Depreciation appears to be a function of milage more than year?

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dmaxdmax

New member
Joined
Jul 23, 2017
Messages
4
Is my observation correct? It's based on 15 whole minutes of research but it seems to me that milage matters. Age and to a lesser extent trim line seem to matter little in comparison. I'm interested because if trim line doesn't matter much then it's an easy evaluation choosing which new model to buy -- you don't get the price of the leather "back" so I just have to decide if I want it.

Living in NC, I get 10,000 plus the 7,500 tax credit which drops the price of a new car enough to eliminate any reason to buy a used one.
 
I'd consider looking at higher mileage models based on the fact they may have a new pack already installed or potentially have a degraded pack that may qualify for replacement soon.

I bought an 11 in 15 for $9.7k. It only had 24k miles on it at the time and had 11 bars showing.

For me I shopped having an idea on what I wanted to spend and what features I wanted rather than year or mileage. I got model with everything except leather. Most dealerships had a $3k swing for cars with similar features, years, and mileage. I picked the one I thought it was the best value. If I had known of Leaf Spy I would have tested each one I looked at.

..... saw note on tax incentives and rebate. Even if buying new I'd test with LeafSpy. You never know how long a car had been sitting with little to no charge or if its a recent delivery.
 
Model and options do matter. An S is pretty valuable with the Charge Package, but not so much without it. An SV or SL with Premium Package is worth more than one without. And of course, remaining capacity trumps odometer mileage in all cases. A 2011 Leaf SL with no heated seats or battery warmer, 10 capacity bars, and 10k original miles, wouldn't be worth as much as a '13 SV with Premium, 12 bars, and 35k miles.
 
Interesting discussion, as I've always believed the opposite to be true - mileage doesn't matter much and the biggest determining factor of battery health is the one variable we have no control over - the age of the battery pack. It's one consideration when choosing between a newer but lower trim EV and a fully loaded older trim EV - the older one is more likely to have more degradation, all other things being equal.

Obviously, high pack temperatures, frequent overcharging, habitually driving the EV past the low battery warnings, leaving the pack at 100% charge for extended period, and other such battery "abuse" are super important. But, when buying a used EV, it's almost impossible to tell which battery packs were abused and which were not...

Anecdotally, when I was shopping for a Leaf, I found the battery health seemed to have little to do with mileage within the same model year. I think it's fair to say that location is the biggest factor - the hotter the climate, the worse condition the pack will be in. I ended up purchasing a higher mileage Leaf with a battery pack in excellent condition (PNW car) because I think the OPs perception is common - that mileage is of paramount importance for EVs. I don't buy that argument though, but I'm glad that others do as it got me a nice discount :)
 
Around here (Memphis, TN) the same is true.

Looking at online ads here the price seems to be priced only on mileage and possible trim, with no regards to bars at all.

I have seen Leafs here with near identical mileage, but one had a higher trim package than the other and cost a few thousand more, but was down to 10 bars, the other had all 12.

(As someone else pointed out, I wish I had taken LeafSpy along with me when purchasing mine. I still haven't hooked it up, I almost don't want to know. LOL.)
 
As the SV is only abou 1,500 more than the S w/charge system, I suppose I'll get a new SV and do my best to take care of the battery. The only issue is that there are fewer to choose from within 250 miles. 54 S vs 10 SV vs 7 SL
 
I doubt that...
There was an big article a while ago about a Leaf being used as a Taxi in England over 100k fairly quickly and still 12 bars...

I'm at 60k with my '12 and 10 bars, which is about right on based on the age chart.

desiv
 
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