Hybrid resale values might be more less after a few years of ownership?
I am planning to purchase a new Insight because I want to get a car with higher MPG and save more money considering a new base Insight is less than $20K OTD. Currently, I own a 2010 Honda Fit and 2007 Civic Si sedan. I am selling them because trying to only keep one car to save money for insurance.
Anyways, i know honda has really good resale value. I want to know how people think about the ownership cost of a hybrid battery. In fact, most battery will have to replace after 80,000 - 100K miles and they cost around $3-4K for replacement. Does this really make the car hard to sell at that time? I have spent a lot of times here in this forum, but I don't see anyone mention about this. If you are a buyer looking for a used hybrid, will you buy one even the battery is going to replace soon and the battery warranty usually expire around that time when putting the car for sale. If a used hybrid car is not demanding much compared to a new hybrid, does the resale value become less after a few more years as time goes by?
A main reason you would dump the Fit in favor of the Insight is the comfort in knowing that you have an extended warranty behind the battery. How bad would you want the Insight if the the battery replacement warranty was only good for one year? Obviously the value of the car would go down in value if the warranty was ending or over.
The answer to your quest is that we don't know. Hopefully, battery technology will be much much better by then and for half the price, you get twice the quality of battery or better. Another thing to consider is that Hybrid technology will go a long way in those times. Plug in Hybrid may be king and the demand for our IMA might be in the toilet.
Obviously, those of us here are gambling on future. I don't think any of us that own the car today plan on paying 4,000 of today's dollars for a new battery in 10 years. Personally, I'm thinking technology will make a much better battery in less than 5 years, and their price will be less than half in another 5 years as another technology arises. I think the market will be flooded with options in 10 years.
I'm banking that within ten years aftermarket batteries will be available with greater capacity than there is now and at a price-point that won't lay waste to a wallet. While still pricey, not prohibitively so.
Of course, I could be wrong. But technology is always improving, and with more hybrids on the road means opportunity for companies to deliver products that people will buy. If you've got millions of hybrids rolling down the road, someone should step in and make some money due to the fact.
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Last edited by Zwolfe; 07-11-2011 at 04:56 PM.
Reason: I type lik dis sometimes.
"Obviously, those of us here are gambling on future. I don't think any of us that own the car today plan on paying 4,000 of today's dollars for a new battery in 10 years. Personally, I'm thinking technology will make a much better battery in less than 5 years, and their price will be less than half in another 5 years as another technology arises. I think the market will be flooded with options in 10 years."
11 year old Insights still have the same batteries supplied to them by Honda as replacements when they were new. Production stopped in 2006 and thats as new of a cell as we get from Honda. Unused, perhaps, but new technology, no. You won't get new battery technology in the replacements and I really doubt the manufacturer will ever give you a break on the price. The manufacturers are pretty much required to stock and provide identical or as close as possible equivelent replacements as they were when new. When I look back at posts from 2003-2005 or so, people said the same thing about the 1st Gen about the future batteries that they would get would be improved.
Don't count on it.
On the plus side, battery repair costs aren't that bad and hybrid-battery-repair is actually providing us the better and new battery cells that Honda will not provide to us.
11 year old Insights still have the same batteries supplied to them by Honda as replacements when they were new. Production stopped in 2006 and thats as new of a cell as we get from Honda. Unused, perhaps, but new technology, no. You won't get new battery technology in the replacements and I really doubt the manufacturer will ever give you a break on the price. The manufacturers are pretty much required to stock and provide identical or as close as possible equivelent replacements as they were when new. When I look back at posts from 2003-2005 or so, people said the same thing about the 1st Gen about the future batteries that they would get would be improved.
Don't count on it.
Are todays cells still the same as 10 years ago? I thought their densities have increased which lowered the cell count.
The cells might be slightly different but not enough to be perceptibly different. Hybrid-battery-repair has said that there is no real difference in the capacity or capability of the newer cells used now. What has changed has been the construction, the 1st Gen Insight and 1st Gen Civic Hybrid and maybe the 1st Gen Honda Accord Hybrid used sticks with 6 cells welded together. The 2nd Gen Civic, 2nd Gen Insight, and the CRZ use a double stick that has 12 cells.
When I leased my Insight last July the salesman told me Honda was seeing real life of greater then 150,000 miles on batteries before replacement. I had already signed the lease so he wasn't glad handing me.
Isn't the hybrid component warranty already like 8 years/150k miles? Isn't that good enough for 90% of owners who will have traded it in for a new model before then?
It used to be on the Honda site but its not anymore
"Battery-pack limited warranty may vary.
Please see your Honda dealer for details."
It depends on whether or not you live in a CARB state or not. CARB states have a longer warranty because the state of California requires that they have the longer warranty. In non-CARB states, the warranty is 8 year, 80,000 miles. ...I think. At least that was the original warranty period for the 1st Gen.
...so that is not good enough for 90% of owners, however 90% of owners will likely trade a vehicle in for a new model before they experience battery issues considering people seem to replace their cars around about 100,000 miles and 6 years or so.
For most 1st Gen owners, our mileage and time are well beyond that of the typical new car buyers. I have a feeling most 1st Gen cars have likely switched hands already if the original owner isn't dedicated to the highest MPG gasoline car ever mass produced.
...so it depends on the buyer for someone who keeps cars to 200k miles and/or 15 years, chances are good that issues may develop.
In the case of the 1st Gen Insight and 1st Gen Prius, the values of hybrids as a used car surprise pretty much everyone I talk to who usually buy older cars because usually a 100k car with 10 years on it will typically not go for over $2000-3000.
Most people buying new cars aren't really concerned over resale value that far down the road anyway because of how much depreciation that will occur along the way since a better economic bet for someone wanting to keep a car for 200k miles is to buy it when its already lost more than half or 3/4 its original price. I paid less than 1/4 the price for my 10 model years old 1st Gen with that same thought in mind and I wanted one the day I found out about them a decade ago. ...now I own two.
As far as just a few years down the road, it all depends on gas prices and consumer attitude towards hybrid vehicles. The hybrid premium is a hard pill to swallow so that might just get partially lopped off in 3 years unless many people are really looking for a 2nd Gen Insight.
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Hybrid resale values might be more less after a few years of ownership?
