Got a letter from my local dealership saying there's a larger demand for used cars because the Japan disaster has impacted new car production. They offered to buy my 06 SSM with 34k for $15,000.

Yeah, I'll be right over.

 

This sucks for someone like myself who is trying to get into a low mileage AP2 without paying the summer premium! I'll see you all in mid November!

 

I believe there are several factors that are effecting the prices of the S2000. One major factor that people have failed to mention is that the S2000 has gone out of production. I believe this to be the main reason why you have seen the price jump up in the last year or so. I might be oversimplifying the situation, but it is as simple as supply and demand.

I don't have any hard figures, but I have some anecdotal evidence. Last summer I was looking to see what people were selling their Year 2000 S2ks for on autotrader, craigslist, and on S2ki in order to get an idea what my car was worth. I saw people asking for around 8k for their cars. I remember being bit disheartened when learning that my car had depreciated quite considerably in 2 years. Now it is almost impossible to find any s2k, regardless of mileage for that price. From what I can tell S2ks have gone up close to a couple thousand dollars in the last year or so. I guess this is not much of surprise when you consider that the S2k is getting rarer by the day. I suspect we have seen the S2k bottom out in terms of depreciation, but I could be wrong. I hope I am right though.

 

Let's be grateful that S2000's hold value rather well. Still, I think it is a pipe dream to expect them to ever achieve the status of "classic" or "rare collectible". I have had mine for nine years, and it is in great shape and drivable fairly trouble free for several more, and that's good enough for me. Also, it is the Summer time, and convertibles do achieve extra popularity. I find myself wondering how many are still on the roads here in the USA. Originally, about 65,000 were sold here. A fair number have been wrecked and worn out,but I somehow suspect the remaining population is close to 50,000. Any good estimates out there?

 

I need to disagree, ALL INTERNET PRICING GUIDES has my cars value higher then they did last summer. The only cars that will become Classic or Rare will be the cars that were not driven as daily drivers and were treated as garage queens. So if your number of 50K is correct, then you can probably take another 30K cars that are being modded and driven as daily drivers, that leaves the rest of us having cars that will at the very least hold their current values fairly well!

Many of you will ask, why have a car you don't drive regularly? Well how many Corvettes are closet queens?

 

Agreed, unless it is immaculate (showroom condition) and low miles, it will not sell for a stupid-high price in future.

But...I think the S will maintain its value VERY well over the next several years/decade. I doubt you'll find one anytime soon selling for $3-5K. Remember how the FD RX7s and Supras maintained their value...I think this will do the same, and $10K will be the floor price for a car with ZERO issues for some time to come.