Electric vehicles among those which depreciate in value fastest

[Carolinian]

REVEALED: The used cars that lose you the most money

New data shows that five of the top six second-hand depreciators are battery electric models, some of which have fallen in price by as much as a fifth in the last 12 months.

www.thisismoney.co.uk

 

[PigsDad]

Note that this article is regarding the UK market, not the US market.

Kurt

 

[easyrider]

Looking at Tesla I would say in the markets where the vehicles can be serviced the depreciation is less than many vehicles because they are supposedly a 500,000 mile vehicle. Regarding the other ev's they do depreciate pretty fast like 50% after 36,000 miles meaning the ev could be a year old with under 40,000 miles and worth only half of what was paid.

Bill

 

[ScoopKona]

Great!

The only thing I care about is total operational cost. The car could depreciate to $0 the day I buy it. And if it has a lower overall operating cost than the other options, it's still a winner.

Don't you get tired of goring the same ox over and over?

 

[TUGBrian]

seems about the same to me as trying to sell a car with low oil pressure, or transmission going out knowing full well a major/expensive repair is required sooner rather than later and thus the price of the car is adjusted accordingly.

at least in this instance, most evs come with a battery health/life meter to show you exactly how much time you have left before the "failure" occurs.

 

[easyrider]

Great!

The only thing I care about is total operational cost. The car could depreciate to $0 the day I buy it. And if it has a lower overall operating cost than the other options, it's still a winner.

Don't you get tired of goring the same ox over and over?

I really can't tell when if or when I am goring the same ox but I get what you mean. I care about operational cost but I care about comfort, convenience and durability more. That overall lower operating cost does come with a bit of inconvenience being that if you use an ev on a road trip you have to plan a charging route. If you are just driving around town an ev might work out but I doubt there is really much total overall savings when compared to cars of the same size getting 30+ mpg when vehicle lifespan is considered.

To me a winner looks like our recent acquisition, the used 2010 Lincoln Towncar with very low miles in pristine condition. So far it's been on two trips and did get 26 mpg on the freeway. The new entertainment system and wheels were the only upgrades we have made so far.

Bill

 

[CalGalTraveler]

My VW eGolf was a great buy chock full of rebates when I bought it for less than $15k. The dealer just told me I can sell my 3.5 YO vehicle for $25k. No depreciation for me - YMMV.

 

[TUGBrian]

I personally cant get behind buying an ev for an only vehicle, nor would I want the burden of trying to take a long road trip in one and planning out charging stops etc.

but for someone who has a short commute or putters around town every day? its very attractive vs a traditional vehicle.

 

[am1]

Great!

The only thing I care about is total operational cost. The car could depreciate to $0 the day I buy it. And if it has a lower overall operating cost than the other options, it's still a winner.

Don't you get tired of goring the same ox over and over?

Hopefully you would be happy with the insurance payout at that value as well.

 

[ScoopKona]

Hopefully you would be happy with the insurance payout at that value as well.

They're going to replace my vehicle with a new vehicle. So, no big...

 

[Carolinian]

I really can't tell when if or when I am goring the same ox but I get what you mean. I care about operational cost but I care about comfort, convenience and durability more. That overall lower operating cost does come with a bit of inconvenience being that if you use an ev on a road trip you have to plan a charging route. If you are just driving around town an ev might work out but I doubt there is really much total overall savings when compared to cars of the same size getting 30+ mpg when vehicle lifespan is considered.

To me a winner looks like our recent acquisition, the used 2010 Lincoln Towncar with very low miles in pristine condition. So far it's been on two trips and did get 26 mpg on the freeway. The new entertainment system and wheels were the only upgrades we have made so far.

Bill

I am looking for another vehicle at the moment, and it definitely will not be an EV. Indeed, I am trying to avoid a front wheel drive car, as well, which is more expensive to repair. Unfortunately, a recent trip to a nearby county to look at a couple of Rolls Royces with about 100K miles on them was disappointing. One had rust all along the inside side of the right rocker panel and the other a slight noise we could not identify in the engine. The noise might not have been anything to be concerned about, but when my mechanic friend could not identify what it was, I did not want to take a chance. I had not been looking specifically for a Rolls but happened to discover these two were available. Now, with the prices of used Rolls compared to other rear wheel drive vehicles, I may have to look a little harder to try to find one.

