RE: poor manners/investments

["Dan Sinclair" <sinclair@prospro.com>]

>> It's _spent_, not invested, folks.<<

Well, I follow you to a point here Stephen, but to many, Return on
Investment doesn't necessarily mean "profit at time of sale".

Assuming you don't do ALL of your Audi upgrades/repairs the week before you
sell the car, you recoup some of your *investment* through mileage and use
alone.

Now, I've seen numerous late model vehicles with thousands of dollars worth
of upgrades up for sale, and your correct - these folks are unlikely to get
their money back at the time of sale.  But I suspect many of these folks are
tinkerers and tuners at heart, and their ROI is in the *creation* of the
vehicle, not in the ownership of the finished product.  Again, different
standard of *return*.  Their return is a sense of accomplishment and pride.
My uncle was one of these folks.  He created amazing V8 powered drag racers,
complete with custom paint jobs, body work, suspensions, you name it.  When
they were finished and *perfect*, he put them up for sale.  He was not a
businessman, he was a craftsman.

True *investment* vehicles should never be driven, and in that case, the
mileage/use argument doesn't hold up, but I don't think there are very many
listers who fall into that category.

Honestly, if dollar/cost averaging was my primary concern in owning and
reselling an automobile, I wouldn't be driving an Audi...  I've driven 1993
and 1994 Toyota Corollas - I wasn't that impressed!  =)

Dan Sinclair
1988 Audi 90, 69K mi.
Picture and details online at:
http://131.107.68.50/a4.org/registry/details.asp?car=761


> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-quattro@audifans.com [mailto:owner-quattro@audifans.com]On
> Behalf Of Stephen Bigelow
> Sent: Saturday, May 08, 1999 7:06 AM
> To: quattro
> Subject: Re: poor manners/investments
>
>
> >No cutting on 4000CSQ prices.....I wouldn't sell mine for an
> offer of less
> >than 6,500$ at this point.
> >1986 4000CS Quattro (somewhere in the neighborhood of 9,000 invested.)
>
> Man, I cringe everytime I see "invested" when somebody is talking
> about how
> much money the have spent on their car. Investments should have a
> reasonable
> expectation of profit.
> Repairing your car generally doesn't, or a horrid rate of return.
>
> Maximum Example...hmm....a Dusenberg sells for a million bucks in
> 1999. What
> was it selling price 60 years ago? And how much was spent on it over that
> time? (Both, of course, in the dollars of the day)
> I'm no classic car expert, nor a achival economist, but I'll bet
> Dusies cost
> more than a _real_ nice house..maybe even several, depending on the model.
>
> Over 60 years, I'll bet the ROI is a pittance.
>
> Our dear lister quoted above has invested $9 and wants $6.5k not
> a good rate
> of return, even assuming he can find a buyer at that price.
>
> It's _spent_, not invested, folks.
>
>
> Obviously, this is not  flame-bait, as I have a 1984 5000S plain-jane
> automatic that I _might_ take $2.5k for...and really (in light of recent
> insurance posts) need to get appraised.
>
> Stephen Bigelow
> e-commerce/ Business Development
> http://www.countdown9199.com/
> IBO # 823967
>
>
>