Buying used cars with 100k
Discussion
I committed a truly terrible crime in that I bought a Porsche 911 (996) with just over 100K miles on it almost 2 years ago. Have been very pleased with it and had no issues to mention and have done almost 5K miles in it.
My old daily driver was a 330D Sport BMW E46, that I bought with 153K miles on it for £5500 (a good price), owned it for almost 4 years and sold it a few months ago for £1500 with 213K miles on it. That had been a very good car.
I have a mate in work who will not look at a car with over 30K miles on it, as he says that is high mileage, so let him take the big hit in depreciation and spend more for a lower spec/mileage car.
In summary, people in the UK tend to think that as soon a car gets to 100K then it will blow up!
Lee
My old daily driver was a 330D Sport BMW E46, that I bought with 153K miles on it for £5500 (a good price), owned it for almost 4 years and sold it a few months ago for £1500 with 213K miles on it. That had been a very good car.
I have a mate in work who will not look at a car with over 30K miles on it, as he says that is high mileage, so let him take the big hit in depreciation and spend more for a lower spec/mileage car.
In summary, people in the UK tend to think that as soon a car gets to 100K then it will blow up!
Lee
I bought a BMW E65 with 150k miles on it, and proceeded to put another 65k on it in just over a year.... I sold it for £3k less than I paid for it.
I would not be bothered by big miles dependent on the engine and history; BMWs big 6 can go forever if serviced properly. And leggy cars are so cheap, its fantastic!
I would not be bothered by big miles dependent on the engine and history; BMWs big 6 can go forever if serviced properly. And leggy cars are so cheap, its fantastic!
We recently got a carpet fitted by a guy running a 99 Astra diesel estate. He casually mentioned that it had 411K miles on the clock and the only major thing he replaced in that time was a fuel injection pump. I reckon that half those miles he had a 100 kg roll of carpet on the roof too.
Of the 40 or so cars i've had, I think only 4 or 5 of them have had less than 100k on the clocks!
The lowest mileage one i've ever bought was a 60k C70 T5 with FSH which was utter rubbish, probably one of the worst 'looked after' cars i've ever had.
I would happily have a 200k motor that had been properly looked after over a 50k one thats just been abused any day!
I for one love the fact that seemingly the majority of people see cars as at the end of their life at 100k, makes for some great bargains!!
The lowest mileage one i've ever bought was a 60k C70 T5 with FSH which was utter rubbish, probably one of the worst 'looked after' cars i've ever had.
I would happily have a 200k motor that had been properly looked after over a 50k one thats just been abused any day!
I for one love the fact that seemingly the majority of people see cars as at the end of their life at 100k, makes for some great bargains!!
jedwa115 said:
Something I have been mulling over... Does it make sense to buy a used car with 100k miles on it?
IMHO YES but only in 2 circumstances:a) you're going to keep the car a while, and plough LOTS of miles on it, before selling it for peanuts. But don't care as it's a workhorse. (I did this with a Focus TDCI - 38k miles in 11months - sold it for near as damn it what I paid for it)
OR, FLIP SIDE
b) you buy with "above average miles" but only do 2000-3000 per annum, so in 3-4 years time it'll be nearly "average" mileage. Then can sell on without too much of a hit. I have mates who've done this and my dad has too. Mate bought a 1.9cdti Astra Sport hatch at 3years old with 85k on the clock IIRC, and then has done 2500 miles a year in it. So when he's looking at changing it this summer, the mileage won't be too far out.
My dad did it with a 99plate Ford Explorer too...... 2years old when bought with 55k on it. Then kept it 7years, doing 5k+ a year, soldi it at 9year old, with 90k ish on clock.
He also did it with a C70. Bought at 4years old, with 135k on the clock. Kept it 4 and a half years IIRC, doing only 6k a year. Sold that for only 25% (£1k) less than he paid for it. Which at the time was good, as the car he paid 4k for, would've been 11k on a forecourt with "average miles" but sold for not much more than his did 4years+ later.
If going to wack MAD MILES on and worried about resale, I've gone for low miles car. As I did with the ZR, bought at 3years old with 20k on. Sold 3 and half years later with 90k (ish) on.
A.J.M said:
tercelgold said:
rallycross said:
Makes good sense financially.
cars cope with huge mileage if looked after.
I have seen several cars with "engine seized, no oil" for £500 spares only. Volvo S60, Focus ST, Renault Megane III.cars cope with huge mileage if looked after.
tter.I would agree with other posters. Buy on condition rather than mileage. I would rather buy a car which has done a 100k (normally motorway miles) than lets say an ex-hire car.........we all know how we drive these!
