I started having. The thing thats really ironic is the Jeep has EVERY option and orig sticker said it was $37k new, and not even three years later its hard getting 1/3 of that. Nissan on the other hand at least the experience I've had and people I've known had, getting rid of one is a lot easier...

 

In this ecomony right now, every car has poor resale. Every car. Car companies are offering rediculous deals on new cars therefore the used car market is flooded with trade-ins that can't be sold. Everyone is getting hurt because of this.

Right now there are 3 ultra low mileage 6 speed 02/03 Maximas within 100 miles of my house in KC selling for ~$17K-18K. There are tons of 02/03 autos selling for 14-19K. The market is flooded with these cars.

Don't feel too bad. The 02/03 Camaro SS/WS6 guys are taking huge hits on their rides. The 02/03 Camaro SS/TA WS6 all sold of 29-32K and these are lucky to get 17K from a private party sale.


Dave

 

good points maximaracer28 and Dave B. In the grand scheme of things yes, Nissan is still "not too bad" when compared to all others. Consumer Reports ranks the Maxima as "average" as far as depreciation goes. Most Hondas and Toyotas are better than average though. But many domestics are well below average. Just compared to the other Japanese makes though, Nissan doesn't do very well. And yes, the economy is pretty weak right now.