[s-cars] RE: 2006-7 RS4 >>> used Audi's

[Keith Maddock]

 Rich Assarabowski <konecc at snet.net> wrote:
> Designing a car for maintainability is not necessarily in a manufacturer's
> favor.  A lot of people (e.g. neu-Audi types) dump their cars before the
> warranty expires for fear of those frequent post-warranty $1000+ repair
> bills.  As long as the customer turns around and buys another car of the
> same marque the manufacturer comes out ahead (they sell more cars!),
> provided they don't lose their shirt on warranty repairs.  From reviews of
> recent Audis in the car mags, the percentage of Audi owners who would buy
> another Audi is pretty high, no worse than other brands, from what I've
> read.  If you can afford a new car every three years, it's a pretty painless
> way to own a car and the manufacturers love it.

Thats a very valid point ! Unfortunately not a lot of people look at
depreciation rate when they buy a car and realize that sometimes it
can actually be cheaper to buy a $30k Mercedes than a $20k Kia....

But for those that do (which should indirectly include people who shop
for cars according to the monthly lease cost), they will gravitate
more towards a car with less depreciation.  A manufacturer which
supports the used car base should have lower depreciation - therefore
that would help increase sales as well..  I'm guessing that has been
Mercedes' strategy for a while.

Cheers,
Keith