Rust is not the killer of cars it used to be and engines generally seem to be more reliable but a lot of it comes down to being able to keep an eye on things and rectify quickly otherwise things can get expensive. Again, doing some of the servicing at home all helps to minimising the running costs.
Even if you are not confident about safety items such as the brakes and would prefer to leave this to a garage, changing the oil and filters etc is generally easy.
Rust is not the killer of cars it used to be and engines generally seem to be more reliable but a lot of it comes down to being able to keep an eye on things and rectify quickly otherwise things can get expensive. Again, doing some of the servicing at home all helps to minimising the running costs.
Even if you are not confident about safety items such as the brakes and would prefer to leave this to a garage, changing the oil and filters etc is generally easy.
RP1 said:
The lowest mileage one i've ever bought was a 60k C70 T5 with FSH which was utter rubbish, probably one of the worst 'looked after' cars i've ever had.
None of the MK1 C70s were that great. I had two of them (bought a second one because the first was so bad) and they were both rattle boxes with poor ride quality. I don't think they ever set them up correctly for UK roads.There's two issues with big mile motors these days:- 1 they usually feel very sloppy and worn out,shiny steering wheels,floppy switches and gear changes. 2 most modern cars have 15k service intervals which is way too long for an oil change. These long intervals are only to help sell the car to it's first owner.I have come across quite a few second owners of 5-6 year old 100-120k cars needing a new engine,mostly Mercs and Vag cars but others as well.
V8s ONLY said:
2 most modern cars have 15k service intervals which is way too long for an oil change. These long intervals are only to help sell the car to it's first owner.I have come across quite a few second owners of 5-6 year old 100-120k cars needing a new engine,mostly Mercs and Vag cars but others as well.
I'd agree. A lot of newer cars can go 2 years or 20k without an oil change even when serviced correctly. This makes the running costs look reasonable for new buyers/company car buyers but it's not so good for people looking to buy a higher milage example. Also, things like sealed for life gearboxes are clearly not designed with longevity in mind. Still if you're a car manufacturer what do you care about the car once it's gone past 100k. It's not like the original buyer is going to know that the car only lasted a few more years after he got rid of it and the buyer of the leggy second hand car isn't going to be visiting the main dealer anyway.
Buying high mileage cars is a great idea - we all know that if a car has been treated properly and serviced on schedule then that is far more important than a number on the dash, but 99% of the British population believe that mileage is the be all and end all of everything.
The majority of my friends and family are horrified that I bought an £800 car with 104k on it - but all genuinely amazed that it worked perfectly, looks good, and drives well. I do, however, know that when it needs tyres / brake pads or something like that I will get "I told you so, you should have bought a lower mileage car".
I am in fact selling that car, and its replacement will almost certainly have over 100k on it.
Come to think of it, my Astra had 69k on it when I bought it (lowest mileage car I have owned) and it was by far the least reliable by a long way.
The majority of my friends and family are horrified that I bought an £800 car with 104k on it - but all genuinely amazed that it worked perfectly, looks good, and drives well. I do, however, know that when it needs tyres / brake pads or something like that I will get "I told you so, you should have bought a lower mileage car".
I am in fact selling that car, and its replacement will almost certainly have over 100k on it.
Come to think of it, my Astra had 69k on it when I bought it (lowest mileage car I have owned) and it was by far the least reliable by a long way.
I don't think I could get excited about buying a new (to me) car with over 100k miles on the clock that had been farted in, spermed in (yes theres semen on everything), bogies picked, and all other sorts of crap through its years.
I just prefer knowing that most of the miles in the car were done by myself and it has been taken care of. Sometimes I have driven my cars badly e.g. going straight over speed humps and I do wonder just how badly it was driven before I got my hands on it. I don't like the thought of that.
People who only see cars as transport maybe could live like this, but I love cars and I like seeing how good a condition some can be maintained in. My favourite compliment is when people look at my car and can't believe its X number of years old.
I just prefer knowing that most of the miles in the car were done by myself and it has been taken care of. Sometimes I have driven my cars badly e.g. going straight over speed humps and I do wonder just how badly it was driven before I got my hands on it. I don't like the thought of that.
People who only see cars as transport maybe could live like this, but I love cars and I like seeing how good a condition some can be maintained in. My favourite compliment is when people look at my car and can't believe its X number of years old.
Edited by versus on Monday 13th February 18:05
A.J.M said:
As for disco3s, the 105k service is every expensive as its a belts change as well, buying a higher mileage one will also likely be on new wheel bearings, ball joints and new anti roll bar bushes. These 3 things on discos tend to go at 100k as the car weighs 2.7 tons so can wear them out. So buying a cheaper high mileage one could save you a few quid if the above parts have been done.
