Crossing 100,000 Miles Costs $882. The Next 10,000 Cost Nothing.
Mileage should erode value smoothly. Around one specific number it doesn't — the price steps down, then stops moving, and the number turns out to have six digits.
The Cadillac Escalade Sells From $4,900 to $84,500. Good Luck Pricing One.
Some models have a price. Others have a range so wide that quoting an average is meaningless, and they turn out to have something in common.
The Market Agrees What a New Car Is Worth and Argues About Old Ones
A valuation is only as good as the agreement behind it. Measured year by year, that agreement erodes steadily until the number stops describing anything.
The Diesel Premium Is 61% on an F-250 and Minus 14% on a RAM 1500
Diesel is supposed to be worth paying for in a truck. Comparing the same model with both engines shows that holds only above a certain size, and reverses below it.
One in Five People Asking What Their Car Is Worth Owns Something With No Comparables at All
Valuation tools always return a number. We checked how often there was anything behind it, and for a fifth of requests the honest answer would have been that nobody is selling one.
A Used Pickup Costs 2.5x a Used Sedan. The Cheapest Body Style Is One Nobody Buys.
Body style decides more of the price than model year or mileage does. Ranking every type by what it actually sells for puts the most practical shape on the market at the bottom.
A Luxury SUV Loses Its Badge Premium by Year 15. A Luxury Sedan Never Does.
Premium badges are supposed to hold value better. Tracked year by year against mainstream equivalents, that turns out to depend entirely on what shape the car is.
There Is No Cheap Tesla. Its Price Floor Is Higher Than Porsche's.
Every prestige brand eventually produces a cheap used example. A tired old Mercedes is a recognised category. A tired old Tesla, it turns out, isn't one yet.
Every 1,000 Miles You Drive Costs About Half a Percent of the Car
Everyone knows mileage costs money. Nobody has a number for it. I worked out what 1,000 miles actually takes off a car, and the answer is portable across the whole market.
When Only Four People Are Selling Your Car, the Price Guide Is Guessing
Valuation tools return a number for any car you type in. For a lot of model years, that number is built on a handful of listings — and the fewer there are, the more certain it looks.
The Same 2001 F-250 Sells for $2,300 and for $38,000
Every valuation tool gives you one number for a model and year. I looked at what the listings for a single model year actually span, and the range makes the average almost meaningless.
A Seven-Year-Old Sprinter Costs More Than a Three-Year-Old Sedan
Depreciation curves assume a car loses value as it ages. There's a corner of the used market where that barely happens, and the vehicles there are the least glamorous ones on the lot.