High Mileage Ex-Fleet cars - Opinions?

[superhans88]

Hi Guys,

Thinking of buying a Mondeo or Mazda6 at under 5 years and around the 100k mark, preferrably 1 owner and FSH. To my mind they seem like awesome value (circa £4k), considering that they have been well maintained and most of their miles have been racked up on the motorway (low stress?). Is this a fair opinion? Is a high-mileage ex-fleet car a good buy or a potential disaster?

Cheers

Edited by superhans88 on Wednesday 20th March 21:27

[BE57 TOY]

I've always sold cars around the 70/80k mark as this is when things start to fail, but if you don't mind the hassle factor it seems a bargain.

[ben5732]

I've got a ex plod Volvo and its been trouble free for well over a year, found my dad an ex fleet passat which he's had for 4 years now, apart from the usual passat failures (i would never own a Volkswagen again after the issues my friend has had with one) its been good really used as a taxi since purchase by him. I'd say go for it.

[andy-xr]

I dont know how the Mk4 improved things over the Mk3 Mondeo, but on the latter the 100k mark was ripe for the flywheel, injectors and fuel pump going a bit wonky

[superhans88]

So to what extent do you think that, for example, covering 100k miles over 4 years is better than 100k over 10 years? Would you say that many reliability issues are avoided by the nature of the work that these cars have done? (eg motorways, always up to temp..) It seems that there are so many 100k+ mile cars out there at only a few years old, presumably running well?

Thanks

[Lynch91]

BE57 TOY said:

I've always sold cars around the 70/80k mark as this is when things start to fail, but if you don't mind the hassle factor it seems a bargain.

Really? My dad ran his jag xj upto 125k without any major issues. And my mum has a Seat Alhambra which she's now done 115k in and all it's required is a turbo at 110k. Where as we also have a diesel focus which has now done 50k and in that time chucked 3 turbos. I actively seek 100k+ cars now as there value just crashes around that mileage and I've always been told cars can do 200k+ miles

[Sir Bagalot]

Stay away from a Diesel Mazda6 at that value. If you want to know why then google Mazda 6 Diesel DPF issues

[Jordan Rich]

Motorway miles are very different to town miles, and its much less likely to have been ragged around while the engine is freezing, so it seems a good idea to me. Though i bought my second car at 200k miles, and i know barely any were motorway and quite a lot wernt on roads.
A car isnt dead because its at 100k, its just getting on a bit, look after it and it will do that mileage again easily in most cases.

[jamoor]

They should install hour meters in cars instead of mileage.

[Glade]

I treat mine like st. Ikea runs, tip runs, bits of work related things going out to customers, muddy walking boots always go in this car etc.

It is fully maintained, and I know the dealerships do all the work they can squeeze out of the lease co when it goes in for a service. Tyres changed regular etc on paper probably looks quite good.

But i have about 5 miles of potholed b road that i cane it down twice a day, every day... so suspension bushes and dampers will be prematurely aged

on the positive side you might have someone who drives like miss daisy, and it won't have any dodgy modifications or home diy oil/filter/pad changes - missing bolts on the undertray or dodgy wiring etc

buy on condition with peace of mind of main dealer no expense spared history.

[GregMac]

There's nothing as unloved as a pool car

[superhans88]

Surely a car that's done 30k a year will have spent a huge amount of these on the Motorway, fully up to temp, low revs, few gear changes and limited rough and tumble for the suspension? Does that not make them better value than a 15k/year commuter car, factoring in the cost difference!

Excuse my ignorance, but what sort of person would normally do 100k in a few years in a car? '1 company owner since new' etc.. will many be pool cars? Also, is a 5-series a safer bet for this reason than a reps mondeo?

Also, do you reckon a petrol is a safer bet than a diesel at this mileage? Seriously tempted by the likes of this... as a low mileage petrol alternative..

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/b...

[f1nn]

I have had a company insignia for the best part of the last three years, and 100k. It's been serviced on the dot and has never wanted for anything.

When it gets collected from me on the 19th of April I expect it will go straight to auction, and I pity the person who stumps up there hard earned for it.

Although it has been a generally decent car, the amount of faults it's developed over the last 6-7k is shocking, and I'd say the general feel of the car has degraded recently. The paintwork of the car looks like its done 200k despite being regularly looked after.

I would not put much faith In the car being cheap to maintain over the next 50k that's for rsure.

[spikeyhead]

You could buy new for £15k and three years later have something worth £4k, but only pay £1k in servicing.

Or you could pay £4k and another £3k to keep it on the road for three years. Providing the occaisional hiccup like it needing £1k worth of injectors or DMF isn't an issue, it works out much cheaper.

[robsa]

superhans88 said:

So to what extent do you think that, for example, covering 100k miles over 4 years is better than 100k over 10 years? Would you say that many reliability issues are avoided by the nature of the work that these cars have done? (eg motorways, always up to temp..) It seems that there are so many 100k+ mile cars out there at only a few years old, presumably running well?

Thanks

This is true; motorway miles are far less stressful on a car than round town miles. High miles in short years on fleet almost always means motorways. Remember a warm engine has almost no wear when running.

Anyway, 100k these days is nothing as long as regularly serviced, which fleet tend to be.

[anonymous-user]

It's like anything else, there are good ones, bad ones, clocked ones, crashed ones, ones which have done those miles remapped, ones which have been thrashed, ones which have been cared for.

Do your research and avoid anything with a specific endemic problem at high miles. Pick a model you like, drive several, a good one should jump out at you as feeling better than an abused one. After that it's all just luck.

Don't assume that just because it has a full main dealer history the work has been done to the right standard, one dealer local to me offered not to change the fuel and air filters when they were due on my lease car to "keep the cost down" for me but they'd still have stamped the book up. Christ alone knows how widespread that behavior is.

[spikeyhead]

charltjr said:

It's like anything else, there are good ones, bad ones, clocked ones, crashed ones, ones which have done those miles remapped, ones which have been thrashed, ones which have been cared for.

Do your research and avoid anything with a specific endemic problem at high miles. Pick a model you like, drive several, a good one should jump out at you as feeling better than an abused one. After that it's all just luck.

Don't assume that just because it has a full main dealer history the work has been done to the right standard, one dealer local to me offered not to change the fuel and air filters when they were due on my lease car to "keep the cost down" for me but they'd still have stamped the book up. Christ alone knows how widespread that behavior is.

I used to help out round my mates car lot, where he sold a lot of ex lease ex repmobiles. I looked at dozens of air filters and also cabin filters. Never saw one that wasn't original. Always covered in large amounts of black crud. I suspect that most main dealers just didn't bother with such minor items that were unlikely to ever cause the lease company an issue.