While there might be a slight effect of Toyotas being used less intensively because disproportionally higher income people buy them, I doubt it is a material effect. The people that are not going to put pavers in their car because they can afford not to and want to keep it nice are buying Denali Yukons or other more expensive, luxury vehicles.
Toyota did not start expensive, and even now it is not the most expensive ($/mile). They earned that reputation over many years, and while they may have raised prices, the resale market does not show any evidence of the quality slipping.
>While there might be a slight effect of Toyotas being used less intensively because disproportionally higher income people buy them, I doubt it is a material effect.
It is a very massive material effect.
>The people that are not going to put pavers in their car because they can afford not to and want to keep it nice are buying Denali Yukons or other more expensive, luxury vehicles.
That's exactly the point.
Look at how the Eddie Baur trim 90s Fords SUVs were/are over-represented on the used market for a very long time. They didn't get rode hard and put away wet like the lower trim ones. Look at the market for used GM sedans. The Caddys are pretty much always in better shape at a given age than their downmarket equivalents.
The difference is that Toyota, because of their unwillingness to readily offer good financing and incentives (driving up the effective "out the door" cost) ensures that the buyers of their vehicles are wealthier than those of comparable brands. Even at low price points this holds. You don't see a lot of Echos and Yaris's street parked in low rent neighborhoods whereas the Soul, Sentra and Focus are staples.
Other brands have the same effect going on (Volvo is a good example) but Toyota's is massive and they lean into it much more than anyone else.
>Toyota did not start expensive,
It has always been expensive, at least as far back as the 80s. Compare MSRPs to comparable cars from the domestics.
>the resale market does not show any evidence of the quality slipping.
The market is based on consumer perceptions that are driven mostly by out of doubt hearsay. It is unwise to trust the market to show much of anything.
Toyota did not start expensive, and even now it is not the most expensive ($/mile). They earned that reputation over many years, and while they may have raised prices, the resale market does not show any evidence of the quality slipping.