Car mileage

forgotmyname

I bought a Rover diesel with 230,000 miles on it. Used it for about 4 years to tow my caravan to the seaside every holiday.

Added a fair few thousand miles to it and sold it for about £350 less than i paid.

Niowrtt

Perhaps a good rule might be: Don't buy over 10,000, don't sell under 200,000. Then you can be absolutely sure it is maintained properly over its whole life (er, if you do maintain it properly, that is) and you get absolutely all the value out of it.

But if you're doing less than 30,000 miles a year that might not work out so well.

bodgerx

Niowrtt wrote: »

Perhaps a good rule might be: Don't buy over 10,000, don't sell under 200,000.

That leaves buying a new car and keeping it for over 200,000 miles.

For the average driver that means keeping the car 20 years. By then age will have taken its toll, not mileage.

Even if you did double the average mileage, that means 10 years.

If you really want to save money, you need the value knocked out of the car first, so you are talking at least 2 years old and 20,000 miles. Then keeping for at least 8 years and over 100K.

mikeandrach_2

I bought a 3 year old car on 7000 miles about 2 years ago, but also have a 6 year old car I bought brand new that is on 153k. the car on 153k hasn't been serviced since 40k, so has done over 110k without even being looked at, still on original cambelt and brake discs (pads and tyres are only things to have been touched). flown through every mot without an issue which always amazes me for such a badly maintained car

Ultrasonic

mikeandrach wrote: »

the car on 153k hasn't been serviced since 40k, so has done over 110k without even being looked at

That is just frankly stupid. An MOT won't assess engine wear due to a lack of oil changes, or the likely reduced mpg.

colino

While many diesels can gobble up huge mileages, you do have to take into consideration that every component will have travelled that same road and been shaken, vibrated and crashed about and they do have a finite life. However, the exception that proves the rule is the 5 Series that two local taxi guys double shift. They buy theirs, always sticking with the brand, when they are two years old, someone else having taken the depreciation punch in the kidneys, always fully loaded, 530Ds. They then run them for 2-3 years, and local traders vie to buy it off of them. The car is always pristine, they take maintenance to new levels, at one point renewing the interior of one because it was "aged" (I got it, one of the last e39s), but the golden rule is they sell on when it gets to 300,000miles!
Each to their own, and I know people are looking for bargains, but for general use and if I needed a motorway muncher, I'd have an unloved 1.8 petrol Vectra instead of something that was cheap because it had been to the moon and back.

mikeandrach_2

Ultrasonic wrote: »

That is just frankly stupid. An MOT won't assess engine wear due to a lack of oil changes, or the likely reduced mpg.

Why is it stupid? its my choice, if the car dies ill break it for parts and buy another, its a spare car anyway as have another plus company car.

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oliverr

For me it would depend on the car and what I was going to use it for, also how it had been maintained. Many factors would affect my decision.

At the moment I only have a little Corsa and it has around 35k on the clock and is 3 years old.

Weird_Nev

I bought a car with 162,000miles on it. 1997 BMW 328i. A nice car from just before the time electronics got evil, with a simple six cylinder engine.
I got my value out of it, spent a bit doing some work, and sold it after 2 years and at 180,000 miles for £700 -what I'd paid for it.

Really, it's down to condition and history for me. If I get a good vibe off a car, mileage doesn't matter.

That said, I bought my impreza with 52,000 miles on it, and after I'd replaced the suspension it did feel wonderful to drive. Generally "new car" in feel and integrity. Like it or not, cars with over 100k miles on them don't feel like they're "just run in" despite what sale ads may tell you.

No one ever advertises a ford mondeo as "Used daily for towing, shunting samples round sales venues and to transport small pit ponies to the top of welsh hills". They're always "motorway miles only"

Retrogamer

I don't factor in the mileage too much when i'm looking at cars to buy.
A car with 100,000 miles mostly on motorway, never abused and well serviced with the correct oil will be better than a car that's done 30,000 miles, driven hard from cold and has ran up most of those miles around town never getting a chance to heat up properly.