Tips on Buying Cars: Buying a Car: Euro III or IV?, toyota innova, wait till april

Question
Hi,

From a long list of choice of cars, I have narrowed on the Toyota Innova VX. Everything looks fine, except for the BS IV (Bharath stage IV, equivalent to Euro IV) regulation that seems to become effective from the 1st April, 2010.

My question is:

(1). Should I buy the BS III compliant Innova or wait till April 2010 and purchase the BS IV compliant one? There would be a price hike of about INR 30K.

(2). If I'm to sell the vehicle later, say, five years later, would the resale value be adversely affected?

The dealers are of course trying to push me for the BS III compliant Innova, even mentioning about a price hike by as much as INR 50K.

Please advice me.

Thanks and regards,

Nitin.

Answer
Nitin,

Thanks for your question.  As with every car purchase, you need to get what you want, not what the dealer is pushing you to buy.  You are paying for it, so why let the dealer dictate what you are going to buy.  As for the depreciation, every car is going to have it.  It isn't something that you can get away with.  Now with that being said, some cars depreciate at a slower rate than others do.  A vehicle that has more equipement or a more "special - limited production" vehicle will hold it's resale value better down the road.  

It is often impossible to predict depreciation on ANY vehicle, but the trends say that special or limited production vehicles will hold their value down the road.

Bottom line, buy what YOU want to buy.

Hope this helps.

Thanks - JB