As to operating costs, I posted an article from a major British newspaper showing that in some places in the UK, the cost of charging an EV is now more than that of filling up a normal car with gas. As more of this wind and solar is pushed onto the grid here, we are likely to see the same steep rate increases that this has caused elsewhere, which will impact the cost of charging an EV.

 

[easyrider]

I am looking for another vehicle at the moment, and it definitely will not be an EV. Indeed, I am trying to avoid a front wheel drive car, as well, which is more expensive to repair. Unfortunately, a recent trip to a nearby county to look at a couple of Rolls Royces with about 100K miles on them was disappointing. One had rust all along the inside side of the right rocker panel and the other a slight noise we could not identify in the engine. The noise might not have been anything to be concerned about, but when my mechanic friend could not identify what it was, I did not want to take a chance. I had not been looking specifically for a Rolls but happened to discover these two were available. Now, with the prices of used Rolls compared to other rear wheel drive vehicles, I may have to look a little harder to try to find one.

As to operating costs, I posted an article from a major British newspaper showing that in some places in the UK, the cost of charging an EV is now more than that of filling up a normal car with gas. As more of this wind and solar is pushed onto the grid here, we are likely to see the same steep rate increases that this has caused elsewhere, which will impact the cost of charging an EV.

Wow. There isn't anywhere to have a Rolls repaired in our area. I'm betting parts are hard to find too. I went with 2010 Lincoln because everyone can work on them and parts are available everywhere. Lincolns are reliable, durable comfortable and many elderly folks have them parked in their garage and rarely drive them. I really didn't consider a Towncar at all until a friends dad had passed and no one wanted his Lincoln. I found out that they sold it for $8000. It only had 60,000 miles on it and was in the garage most of the time. We really didn't need another vehicle but we didn't have a top notch type long trip cruiser. Now we do.

I read that in some areas of the USA charging an ev has a cost that is higher than filling up with gas because of the surcharges and fees. If you add in the time it takes and if your time is worth anything there would be that cost.

Bill

 

[TUGBrian]

why would a fwd vehicle be more costly to repair than a rwd one?

 

[easyrider]

why would a fwd vehicle be more costly to repair than a rwd one

Mostly because everything is in a rwd is easy to reach. The engine, engine accessories and drivetrain are very accessible.

Bill

 

[TUGBrian]

the same exists for fwd vehicles as well? and its all in the front.

I mean no doubt there are examples of expensive items to repair on either vehicle (or some brands far more expensive to fix than others), but for the average cost of maintenance on a vehicle this seems like somewhat of a moot point.

 

[Passepartout]

Why not get a vehicle that has a track record of not breaking? I'd be looking at a nice Honda or Toyota (both readily available and majorly U.S. built) rather than making one's decision based on old-style rumor and perception. Over the last 30some years, we've had excellent reliability- and low-cost-per-mile with the Toyotas and now Honda than the previous Detroit iron that seemed to be subject to planned obsolescence.

Jim

 

[slip]

Why not get a vehicle that has a track record of not breaking? I'd be looking at a nice Honda or Toyota (both readily available and majorly U.S. built) rather than making one's decision based on old-style rumor and perception. Over the last 30some years, we've had excellent reliability- and low-cost-per-mile with the Toyotas and now Honda than the previous Detroit iron that seemed to be subject to planned obsolescence.

Jim

I have to say, I have had great reliability with our Jeep vehicles over the last 35 years. The way things have advanced over the years, there really isn't much maintenance compared to the old days.

We have mainly bought one to two year old vehicles and have had great dependability out of them. I have currently had mine over 6 years and besides annual oil changes, I just had to get new tires and brakes. Other than that nothing and I get a consistent 32 mile's per gallon.

Love my Jeeps.

 

[easyrider]

the same exists for fwd vehicles as well? and its all in the front.

I mean no doubt there are examples of expensive items to repair on either vehicle (or some brands far more expensive to fix than others), but for the average cost of maintenance on a vehicle this seems like somewhat of a moot point.

On a fwd the engine is perpendicular to the front of the vehicle making some areas hard to access. The area of the engine bay nearest the cabin usually offers no room to remove or replace parts without removing other parts first and often requires specialty tools.

