Age or Mileage

Lum

DominicH wrote: »

Agree about judging on condition. I think "number of journeys" is a better measure of a car's age than mileage or years. Unfortunately, that number is not recorded anywhere. You can get an idea by inspecting the driver's area closely. Look at the condition of the bolster (the side of the seat that gets rubbed when the driver gets in or out); the gear knob; the pedals; the other driving controls. If they are worn and scruffy, that car has had a hard life. And these things are difficult to hide with valeting.

The only worn out control on my company Mondeo is the change track button on the CD player where the paint has peeled off. What would you read into that?


Seriously though, as others have said, a high mileage ex-motorway-barge is likely to be in better condition than a low mileage school+tesco trolley as the former gives the engine a much easier life with less time spent running while cold.

DominicH

Lum wrote: »

Seriously though, as others have said, a high mileage ex-motorway-barge is likely to be in better condition than a low mileage school+tesco trolley as the former gives the engine a much easier life with less time spent running while cold.

OK, but a motorway barge that has done 1,000 journeys has spent about as much time running cold as a town runabout that has done the same number of journeys (maybe a bit more, actually). That is why I like that measure of a car's usage. It's like how they measure it in the aviation industry -"cycles", i.e. flights, are more important than age and far more important than miles.

bouicca21

10 year old cars that have only done 24,000 miles aren't necessarily clocked. I have one myself. I don't really need a car but it's handy to have one. It's (almost) my only luxury.

Lum

DominicH wrote: »

OK, but a motorway barge that has done 1,000 journeys has spent about as much time running cold as a town runabout that has done the same number of journeys (maybe a bit more, actually). That is why I like that measure of a car's usage. It's like how they measure it in the aviation industry -"cycles", i.e. flights, are more important than age and far more important than miles.

But at you said, you can't measure that on a car, there isn't a counter for that.

Even so, if the number of starts were identical, I'd still go for the high miler over the stop/start mobile as the high mile motorway runs are a lot kinder to things like dual mass flywheels

forgotmyname

My car came with the printed sheed from the lease company. But oddly it also had receipts for oil changes done between the services?

Receipts for even small bits of trim that got damaged or replaced. I assume that maybe because the lease company would charge them.

But 4 new tyres at less than 3000 miles and all those extra oil changes?

Im not complaining though its been a good old workhorse in the 3 years i have owned it. Mileage going up faster than normal though. So maybe the end of this year for a new one? Not new obviously. Been there and done that. Had the empty bank account to go with it.

S-Max Maybe? Or do i buy 2 Mondeo's for the same money?

justapoorboy

forgotmyname wrote: »

My car came with the printed sheet from the lease company.

Did you buy it direct from the lease comany or via a dealer ?
I see a lot of ads from dealers saying "direct from the leasing company" or words to that effect.
Makes me wonder if it is possible to buy "direct from the leasing company" instead of via a dealer. Anyone know ?

justapoorboy

bouicca21 wrote: »

10 year old cars that have only done 24,000 miles aren't necessarily clocked.

I'm sure thats true and I have already decided to do a check on any car before going to see it.
https://www.vehiclecheck.co.uk say that 1 in 16 cars "showed significant mileage discrepancies". that's 6%+

The car in question is a luxury large engine model from a luxury maker whose parts are astonomically expensive. I guess that plus poor mileage is why the car is so cheap.