Fleets could lose over $3,200 per vehicle at remarketing time.

UK-based HPI is estimating that a car driven by a heavy smoker could lose over $3,200 in value because of damage to the interior, as well as the lingering smell of smoke.

“Smoking in cars is bad news as far as re-sale health is concerned,” said Fernando Garcia, Consumer Director at HPI. “The first thing a car dealer will do when looking at a car being sold by a smoker is knock down the price of the part exchange.  A car for part-ex has to be made fit for re-sale and this becomes considerably more difficult and expensive when that car was previously driven by a smoker.”

HPI adds that cleaning the vehicle is no guarantee that it will no longer smell of smoke. In some cases, the internal fabric may have to be stripped out, which is a time-consuming and expensive process. In addition, repairing any marks, stains and cigarette burns to the dashboard and upholstery adds to the reconditioning costs, which further drags down the resale value.