Features / 25 October 2022 / Albert du Toit

The real trade-in value of these South African favourites

A car’s book value, otherwise known as its trade-in value, is a real figure that is backed up by real data, and it is published by TransUnion in its Auto Dealer’s Guide.

The Guide is exclusively available to automotive dealers to determine the trade-in values of vehicles, and the average person on the street is not allowed to buy it.

However, we got a hold of the latest October 2022 edition to find out what some of South Africa’s favourite cars will reasonably be traded in for.

The cars

As you don’t often trade in new vehicles, the models chosen were among the most-listed cars on AutoTrader in 2021, as these are being traded on the pre-owned market rather frequently.

The selection comprises the following passenger cars:

BMW 320i Auto
Ford EcoSport 1.5 Ambiente
Hyundai i20 1.2 Motion
Toyota Corolla Quest 1.6 Manual
VW Polo 1.0TSI Trendline

Light commercial vehicles, such as bakkies and mini-buses, were not included in this edition of the Guide.

To decide what is reasonable to pay for any one of these vehicles when an individual trades it in, a dealer will use the Guide to find the model’s book value, which is what a car of that type in an average condition and with average mileage will, on average, be traded in for.

For each individual sale, the value is then adjusted according to the particular example’s mileage, condition, optional extras, and more. The Dealers’ Guide’s mileage and condition charts can be found below the last table at the bottom of the article.

It’s worth noting that a book value is not what you will pay when buying the car from said dealer, as this is what’s called the retail value.

The retail price takes into account what the dealer paid to buy the vehicle, the expenses it accrued to get the vehicle “showroom ready”, as well as a profit margin to ensure it can continue operations.

Book values

According to the Guide, the book values of the five vehicles on review are as follows:

BMW 320i Auto

Year	Book value	Retail value
2013	R152,300	R176,500
2014	R463,400	R195,300
2015	R192,200 / R207,300 (facelift)	R222,600 / R234,000 (facelift)
2016	R229,000	R266,400
2017	R264,900	R300,400
2018	R310,300	R353,600
2019	R349,100 / R478,700 (new generation)	R398,700 / R524,400 (new generation)
2020	R557,200	R617,200
2021	R608,400	R663,500

Ford EcoSport 1.5 Ambiente

Year	Book value	Retail value
2013	R110,300	R122,900
2014	R116,100	R130,900
2015	R124,600	R140,000
2016	R136,200	R151,400
2017	R146,400	R163,100
2018	R162,600 / R176,100 (facelift)	R182,300 / R194,500 (facelift)
2019	R190,500	R210,300
2020	R235,400	R256,700
2021	R254,300	R276,900

Hyundai i20 1.2 Motion

Year	Book value	Retail value
2013	R81,100	R95,700
2014	R93,200	R108,700
2015	R106,300 / R112,100 (facelift)	R121,300 / R123,700 (facelift)
2016	R128,100	R142,300
2017	R137,400	R152,500
2018	R152,800	R171,000
2019	R171,400	R191,000
2020	R205,700	R228,000
2021	R224,700	R247,000

Toyota Corolla Quest 1.6 Manual

Year	Book value	Retail value
2014	R111,100	R126,200
2015	R118,700	R136,500
2016	R129,000	R151,600
2017	R138,200	R160,100
2018	R145,400	R167,400
2019	R165,200	R186,100
2020	R188,600	R207,300