Ask what mileage costs and you get adjectives. I wanted a number, so I measured how price moves with the odometer inside each model year — 2,252 cells covering 201,174 listings.
The answer is 0.562% of the car's value per 1,000 miles, and the useful part is that it barely changes.
| Model year | Per 1,000 miles | Median price | As % of value |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | $47.10 | $8,962 | 0.637% |
| 2015 | $61.90 | $11,834 | 0.537% |
| 2024 | $184.40 | $37,262 | 0.466% |
In dollars it varies 4x. In percent it barely moves.
A thousand miles takes $47 off a 2005 car and $184 off a 2024 one — nearly four times the difference. But as a share of what the car is worth, the range is 0.47% to 0.64%.
That gives a rule you can carry in your head: every 10,000 miles is roughly 5% of the car. On a $12,000 vehicle, driving it 10,000 miles this year costs about $600 in value on top of fuel, insurance and maintenance.
Where it breaks: the brand matters more than the year
The average holds across eras. It does not hold across badges.
| Brand | Per 1,000 miles | |
|---|---|---|
| Dodge | 0.943% | Worst |
| Chrysler | 0.915% | |
| Mercedes-Benz | 0.722% | |
| Honda | 0.480% | |
| Toyota | 0.456% | |
| Tesla | 0.399% | Best |
A Dodge owner pays 2.4 times what a Tesla owner pays for the same distance. The extreme is a 2020 Model 3, where 1,000 miles costs $7.40 — 0.034% of a $21,450 car. On that vehicle the odometer is almost decorative.
At the other end, a 2023 Dodge Charger loses 2.34% per 1,000 miles. Drive it 10,000 miles and nearly a quarter of its value is gone.
How to use this
Price a commute before you buy. A 25,000-mile year costs about 14% of the car's value on the market average — and 23% on a Dodge. Over three years that difference is larger than most people's negotiating win at purchase.
Judge a high-mileage car by the discount, not the number. If a car has 30,000 miles more than a comparable one, it should be about 17% cheaper. Less than that and you're paying for miles someone else drove.
On the brands with a shallow curve, buy the higher-mileage car. On a Tesla or a Toyota the market barely charges for distance, so the extra miles cost you very little and save you real money at purchase.
Verify the reading first. Every figure here assumes the odometer is honest — and we found 209 cars whose reading went backwards between listings. A VIN check shows the recorded mileage history in sequence.
We looked at what each budget band buys in every extra $1,000 removes 3,300 miles, and at where the price curve flattens in what counts as high mileage.
Frequently asked questions
How much does mileage reduce a car's value?
About 0.562% of the vehicle's value per 1,000 miles, measured across 2,252 model-year cells and 201,174 listings. In practical terms, every 10,000 miles is roughly 5% of the car.
Does mileage cost more on an expensive car?
In dollars yes — $47 per 1,000 miles on a 2005 model against $184 on a 2024 one. As a share of value the ratio is nearly identical, 0.64% versus 0.47%, which is what makes the rule portable.
Which brands lose the most value per mile?
Dodge at 0.943% per 1,000 miles and Chrysler at 0.915%, against Tesla at 0.399% and Toyota at 0.456%. A 2023 Dodge Charger loses 2.34% per 1,000 miles; a 2020 Tesla Model 3 loses 0.034%.
How do I know if a high-mileage car is priced fairly?
Multiply the extra mileage by roughly 0.56% of value per 1,000 miles. A car with 30,000 more miles than a comparable one should be around 17% cheaper — anything less and you're paying for someone else's driving.
Denis Kataev is a serial solopreneur and the founder of ForCar. With 15+ years in software engineering and 10 years in SEO, he builds data-driven products end to end — backed by a sharp eye for design. At ForCar he mines proprietary vehicle datasets, turning raw numbers into buying advice you can actually trust.
Keep reading
All articles →
62,142 Complaints State the Exact Mileage. 19,999 Mention the Warranty in the Same Breath.
Nobody asks for the mileage. A sixth of complaints supply it anyway, usually to the exact thousand, because the number is doing a job in the argument the owner is making.
1,372 Owners Filed a Complaint and Traded the Car In. 1,027 Said They Would Never Buy the Brand Again.
There is a moment when a fault stops being a repair problem and becomes a resale problem. A few thousand complaints record exactly that moment, and what it cost the person who reached it.
Flex-Fuel Peaked at 689 Models. Now It Is Gone.
A technology fitted to hundreds of models disappeared inside a decade, and almost nobody noticed because most of the cars that had it never used it. The reason it existed explains why it stopped.
Mark ForCar as a preferred source and our data shows up first in your Google results. One click, no account.