Perhaps not to be taken literally, and some big assumptions,
but maybe this can lead to some discussion about cost of ownership, depreciation, etc.
The real take away is that saving your unicorn to preserve mileage might not be as profitable as it seems, once you factor in opportunity cost.
1985 Porsche 911 Carrera Coupe | Bring a Trailer
1986 Porsche 911 Carrera Coupe | Bring a Trailer
1985 Porsche 911 Coupe | Bring a Trailer
From here, I will extrapolate some ballpark market values.
50k mile car is worth $45k
100k mile car is worth $38k
150k mile car is worth $31k
200k mile car is worth $25k
So, if you add 100k miles to your $38k 911, it will now be worth $25k. That is a loss of $13k in value for 100k of driving. (We are ignoring maintenance costs, but the point is depreciation of a new car is very costly)
Next, I think we need to factor in the
rate of mileage accumulation. ince depreciation is the largest cost of owning a car, if you did 100k miles over 13 years (vs. 4 years) it will be a lot cheaper to own than if you drove 100k miles in 3 years, and kept replacing the car. I think the hypothesis needs to be adjusted to qualify high mileage commutes.
Let's say you drive 25 miles to work. That's 12k miles a year. In 5 years, that's 60k miles. Say that would cost about $8k in depreciation on the 911 (ignoring maint) On a new car, that would cost you much more in depreciation. But, who says the commuter car has to be new?
An incorrect assumption is that the econocar ownership is turned over at 100k, and the 911 somehow goes 400k miles. Obviously, not true. Plus, engine rebuilds, etc would clearly shatter this model like a plastic BMW cooling fan. So, this was a loaded hypothesis, b/c you can just daily drive a $7k Camry all the same with similar zero depreciation. The only almost tautological conclusion is, "Older cars are cheaper to run than newer cars"
Price exponentially spikes when you get to low mileage unicorns (collector cars)
It also flattens out with high mileage road warriors.
(200k vs 250k vs 300k might have $5k difference total)
As you add more miles, the derivative approaches zero.
At some point, the incremental miles theoretically have no effect on the value of the car.
Total opposite effect of putting the same miles on a new commuter daily