Worth considering a high mileage used car?

notisis

Hello everyone
I'm looking at buying a used small city car (i10, Citigo, Up, Panda etc) up to £4k, up to £30 road tax, and no older than 8 years as a second car.  There are several around in that bracket 2014/15 plate with high mileage like 98k or more, is it worth considering or stick to 2012/2013 plate?  I'm asking as I'm likely to use for short journeys several times a week only and maybe a couple of 40 mile journeys up to twice a month so overall mileage will be lower over a longer period.  Looking to keep for a couple of years at least and need low maintenance/insurance etc.  Most of these are through a trader rather than private if that makes any difference as there really doesn't appear to be much about within a 40 mile radius private or trade.   Not something I would maintain myself other than oil/water/tyres as my days of cleaning carbs and spark plugs etc ended when I was around 12 helping dad on old style engines.
Thank you in advance.

Grumpy_chap

High mileage, of itself, is not to be afraid of as it may indicate motorway use, which is fairly low wear.  Unusual on a small city car though.

tacpot12

Small city cars do not usually last as well doing motorway miles as the engines have to work harder. I would not buy a small city car with high mileage unless I knew the seller personally, and knew how the car had been used. That said, driving small city cars around a city is also very hard on the car; they are subjected to short journeys, stop-start traffic (which wears the clutch), potholes, and plenty of a--holes. 

High mileage might also indicate that the car has been used as a hire car or courtesy car, both of which means they will have been driven by (some) people who will not have treated the car as they would their own.

I would look for a lower mileage, slightly older car with whose owner you can identify as having looked after the car, e.g. had it serviced at the right intervals, kept the spare key, fitted decent quality tyres. If the service book or spare is missing, or the tyres are brand you've never heard of or that cost less than £50 from Blackcircles. I just had a look on Autotrader and the first vehicle I saw was a 2014 Citigo with 71K miles, 1 owner, full dealer service history, spare key, tyres are Hankook which are ok, for £3975, so you might not even have to accept anything older than 2014.  Ideally, a small car should have done no more than 9000 miles per year of its age, but I think the one on Autotrader is close enough. I wouldn't go above 70K miles. 

forgotmyname

Service History / Service History / Service History and not just stamps in a book but real proof the work was done.

Stuck to that for car purchases for several years now and its worked for me.  And mostly trade sellers also. Too many
private sellers with overpriced junk that needs work before the next MOT.

40 miles is nothing for the right car.

Mercdriver

Hire cars tend to be fairly low mileage.  I hired a Hyundai Santa Fe a few years ago that had a note in it that it shouldn't be allowed to reach more than 15,000 miles.  (My hire took it to 18,000)

Ridgee

I'd personally stay away from a high mileage city type car as they're just not built for motorway use, if the mileage has come from town driving then it's probably pretty tired anyway.

forgotmyname

Ridgee said:

I'd personally stay away from a high mileage city type car as they're just not built for motorway use, if the mileage has come from town driving then it's probably pretty tired anyway.

Rubbish.  Name any modern cars that wont do 80+mph?

I did 75 miles a day in an Austin Metro where the redline on the rev counter was a target not a warning. 
About 6 years old when I bought it and it went everywhere even abroad. 12,000 mile service was check the oil
and water (check!  not change it).  The gearbox did go after 6 years of abuse.  Didn't know the speedo rec counter
went past the readings until a boring trip back from Dover at 3am...

When the Smart came out there was one on the M1, he was in the outside lane 80+ every day. He didnt seem to
have any issues keeping up with the traffic.

AdrianC

A lot of this size of car is on business fleets, just bimbling around all day - care agencies, meter readers.

As ever, look at the car itself and see what you think. Look at the MOT history. Look at the paperwork. Does it feel tired? Does the MOT history raise eyebrows?

On the whole, unless I'm going to be stacking miles on, I'd rather pay less for something with 90k on it than bypass it and pay more for something that could well be clocked anyway - or has only ever been pootled locally and never got up to temp.

macman

While not seeking out a high mileage example, what you do want to avoid is the low-mileage ones, say less than 40k at 8 or more years old?
Odds are that they've been used for short shopping or commuting trips only, so you can expect the brakes, clutch and gearbox to be worn accordingly. And, as AdrianC points out, cars used like this don't always get up to temp, so increasing engine wear.

notisis

Thanks, everyone.  Really useful.  I had seen a few really low mileage too so thanks AdrianC and macman.

Scrapit

I feel bad for anyone driving 16-20000 miles a year in a car like that.