Good mileage to buy a car at to get good value ?

Jellicoe

Good mileage to buy a car at to get good value ?
I know this is very general and variable and totally depending on how the car has been kept, but if all other things were equal, has anyone any mileages they think are good value to buy at ?


I reckon around 80k miles with FSH offers good value. The timing belt should be done at this stage, alternator and other things likely to go in the earlier miles have been sorted ?, and you might get some good motoring as far as 120k before clutch shocks etc. and other big bills need doing ?


E.g. would you buy at 80k and sell at 120k etc. ?




What’s your preferred system, if you have one ?

Alanstrainor

Your system is flawed.

Things like timing belts have different intervals depending on the car. And that's if it has a belt at all.

Bought my car 5ish months ago with 120,000 miles on it. Have had little trouble at all so far.

Jellicoe

I don't really have any system, that’s why I'm asking.

I would fully agree intervals are different and it depends on the model etc.

Just wondering what mileage might be seen as good value, if any, if other variables were in order.

Supergurrier

I went for a fairly spartan example of my car because it had 37,000 miles on it (2007) even though it has €500 worth if bodywork damage 3-4-5 small dents etc im gonna fix after the winter+detail.

I find small things annoying like no USB connectivity on the bog "from a transit" stereo headunit and the like but overall even though i was looking at a much cleaner car with 50,000 or so miles/much better spec heated leather seats/€700 euro anti hijack alarm and 271bhp over 225 and pretty much every extra im happy with what i got, whan you buy a car with nankang rubber on it though you do wonder.

+i got a nice reg as a bonus so can't complain.

My advice overall is get whats right for you, milage isn't everything as some people will have a 5-6 year old car with low milage on the same rubber and no servicing or only 1-2 oil changes which is worse

Jellicoe

Ok, the idea of this thread was not to say what is the only way etc.
Maybe it has come accross wrong.

Great if you can find a good low mileage motor, and don't have to pay over the odds for it, go for it. Great if you find a 300k miles car and your happy with it. No issue with any of that at all.

I'm thinking more typical average second hand diesels myself. Maybe for example, given two identical models at two different prices and mileages, a lower priced book value 130k is a better value for money buy than the book value 90k etc., or a 70k is better value than a 110k for example (all other things being equal, which they rarely are, but lets just say they are to see) That's all I was wondering. Just to see if anyone has any thoughts along those lines. If not fair enough.

Wheelnut

Jellicoe doesn't say what end of the market he's at, so we have to assume it's absolute best value rather than the cheapest you can get away with.

It's best to think of age rather than mileage then because that's the main factor in that little book that the trade uses. Of course mileage counts but it's OK as long as it's proportional to the age.

I think the best buy is a three year old car and sell it when it's six years old.

At three years the car will be half the price of a new one, it will still be modern and up-to-date with all the toys, and if it hasn't been abused any lack of full servicing will not have done much harm.

Then sell it at six years when it should be worth a quarter of the original price.

Jellicoe

Ok, using that example, now lets take that 3 year old car your proposing, with 60k miles on it, and the same 3 year old model with 100k on it. Given the different book values, which one would be better value to keep and run for say 60k miles and three years ?

rocky

The red one.