How does mileage affect pricing

[wcoates]

Re: How does mileage affect pricing

Remember, excellent describes about 3% of all vehicles. Meaning needs absolutley nothing and no reconditioning at all with clean carfax. No bolster wear or cracks, new tires and no mechanical issues. Also there are buyers that put a mileage cut off in their search. When I bought mine I wouldn't even consider looking at a car with over 28K miles at any price.

following Harry's suggestion, at the first iteration I put my 2003 in KBB and called it excellent and a sale to a private buyer. As to Ric"s concern I repeated the exercise using the good category. (over 50% of the cars fit this category according to KBB statistics ). The results are as follows:

Excellent-------------------------------------------------Good

26000 miles----------$16,940---------------------------$15299
36000 miles----------$16,209---------------------------$14543
66000 miles----------$13,838---------------------------$13320
106k--miles----------$10,694---------------------------$ 8840

driving 10,000 more miles decreases your value by $731 for the excellent category vs $756 for the good category. Still sure not a reason IMHO to leave it sitting in the garage. High mileage appears to decrease the value significantly.

both seem to answer the original question of what impact of going from 26,000 to 36,000 miles has on value.

[Howlandd]

Re: How does mileage affect pricing

I guess I have a hard time understanding buying and owning anything that I don't use on a regular basis. I find no fun in just owning something with the exception of art work which have the sole purpose of being owned and enjoyed by just looking at it. Further, even if you total the car tomorrow with no insurance, your loss would not be enough to change your retirement situation. Drive and enjoy the car or sell it so someone that will.

[Greg S]

Re: How does mileage affect pricing

I doubt if any of our retro birds will "maintain or increase their value" in any our lifetimes.

[11TH GEN]

Re: How does mileage affect pricing

I guess I have a hard time understanding buying and owning anything that I don't use on a regular basis. I find no fun in just owning something with the exception of art work which have the soul purpose of being owned and enjoyed by just looking at it. Further, even you total the car tomorrow with no insurance, your loss would not be enough to change your retirement situation. Drive and enjoy the car or sell it so someone that will.

Dan: I wouldn't wrestle with trying to understand someone else's car habits or comparing what you call fun to what another person may find fun. I have no idea what your definition of regular use is. My regular use is is about three times a week that maybe total twenty five miles a week. Do you think I should sell the car to someone that might somehow enjoy it more than me by running up the mileage? For you $100K mile club members I think it's great that you travel, see places, meet people and create lasting memories, beautiful. Just don't think that somehow those of us that put under 1K miles a year on our car don't enjoy them equally as much. This OP's thread has really been jacked. To answer her question again. Almost always, the more miles on a car the less it's actual cash value, not taking priceless memories into consideration.

[jssantoro]

Re: How does mileage affect pricing

Everyone has different reasons and uses for their cars. Mine is my daily driver, has been kept outside all its life and has 140K on it. I like it cause it stone reliable, very comfortable and maintenance is real easy. That plus everything new is butt ugly. If and when this one is put out to pasture I would consider another one, especially since there are a ton of low/mid mileage one out there. My wife can have her European POS's that break constantly, my 14 yrs old Bird is just fine , dandy and paid for many times over.

[Welker]

Re: How does mileage affect pricing

Bought mine new and it has all the original papers, window sticker, etc, and all service records. It now has 116k on it and I have replaced lots of things and have even had the hood repainted due to spider cracking. Just yesterday I went to the super market and had four separate people comment on how beautiful the car is. All four of them were over 60 and I think that is the market for these cars.....so I wouldn't worry about the long term mileage situation since the market is, and forgive the pun, dying out.

[Blkhwk]

Re: How does mileage affect pricing

I recommend that you don't let this issue be the reason that you decide to use the car or not.

From the sound of things, you've had the car for a while, you take good care of it and for a buyer, that history and information is likely going to be more important than any one specific feature of the car. I doubt anyone truly interested in buying your car would say " you know, I would have bought the car if it only had 33,000 miles on it rather than 44,000.

From my experience, the priority list for those interested in these cars is Known History, then overall condition and care, then what will I need to do to it, then color, then mileage (but I think the earlier posters were right that said it's more of a "grouping" that specific miles).

I'd recommend you drive it whenever the urge "hits" you. If you end up selling the car, you're never going to get what you think it's worth anyway. None of us will.

[Jimr]

Re: How does mileage affect pricing

Cars are not a particularly good investment. Either sell the car and invest the money or drive the wheels off of it and die with a smile & happy.

[phil]

Re: How does mileage affect pricing

My Classic car insurance limits me to 2500 miles per year.

[2K2BIRD]

Re: How does mileage affect pricing

My Classic car insurance limits me to 2500 miles per year.

That problem goes away with Grundy Collector Car Insurance.

[3OLDBRDS]

Re: How does mileage affect pricing

Mileage was a worry for me when I bought my 2002 in April, the car had 110,000 on it.. But I bought it from a Ford dealer so I figured it had to be decent in condition or the would have moved it on to a wholesaler.. I travelled 12 hrs each way from Canada to Wisconsin to get the car.. I looked for two years for it to come up for sale... I was looking for a daily driver so end value is of no concern for me.. But the car had to be a Bird and only one I was interested in was a Neiman Marcus..being a driver and to take it to car meets I lik d the story that goes with this model... I have found the Christmas book it was listed in... I put on accent trim to make it stand out a bit more, all of this only increases the value to me and my enjoyment.. And that is priceless... I could not have been happier with anything else on the road...these cars are special and although value may not go up I don't think they will go any lower than what they are now, and few will ever be scrapped..

[4LOWBIRDS+7]

Re: How does mileage affect pricing

Welcome to TBN and great choice in a Thunderbird. Pictures?

[3OLDBRDS]

Re: How does mileage affect pricing

Tried ti upload a picture and it got lost in space I guess, I will figure it out later when I have more time

[Rondor]

Re: How does mileage affect pricing

Bought mine used at less than half of cost of new. Still worth about what I paid. Sure beats the SL Mercedes roadster I traded for it.

[T-42]

Re: How does mileage affect pricing

Thank you for your informative responses. I will put it up for sale, and if I get my price, I will sell it. In the mean time I feel comfortable driving it around San Diego a little more, enjoying the California sun, with the top down and the music up.