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Question on Depreciation

Discussion in 'Dealers & Pricing' started by nanoxnano, Mar 9, 2015.

  1. nanoxnano

    nanoxnano Junior Member

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    So I was thinking about this.. Cars depreciate no matter if they are driven or not. Cars will depreciate more if they are driven a lot or have an above average miles. So my question is, how much do cars depreciate if they are just sitting on the driveway with no miles put on vs. if they are driven 1k miles per month vs 2-3k miles per month.
     
  2. Easy Rider 2

    Easy Rider 2 Senior Member

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    Another question that is impossible to provide a "good" answer for.
    Mostly because "depreciation" depends on a lot of market factors that are not tied directly to a specific individual car.
     
  3. wlee

    wlee Junior Member

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    Part of this depends on the rarity of the car. For more exclusive limited production cars (2,000 built for that make/model/generation), low mileage would command a huge premium over another car that has logged on 10k miles/year - questions about wear and tear for an expensive car with higher maintenance/repair costs come into play.

    Given the Priuses are a dime a dozen, I would think there's not much credit given to lower mileage cars, unless they're extremely low mileage (e.g. 1000 total miles for a 5 year old car) - but moderately driven cars would obviously price better than a car with 100k+ miles.

    On another note, because these are more commuter cars than cars that are collected/purchased for their beauty, I would also think that minor scrapes, scratches, rock chips, and interior dirt wouldn't have a huge impact on the car. I don't think buyers would pay a huge mark-up for a prius in pristine condition vs. one that shows wear.
     
  4. Sfcyclist

    Sfcyclist Senior Member

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    as noted depends on the car but since you are here on Prius forum, a Prius will depreciate even if not driven. The battery degrades even when not used.
     
  5. -1-

    -1- Don

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    :)All cars depreciate, unless they're very rare, or collector cars. I took a car over to Carmax this morning to get an idea what it was worth. It's a 2006 MB SLK 350 (ten years old this July) with 22,800 miles. Excellent condition, low mileage, well equipped, but, not a daily driver vehicle. They offered $16,000, which is at least $4000 low. I can easily sell it myself and will. I saw a 2012 Nissan Leaf SL, 25,000 miles for $12,900 which I though was very reasonable. But, I know there's an issue with battery capacity loss even after several years. Several Prii on the lot and they seem to hold their price fairly well. They had a 2012-13 (?) Prius Plug In base for $24,000. I personally would pay a higher price for a clean, well maintained, lower mileage car. I would steer away from any car with excessive mileage. I haven't bought a used vehicle in the past twenty years. At this point in my life (almost 65), I plan to lease vehicles for 2-3 years to experience as many as possible until my demise. My 2012 Prius Plug In purchase at 48 months, 0% interest made sense.
     
  6. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    just for kix, you can put model years in kbb with low miles to see how they have fared in the past. i have found that years mean more than miles, antiques and rare cars excluded.