If you recall my nightmare story about the 1997 Jaguar XK8, sometimes we can be oddly seduced by the most beautiful craftsmanship on four wheels.
It probably won’t shock you to find out which luxury car brands require a healthy stash of discretionary dollars laying around (Land Rover, Porsche, Mercedes, Audi, and BMW). Why are these cars so expensive to own? Repairs tend to be complicated, parts difficult to procure, and integral systems break down more frequently than their non-luxury counterparts.
Case in point: costs to rebuild a transmission - while cheaper than buying - will still set you back around $4K for a Land Rover, whereas a new transmission may run $10K. That’s why it’s so important to focus on a high Value Score for these vehicles, like the example below.
No one wants to overpay and then get hit with the repair bill they might not ever be used to getting. I know if I get any bill that approaches $1K, I’m not thrilled.
You’d better sit down before hearing AMG brake job pricing
Take a guess on what this brake job will cost for a 2020 Mercedes GT53 AMG! Hint: the Mercedes dealer wanted double the price of what Sherwood and his team quoted it at. Again, you have to understand these $100K luxury cars are going to look cheap when they come up for sale used, but maintenance costs are another issue.
As the old saying goes, “If you can’t afford it new, you probably can’t afford it used.”
Thanks for reading everybody!
-Paul