The value of a 2011 THINK

[Myles Twete]

As owners of these lovable little miracles, we consider them gems, both as our precious companions getting us here and there and in terms of their value.  This is particularly the case the more we paid for the car, how much fun we have with it, how little problems we have with it and especially if we just got the car a short time ago.  Some of us (like me) have been partners with our little miracles since they were offered to us, new, out of THINK bankruptcy in 2012.  And perhaps a few of us have never had anything significant go wrong with their car.  I wasn't that lucky (had to replace my charger and outboard the fuses myself the month that John Mayer died and before another mechanic picked up the THINK banner locally).  However, besides that, I've been fortunate.  At least 1 car literally "bricked" within the first quarter-mile of driving off the lot in 2012 and had to sit for a couple months at HAC before being released to go.  Other cars have literally sat for months awaiting a part (RLEC, Inverter, etc.) that was either unobtainium or too expensive.  Some of the ~120 cars delivered to NW Oregon in 2012 have been totalled.  Several cars left the region almost immediately with owners to the North and South.  Many of the remaining cars here have racked up (like mine and Alain's) ~80k miles now.  Likely many are at about half that.  A couple years ago a junk yard in the midwest parted out a cute blue 2011 THINK with just 400 miles or so on it---they even put a 12v battery in it and drove it around (video on YouTube) saying what a cool car it was---then also said that they couldn't sell the car because it had been "totalled" and had a salvage title...very sad.

And so here we are, 11 years since new (to us), 12 year old models and 13 years on the batteries, electronics and everything else.  What is the 2011 THINK worth?  In 2012, commercial EV options were very limited.  Nissan Leaf was pretty much the only affordable EV when we were offered these cars.  And at $8500 after tax breaks, these THINK City cars were a deal.  But these days, you can pick up used Leaf and many other EV marques at very reasonable rates---cars that also include fast charge capability, something only available on a THINK if you DIY (and put in well over $1k to do it).

For a time (thru maybe 2018), a used THINK could go for around $5k.  For awhile it seemed people were almost giving them away (under $2k).  Lately it seems the asking rate is around $2.5-3k for a decent one with reasonable miles.

But here's the rub: All it takes is a single board failure (e.g. of MLEC, RLEC, inverter or charger) for the car to be dead-in-the-water and require many hours of labor to repair.  Figure that it will cost you ~$1-2k plus replacement parts to fix these kinds of failures.  There's no way to know if this will happen.  But if it does, and you can't fix it yourself, your car's value plummets.  The mechanic won't offer you much of anything for it (figuring market value after repair minus repair costs).  And from your perspective: Either you accept that the value is gone and you nearly give it away or you double down and pay 50-90% of the pre-damaged value to get the car back to a state where it's again worth what it was.

But the value of these cars is not simply limited to what someone will pay for a good EV with reasonable range.  Even a car with a failed main component has value---in fact, much more value than the mechanic is willing to pay.  There are several components on these cars that are in demand and carry value.  These include MLEC, Inverter, Charger, RLECs, PCU itself, not to mention the battery, cabling, motor, drivetrain, suspension, body parts, etc.  The few of us who have actually crashed their THINK and had to get it repaired know something about body repair costs for these cars.  Some body parts are unavailable (at THINKPARTS4U).  Some, though available, or horrendously high priced.  In my case, I was quoted over $1k for a new hood---I opted to not replace it.  With such high quotes for "new" parts, surely good used ones on old THINKs have value (to the extent that these cars are still relevant, being driven and in demand).  It is sad to take these cars off the road and turn them into donors, but that is the phase we are going into more and more.  My windshield got cracked within the first few months of owning the car in 2012.  I lived with it for another few years, but it got pretty bad.  Then when John Mayer was operating out of Green Drop I noticed he had a "parts car" there with a good windshield.  Now, I probably could have gotten my insurance company to replace my window ($300 or so for a new windshield), but silly me had to do this myself.  So I bought that good used window.  After many hours of work (and rework), I got it replaced myself and have not had a crack since thankfully.  Anyway, every day I remind myself to be thankful for that parts car.

If you have what has become a parts car or have one that is long in the tooth or becoming a parts car, consider me interested.  I am wanting to pick up some of the THINK Enerdel module assemblies---want to use these in my other project: www.evalbum.com/348 .  I don't necessarily want a parts car, but will certainly help you by paying you reasonable prices for items I need that we can remove from your parts car.

-Myles Twete, SE Portland