I think the real reason manufacturers went fwd is the lower cost of production, imo. Like all manufacturers, the goal is to make it for less and sell it for more, imo.

I agree that maintenance is somewhat of a moot point. Repairs not so much.

Bill

 

[TUGBrian]

I guess we will have to agree to disagree. Ive worked on vehicles most of my life (still do) and can cite plenty of examples of extremely cramped engine bays on rwd vehicles and extremely roomy engine bays on fwd vehicles. (we wont even get into 4wd/awd vehicles).

i guess my original point was fwd vs rwd in terms of potential repair costs has to be so far down on the list of things id consider when buying a vehicle as to be nearly irrelevant and Id never even considered it up until now. Was curious as to the reasoning behind it.

 

[DrQ]

Ah, most EVs are classified as "luxury" cars.

Luxury cars, ICE or EV, will depreciate faster that a Toyota Corolla base model.

 

[ScoopKona]

Why not get a vehicle that has a track record of not breaking?

That would be ideal. I buy cars based on driver leg room. I want at least 41 inches. And they're finally making cars for tall people -- there's a Kia with almost 47 inches. My work truck sports 45. Now if only they had a telescoping steering wheel option so I could make use of the full 45.

 

[easyrider]

I guess we will have to agree to disagree. Ive worked on vehicles most of my life (still do) and can cite plenty of examples of extremely cramped engine bays on rwd vehicles and extremely roomy engine bays on fwd vehicles. (we wont even get into 4wd/awd vehicles).

i guess my original point was fwd vs rwd in terms of potential repair costs has to be so far down on the list of things id consider when buying a vehicle as to be nearly irrelevant and Id never even considered it up until now. Was curious as to the reasoning behind it.

You do have a point in that it depends on the vehicle as to to how hard they are to work on. I'm not concerned about repair costs or maintenance. I must have missed something in the conversation. We do our own wrenching for the most part. I do agree that fwd vrs rwd in terms of repairs isn't anything I considered. The vehicle I was looking at before the Lincoln was a very reliable Lexus ES 350 which is fwd.

Bill

 

[Carolinian]

why would a fwd vehicle be more costly to repair than a rwd one?

The way they jam everything in the engine compartment causes labor costs to go up. For example, to do any transmission (transaxle) work, you have to take both the engine and transmission out of the car, through the bottom and then separate the two. Taking a transmission out of a rear wheel drive car is a matter of putting it on a lift and removing a few bolts. My mechanic says that front wheel drive was developed to make manufacturing cars easier but had the effect of making repairing them more time consuming and difficult.

 

[Mongoose]

Just wait until we have 10 million EV’s at 80,000 to 100,000 miles. They will have nearly no resale value with the need for a $30k battery, if they are even available.

 

[Carolinian]

Wow. There isn't anywhere to have a Rolls repaired in our area. I'm betting parts are hard to find too. I went with 2010 Lincoln because everyone can work on them and parts are available everywhere. Lincolns are reliable, durable comfortable and many elderly folks have them parked in their garage and rarely drive them. I really didn't consider a Towncar at all until a friends dad had passed and no one wanted his Lincoln. I found out that they sold it for $8000. It only had 60,000 miles on it and was in the garage most of the time. We really didn't need another vehicle but we didn't have a top notch type long trip cruiser. Now we do.

I read that in some areas of the USA charging an ev has a cost that is higher than filling up with gas because of the surcharges and fees. If you add in the time it takes and if your time is worth anything there would be that cost.

Bill

There are Rolls dealers in both Raleigh and High Point, NC. The guy selling the two Rolls has two other Rolls that are family drivers. He says he has never had to take any of them to the dealers and has a mechanic who works as a civilian at the Cherry Point marine base who does his maintenance and minor repairs. One of the ones he is selling was his wife's daily driver for the last few years but she had wanted a different model of Rolls and he had found one in New Hampshire and bought it. Rolls are so overengineered that they are less likely to break.

One other vehicle I am looking at as a option is a Jeep Liberty, which is all wheel drive but the engine is aligned the traditional way and that makes them easier to work on.

If I find a Rolls, and it would be one with a chrome bumper, I would probably look for a classic VW bug to go with it. The VW bug has super simple mechanicals to work on and great gas milage.