I do know of one 55 plate Disco3, with nearly 440k on the clock, ex HA wombles and now a tow car. Has has a few things but on original engine and turbos etc.
Buy one with bills to back up a life of good maintanance and continue it with decent parts and it will still be worth good cash in a few years time.
My next landrover will likely have near or above 100k on it, wont bother me as long as it has reciepts to back up a life of careful maintanace.
Actually that is a good point, I bought mine 3 years ago for £12.5k when diesel was sky high and 4x4s were really unpopular. It's probably worth the same now. Great car and pretty depreciation proof but budget for repairs with a good independent and you are sorted. Just don't plan to run it into the ground with minimal servicing as when they go wrong, it's usually electrics. I do know of one 55 plate Disco3, with nearly 440k on the clock, ex HA wombles and now a tow car. Has has a few things but on original engine and turbos etc.
Buy one with bills to back up a life of good maintanance and continue it with decent parts and it will still be worth good cash in a few years time.
My next landrover will likely have near or above 100k on it, wont bother me as long as it has reciepts to back up a life of careful maintanace.
The past few motors I've had have all had close to 100k, first one was an A4 Avant 2.0TFSI, 94k @ 4 y/o and in better condition and drove nicer than a 2 year old one I drove as a courtesy car. It was pretty much showroom condition...
This was when I sold it with 95k
http://public.fotki.com/marksheridan/car-stuff-1/p...
The CLS I have now has 111k on the clock, the only sign of the mileage is a bit of stone chip rash on the ends of the sills and an ever so slightly worn drivers mat and brake pedal rubber.
I do very low miles in my car anyway, probably lucky if I do 2500 a year so if I ever decide to keep them longer than 6-8 months, I tend not to lose out financially. In fact, that Audi, I bought it for £9400 and sold it 8 months later for £9950. They were both company cars that had spent the majority of their time on the motorway, the Audi was meticulously looked after by the bloke that had it, spoke to him about it and he said he wouldn't let anyone else drive it and the kids were allowed nowhere near it.
This was when I sold it with 95k
http://public.fotki.com/marksheridan/car-stuff-1/p...
The CLS I have now has 111k on the clock, the only sign of the mileage is a bit of stone chip rash on the ends of the sills and an ever so slightly worn drivers mat and brake pedal rubber.
I do very low miles in my car anyway, probably lucky if I do 2500 a year so if I ever decide to keep them longer than 6-8 months, I tend not to lose out financially. In fact, that Audi, I bought it for £9400 and sold it 8 months later for £9950. They were both company cars that had spent the majority of their time on the motorway, the Audi was meticulously looked after by the bloke that had it, spoke to him about it and he said he wouldn't let anyone else drive it and the kids were allowed nowhere near it.
Edited by m44kts on Monday 13th February 21:48
Nothing wrong with high mileage cars especially for Diesels. in 1998 i bought a Passat Diesel with 45k. i kept it 3 years when i parted with it it had 200k.
since then it has been kept in the family getting passed on to various members. it just seems to get better with age and miles. it has been serviced at VW from new to 400k that was in 2002 but since then I have taken on the service and maintainance.
my nephew passed his test in December and jokingly i said "so you will be the next owner" he thought about it over the weekend and said Yes on monday last week. i have it in my garage at home doing the rear brakes, but apart from the usual servicing and wear and tear parts it has not cost a lot to keep it in good running order yesterday i drove it from the midlands to Penzance and back on three quarters of a tank of fuel averaging 56mpg. not bad as on the way home 780k clicked over.
all the family are just hoping now that with good maintainance and good driving we can take it beyond the million mile mark, if my nephew keeps it for 2 years with his job he will easily attain this. he will be driving 400 miles a day
since then it has been kept in the family getting passed on to various members. it just seems to get better with age and miles. it has been serviced at VW from new to 400k that was in 2002 but since then I have taken on the service and maintainance.
my nephew passed his test in December and jokingly i said "so you will be the next owner" he thought about it over the weekend and said Yes on monday last week. i have it in my garage at home doing the rear brakes, but apart from the usual servicing and wear and tear parts it has not cost a lot to keep it in good running order yesterday i drove it from the midlands to Penzance and back on three quarters of a tank of fuel averaging 56mpg. not bad as on the way home 780k clicked over.
all the family are just hoping now that with good maintainance and good driving we can take it beyond the million mile mark, if my nephew keeps it for 2 years with his job he will easily attain this. he will be driving 400 miles a day
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