Mileage matters?

[plenty]

Not at all, look on AT right now at some Z4Ms and say just looking at private price sales (so to try eliminate dealer premiums) and a couple of 20k mile cars are up for over 20k, those on 60k miles are well under 20k. So you will see anything that you add 30 or 40k to depreciate quite substantially.

Of course the ultra-low mileage (<30k) collectors' specials will lose value if you put miles on them. That market segment is irrelevant if you actually plan to drive the car.

There is a definite big drop off in value around the 50k mark I would say.

I agree, and it kind of supports my original statement. If you buy well at a mileage that's just above the dropoff point, and cover 20k miles in your ownership, you can expect to retain more of your residual.

Right now there are 21 Z4MCs on AT, of which 12 have between 59,800 miles and 78,750 miles. Ignoring one outlier at £16k and 71k miles priced cheap and needing paintwork, the other 11 cars are priced within £1.5k of each other, with no correlation between mileage and price. The lowest miler in this group (59,800 miles) is priced at £18,495 and the highest miler (78,750 miles) at £18,500.

On this evidence it seems you'd be in with a good chance of getting most of your money back if you buy a Z4MC at 60k miles and sell at 80k.

 

[coldel]

But those 21 contain dealer and private sales, each of which can differ by anything up to 20%
So you would really need to do the analysis on either dealer or private, dealer probably would be more reliable as they go off similar book prices in terms of setting the price.

Also bear in mind these are for sale prices, and not actual sale prices.

There is some interesting data in AT and the like to get some great insights out of, if there was a way of getting the data out of AT into excel without manually typing it in might be worth a good look. And choosing enthusiasts cars that aren't just 10 or 12 data points but a lot more.

 

[plenty]

Well, yes, but since you brought up AT data to evidence your argument, I thought I'd do the same to evidence mine

 

[enuff_zed]

So it seems from reading all this that mileage does matter to all those people who buy a car having already planned on selling it on and don't want to lose any money on it.
In the other camp are those who want to buy one to keep for quite a long time and enjoy it. Whatever they get back at the end is a bonus. Mileage isn't really an issue for them.

 

[pvr]

Or a third group like me - want to keep it a long time, but do not want it to fall apart in the mean time with huge bills.

 

[plenty]

I reckon how you land on this topic is a good proxy for your risk tolerance in general.

 

[pvr]

Risk or avoidance of an almost certainty? My SI with 92k miles, the money spent on that + the purchase price was the same as what I spent on half a mileage M in the end.

 

[enuff_zed]

Or a third group like me - want to keep it a long time, but do not want it to fall apart in the mean time with huge bills.

Good point.
I'm in a fourth group then: want to keep it a long time, don't really want it to fall apart, but happy to fix it myself if it does.
Having just done a bit of coding for a chap who was quoted an hourly rate of £186 to do what took me five minutes, I can see why group three exists.

 

[enuff_zed]

Risk or avoidance of an almost certainty? My SI with 92k miles, the money spent on that + the purchase price was the same as what I spent on half a mileage M in the end.

Should have taken a minion with you to check the underdside for corrosion. oke:

 

[plenty]

Risk or avoidance of an almost certainty? My SI with 92k miles, the money spent on that + the purchase price was the same as what I spent on half a mileage M in the end.

I'd have to dispute 'almost certain'. My Z4M bought with 116k miles has been incredibly reliable 15k miles and three years later, costing me nothing more than consumables and servicing (and mods which I chose to pay for). And a 30k example could chew its rod bearings and is likely to need a full suspension refresh if it's still on original parts.

Recently bought a Renault Clio with 169k miles on which is the cleanest used car I've ever owned, albeit it's a bit of a unique example with an obsessive prior owner.

 

[plenty]

I'm in a fourth group then: want to keep it a long time, don't really want it to fall apart, but happy to fix it myself if it does.

I'm in this group, meaning I have a higher tolerance for risk. And appreciate not needing to spend £££ maintaining the dealer stamps that are expected with a top-priced example.

 

[Nanu]

I just want to drive a nice car and if it doesn't drop to bits in the mean time, its a bonus