MY01's have been going for about $23k

 

Whoa! That's pretty high.

 

$24.5 - 25.0K is just about right for a 2001 (depending on miles, condition, etc.). Check out www.kbb.com and look on line at places like carsdirect.com

 

also - consider that a car like this gets judged differently in terms of miles. where a normal car would be ok at 12K/year - a weekend sportscar that isnt adaily driver will be expected to be around 5K year or so.

 

2000's are kbb at $22k, but many are going for less in the bay area.

reason?

3 year lease returns are ending and flooding the market. in this area, all the dot-bommers are finally getting out of their leases (without penalty) from back in the heyday.

the S prices are low enough that many of us miata owners are strongly considering an upgrade...

 

wow ... glad I got mine in Tejas. Brand new '03 for 28,5 plus T&T

 

That is another reason that prices are lower. Dealers are discounting new ones. Every time the new price drops the used prices drop. In most cases you will have a lower cost of ownership purchasing a car where the dealers sell for sticker then a car that is deeply discounted because you will get a higher percentage of return on the car when it is sold. BMW is a great example of this. They are expensive upfront but in the end cost less then many domestics because you get so much more back.

 

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This is exactly why I am NOT in favor of people posting on this web site what they just paid for their new 2003 S2000. I know we all like to brag about what a great deal we just got, but it hurts the resale value when someone posts that they just paid x amount under MSRP.

To this day I have not posted what I paid for my new 2002 last year. NOT because I got a great deal and don;t want to tell. Not because I got ripped off and am ashamed to tell. But because I don't think it is in the best interest of any S2000 owner to share the price we paid for our new car. Not even in the best interest of someone who JUST bought a new one.

There you go, I just talked about, but STILL didn't leave any clues as to what I paid.

 

But the knowledge of how much others paid for their cars is only a very small determinant of what people are willing to pay, and consequently, the market value. At the most, it can be used as a bargaining chip in price negotiations, but only to a limited extent. The primary factors that determine depreciation and market value - age, competition, supply/demand - exist outside of whether a buyer knows how much others paid.

For reference, I paid $27k for my '02 with 19k miles a year ago, which is why I thought some of the prices mentioned here were high. My car had significantly higher mileage than the typical '02, and I'm sure that factored into the price quite a bit...but I felt it was worth the amount of money I saved (at the time, the demand was still pretty high relative to supply, especially for '02 models).

Of course, as has been pointed out, there's probably a geographical component also. At any rate, I don't think the S2000 is depreciating any faster than any other car. It's just that at first, it held its value exceptionally well, and later on, it depreciated normally...that might seem like a plunge in value, but it's really a return to normalcy.

 

does kbb and honda have representatives checkin all the message boards of every car out there in order to see what they are going for? my guess is that they have access to car sales reports in any given area -- then apply a formula (mileage, etc). my point is, "they" are gonna know what we all paid anyway... remember the days before the internet? (no hard feelings AZ)

funny thing is, i checked kbb.com and was unable to find out about their methodology... must be a secret... something tells me the insurance companies have a hand in pricing as well...

how much did i pay for mine? well, thats a trick question, cause i dont know yet...