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Is there a maximum recommended time period for owning a vehcile before its resale value is affected? I currently own a year 2000 Holden Astra and am thinking of replacing it.

The average distance travelled per year in NZ is around 14,000km’s so it’s considered quite acceptable for many ten year old cars to have an odometer reading of around 140K’s and still attract reasonable resale values.

Obviously a lot depends on specification levels, service history and general all-round condition.

At this age the mainstream Japanese cars do have the better name for reliability while most European cars have the edge in safety and driver comfort.

If your Astra has travelled around the 150K mark it is not a bad time to consider moving it on. The closer it gets to 200K the bigger the drop in its value and the higher the risk it will start to cost you more in maintenance and repairs.

NZ has one of the oldest vehicle fleets by international standards. The average age of the NZ light vehicle fleet is close to 13 years.

As cars have become more reliable and safer, there is a tendency for owners to hold onto them for longer and in some cases resale values remain reasonably high regardless of age or mileage.

In recent times however, a noticeable increase in garage hourly rates and the time spent diagnosing electronic problems especially, has created a situation for some owners where selling is a better option than continuing to pour money into a lost cause.

Automatic transmission repairs is another area where repair costs can be almost greater than a cars total worth at this age.

According to the Ministry of Transport 2010 statistical report vehicle replacement volumes have dropped significantly over the last three years. The rate of scrappage was very low in 2010, signalling that more people are holding on to their vehicles instead of replacing them with newer models.

It’s never easy predicting just when is the ideal time to replace any vehicle, but for some its best to move a car on when its trouble free and a potential buyer can be reasonably confident of low cost ownership in the short term at least.