Is super low mileage BAD for the Insight battery?

[sbrown1977]

Good morning all -

Another question for the experts out there. I've found a 2010 Insight with under 8,000 miles which seems like an exceptional deal - but I'm a true skeptic so my question to you: Are there any problems associated with leaving a car like this in the garage for a loooooong time and not driving/recharging the battery on a regular basis? The dealer's "story" (could be true, but like I said, I'm a skeptic) is that the original owner bought the car brand new in 2009 and works from home so it was rarely driven. It's Honda "Certified" so I know that if anything happens in the first 12 months/12,000 miles I'm protected, but thought I'd ask anyway.

Thanks in advance for your knowledge on this issue!

[JamesK-insight]

I too am interested in this... I do about 14k miles per year, but due to a job change this is likely to drop to 5-6k miles (about 5 miles return per day).

I know this isn't ideal for any car since it doesn't warm up properly, but does anyone else have experience (good or bad) of the impact on the car?

Is it worth doing something with a block heater to get the engine up to normal temp earlier in the winter, or is that false economy?

[egads]

The main problem with disuse is not "exercising" the battery pack.

If a Honda can be sold as certified by a dealer they can also add a form of the Honda Care extended warranty. I'd ask about that. You do not want a third party warranty, only Honda Care.

[gilbertguy]

@ SBrown - 8000 miles is still a fair amount of usage over 3 years as long as it wasn't all put on the car in the first year and then sat for a couple of years. The Gen2 Insights have a 10yr/100K unless you live in a hot state then it is 8yr/100K miles. I wouldn't worry about the battery as there is lots of warranty left on it. If the price is right sounds like a great deal and I'd grab it.

@ James - driving the car a few miles each day is all it takes to keep the batteries good, you should be fine.

Could both of you please add your locations to your signiture blocks.

[Cobb]

The manual does have a procedure for parking your insight if you are going to be away for a while. Put in a ventlated area, in park, parking brake, foot on brake, bring engine up to 3000 rpms and hold it. You should see the regen meter dip. When it returns to nutral you are done, battery is as full as it will get.

[sbrown1977]

Originally Posted by gilbertguy

@ SBrown - 8000 miles is still a fair amount of usage over 3 years as long as it wasn't all put on the car in the first year and then sat for a couple of years. The Gen2 Insights have a 10yr/100K unless you live in a hot state then it is 8yr/100K miles. I wouldn't worry about the battery as there is lots of warranty left on it. If the price is right sounds like a great deal and I'd grab it.

@ James - driving the car a few miles each day is all it takes to keep the batteries good, you should be fine.

Could both of you please add your locations to your signiture blocks.

Hey thanks for this comprehensive response. Unfortunately I didn't jump on that Insight and now it's gone. But I've found another fully-loaded 2010 (with navigation/bluetooth) with only 1,244 miles ... of course it's listed at just over $20k, which isn't much more than the base 2012/13, buuuuutttt... my question is -- now we are talking about a car that clearly was parked for a long time and not driven. Probably not for months at a time. It's Certified, and still has the original warranty as well.... what are everyone's thoughts on this? Is that just too low?

[gilbertguy]

Battery has a good warranty, don't worry about it because if it is going to fail due to sitting it will do it well before the 10yr/100K time frame. That is unless you just drive it non-stop! Speaking of low miles, only 1,244 miles on a 2010??? Did they buy it and just park it and forget about it???