So, i guess we all know that the number of slots is the biggest factor in determining the price of a starship. Then there's the class, which also has an effect. However, I wasn't aware that the starship type made a difference (shuttle, hauler, etc). Apparently it does. Last night, while watching ships land, I saw a Shuttle, A class with 28+8 slots and a Fighter, A class with 28+8 slots. Not sure if I've remembered the slot count correctly, but they were exactly the same for both ships and both were A class. The Shuttle was significantly cheaper than the Fighter (2.3 million as opposed to something like 5.8 million).

Just thought it was curious that there was that much of a difference between starship types.

Thanks for the links. Yeah, I was aware of the difference in prices due to numbers of factors, but just surprised at the difference between that shuttle and the fighter. Rodney Dangerfield, indeed! Stupid me, I passed up an S class 28+8 shuttle last night (I'm still in the starter ship) because I was waiting for an Exotic I'd seen to fly in. Ah well, plenty of ships in the sea of stars.

Here is what will help you most I think:

Once you buy a ship, you can only get 2/3 of its original price as trade-in price. There will be a big price jump from slot 43 upwards. Small ships up to 25 slots are very affordable.

For crashed ships:
Repairing it all will yield 2/3 of its new price (if you would buy the exact same at NPC's for 3/3).
And if you only repair it partially, then its value is this:

Current value = 2/3 New Price x (slots intact : total slots)

You will see its value increase everytime you repair a slot (go in a compare screen with other NPC's).
But you don't need to go in a compare screen everytime: Just scan your ship with F and you will see its new price. You know you will at maximum get 2/3 of that if fully repaired or you can calculate as for the formula above.

Crashed ships worth to repair?
To know if it's worth repairing, you sum up the costs of repairs. And here the broken slots have some random requirements in their materials, so some slots may be cheap to repair, others horrendoulsy expensive - you have to know the material prices.
If the sum of repairs is bigger than the value you get by the formula above and including your repaired slots, then it's obviously NOT worth to repair. Just try it with a broken small ship and you'll understand immediately.

Then, you'd have to add the repair costs for the tech slots which is not covered by the formula above and which goes to your disadvantage should you keep the ship.

Should I exchange with a crashed ship on a distress site?
With the formula above you can know the current value of the ships in your possession as well as the current value of the crashed ship. If in doubt, just summon your ships, you can do that!
If the current crashed ship's value is bigger than another ship in your possession (calculate by the formula!) then exchange it with it.
You can also just add a crashed ship to your collection, but be careful: you can only own 6 ships and then you are forced to trade them in if you want to change your ships, you will not be able to just sell a ship.

Hope this helps, its' what I have posted on Steam also, but here on GOG I'm telling a bit more...:)
Cheers,

It's good info, and thanks for taking the time to post it, but I'm actually aware of that. That's not what I was referring to though.

I was referring to last night as I sat on a trade platform and watched starships land. I was scanning to see what the stats were and two ships, a Shuttle and a Fighter both landed in the same wave. They were both A class and both had 28+8 slots. Exactly the same with regards to slots and class. Yet the Fighter was much more expensive. I was previously under the impression that slots were the main factor in determining ship price, with class being second. however, it seems - like dashiichi posted - that the ship type also has a big influence (and his link shows this as well), much bigger than I thought.

I just found this a bit of a surprise.

Fighters are the most expensive ships followd by Explorers, Hawlers, then Shuttles which are very cheap.
Fighters should have very good Damage % bonus numbers, Explorers: Hyperdrive, Hawlers: Shields, Shuttles: good all-around numbers. I think (not sure) that Fighters and Explorers are limited to 37 slots, shuttles to 27 slots. So if slots is your concern, you need to get 1 or more 48-slot C-Class Hawlers which are relatively cheap compared to B, A or S class which are not interesting because they are not suited for combat anyway...If in trouble you summon your freighter and come out with big cannons with your fighter :) And on planets you are safe. So no need for S/A/B hawlers which are too expensive also (S-Class 48-slot Hawler should come for 112M, but C-Class much less).

Exotic S-Class ships are not so interesting for me because although they can have super hyperdrive values, their number of slots is too modest to upgrade and transform them in fighters or transporters. They are pure luxury, if you really like them, get them, they are not so useful except for pure hyperdriving but Freighters fully upgraded will easily beat them (but currently impossible for post-NEXT players...)

I try to have a ship of any kind plus one junk ship that I can exchange or use for black holes.

Again, thanks for the input, but I'm already aware of this. Actually, it's 38+12 for Fighters and Explorers. 28+8 for Shuttles. 20+6 for Exotics. Yep, I know that too, but it's a good tip for others. I like to use them as my adventuring/exploring ship. Upgrade shields and photon cannon, along with hyperdrive. I like the added jump range, and as far as fighting goes, it's just as good as a Fighter if you upgrade the weapons. Once in-system and established, switch to something with more slots for resource gathering. Yes, really good idea.