Advice needed on short term Depreciation

mgfvvc

comeandgo said:

I would never buy a car a few years old with four or five thousand on the clock, they have either been sitting somewhere for months on end or been started and driven a couple of miles and stopped.  I was told it’s better to get a young high mileage car with evidence of services. 

I bought a 3.5 year old C-Max with less than 3,000 miles. It has been mostly fine. I wasn't happy with the air con, the battery died after a few years and it needed new discs and pads after a few years. Some of that may have been down to it having stood a lot. It might all have happened anyway, it's hard to say.
I've done over 100,000 miles in that car and it has had no long term ill effects that I can see from the low mileage.

Rogerrabbit777

You really want to just buy a car based on condition - what one looks like it's been looked after better? What one will be easier to sell in 6 months?
———————-

probably yes. And if i end up staying in the uk one that i wont be desperate to want to get rid off because it was cheap and nasty so to speak!

i have noticed the the 19 plate with only 3 plus thousand on the clock  has dropped alot . Firstly after i first enquired and then again when i said i would leave it for a few weeks to see what else came up. Its gone from 8,600 to 8 dead.  Whether thats coincedence?  But the other, same make model,3 years older with 55k on the clock (which sounds better from all your advice and is just under 6 k with virtually no tax to pay yet is almost double the insurance cost of the other. 

Herzlos

Can you link to the ads for both of those cars? There must be some distinction.

A 4 year old car with 3000 miles on the clock is suspicious - it's either spent a lot of time parked and not moving (possibly an older owner who took ill and stopped driving, possibly off-road awaiting repairs, etc), or it was used to drive 3 miles to a shop and back, twice a week.

I'd expect a 4 year old car to be on about 20k miles.

WellKnownSid

Herzlos said:

A 4 year old car with 3000 miles on the clock is suspicious - it's either spent a lot of time parked and not moving (possibly an older owner who took ill and stopped driving, possibly off-road awaiting repairs, etc), or it was used to drive 3 miles to a shop and back, twice a week.

It could have been an ex-police vehicle - and not moved on to the trade until it had covered 70,000 hard miles.  After a quick mileage 'calibration' of -67,000 miles, its first MoT and a good detailing it's ready for sale at top dollar... 

Herzlos

WellKnownSid said:

Herzlos said:

A 4 year old car with 3000 miles on the clock is suspicious - it's either spent a lot of time parked and not moving (possibly an older owner who took ill and stopped driving, possibly off-road awaiting repairs, etc), or it was used to drive 3 miles to a shop and back, twice a week.

It could have been an ex-police vehicle - and not moved on to the trade until it had covered 70,000 hard miles.  After a quick mileage 'calibration' of -67,000 miles, its first MoT and a good detailing it's ready for sale at top dollar... 

That's why condition is more important than mileage.

Rogerrabbit777

Herzlos said:

Can you link to the ads for both of those cars? There must be some distinction.

A 4 year old car with 3000 miles on the clock is suspicious - it's either spent a lot of time parked and not moving (possibly an older owner who took ill and stopped driving, possibly off-road awaiting repairs, etc), or it was used to drive 3 miles to a shop and back, twice a week.

I'd expect a 4 year old car to be on about 20k miles.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202306058161969?sort=price-asc&advertising-location=at_cars&include-delivery-option=on&make=Vauxhall&model=Viva&postcode=Ls158qy&price-to=8500&radius=30&fromsra


https://www.evanshalshaw.com/search/details/vauxhall/viva/manual-petrol-red-hatchback/3ead61ce-81f1-ed11-8fb7-0022481a3d00/

Dave_5150

Rogerrabbit777 said:

Thanks for your advice so a low milage 3-4 year old car isnt as good as it sounds. Thanks. 

One thing that has confused me is insurance prices. They have gone up ALOT since i last insured in 2013. But i have been looking at one make and model from 2019 and then exactly the same make/model which is three years older and the same insurance firm are quoting me almost double the price of the 2019 plate. I thought newer cars would cost more to insure but how can they justify almost double for the exact same car but three years older

Improvements in safety equipment or NCAP ratings, better availability of current model parts etc. 

Rogerrabbit777

Another question please. Im looking at the MOT history for cars and for example for the check in 2022 it gives advisory info about brake pads worn,tyres etc etc. then in 2023 it doesnt list any of them. Does that mean all the advisory's were fixed? Or do they only documents any issues once 

thanks

WellKnownSid

It likely means everything was fixed.  Worn tyres could have all been replaced by the cheapest, nastiest set of part-worn tyres the owner could find.

It could mean the MoT tester was more lenient in 2023.

It could also mean the test in 2022 was carried out at a major tyre / brake "Quick Fit" style of establishment and they identified an unexpectedly large number of issues...

These are generally easy things to look out for yourself.