Very high mileage overpriced compared to average mileage cars

goochy

noticed that cars with very high mileages rarely seem to be much cheaper than average mileage cars. cant see the logic in buying them.

two cars for sale currently got me thinking on this , my local merc. dealer has a 2010 E250 cdi coupe with 288kms for sale at €18.750 with no warranty ! you think they would at least offer 3 mths warranty - they obviously had trouble offloading in trade. its about €6/7 k cheaper than other cars but is that enough of a difference to make it worthwhile ?

also spotted a blinged up 2005 Bmw 645c1 manual with 230k mls for €9,995 at a respected Dublin used car dealer , think its probably worth about 5/6k and even then not a good buy .

Bigus

Advertised mileages are creeping up due to clocking being on the wane,

In Ireland it was nearly impossible 10 years ago to buy A second hand car with more than, 65k miles on it,no matter how old it was , with some cars clocked multiple times .

So now we finally have cars being sold with true mileages and main dealers unable to offload high mileage trade ins to clocker traders.(at a higher price)
So fairer on every body now , at least the price should reflect the usage.

I have the young lad running around in a youngish Megane diesel with North of 300,000 km on it , yet an expert would swear there was only a 1/3 of that on it by the feel and power in it, however it was bought for buttons.

allibastor

To be fair, I have spotted a good few cars with high mileage going for a lot cheaper.
There was a 10 Mondeo D i had looked at. It was something like 180K Km on clock and was a good 4K cheaper than other of similar age

cml387

Maybe venture to suggest that high mileage cars tend to be looked after better because they are being used by people who depend on them for work.
Rather than the classic stop/start-only-used-for-going-to-mass car that bows a head gasket the first time it's stressed.

jimgoose

cml387 wrote: »

Maybe venture to suggest that high mileage cars tend to be looked after better because they are being used by people who depend on them for work.
Rather than the classic stop/start-only-used-for-going-to-mass car that bows a head gasket the first time it's stressed.

There's a lot in this. If a yoke is running well with 150,000 or so up chances are it's strong, has been properly looked-after and is in good order overall. Bigger engines with plenty of torque take less notice of mileage due to being understressed nearly all the time. My one certainly is. There are three key aspects to living long and prospering, and they are: oil, oil, and finally, oil. Full service histories are good.

colm_mcm

You're basing this whole thing on an E class Coupe and a BMW 6 series.

Surely if you use an common enough car like a Ford Focus, or Toyota Avensis or whatever where there are plenty examples to compare with you could make a better point.

I thought you worked in the motor trade, no?

keithclancy

jimgoose wrote: »

There's a lot in this. If a yoke is running well with 150,000 or so up chances are it's strong, has been properly looked-after and is in good order overall. Bigger engines with plenty of torque take less notice of mileage due to being understressed nearly all the time. My one certainly is. There are three key aspects to living long and prospering, and they are: oil, oil, and finally, oil. Full service histories are good.

Yup, 368,000 on mine now and still going well.

I thought it was feeling a bit old and then didn't drive it for a few months (was commuting and mostly driving rental cars)

Got back into it and thought it felt no different to a car with 20,000 on the Clock.

jimgoose

keithclancy wrote: »

Yup, 368,000 on mine now and still going well...

Pure undiluted mightiness. What is it, if you don't mind my asking?

Caliden

Bigus wrote: »

Advertised mileages are creeping up due to clocking being on the wane,

In Ireland it was nearly impossible 10 years ago to buy A second hand car with more than, 65k miles on it,no matter how old it was , with some cars clocked multiple times .

So now we finally have cars being sold with true mileages and main dealers unable to offload high mileage trade ins to clocker traders.(at a higher price)
So fairer on every body now , at least the price should reflect the usage.

I have the young lad running around in a youngish Megane diesel with North of 300,000 km on it , yet an expert would swear there was only a 1/3 of that on it by the feel and power in it, however it was bought for buttons.

My 1 series is very close to the 300km mark. Got it 2 years ago with 220km on it and it was much cheaper than the rest because of it.

Yet it was the only one that had a full service history with receipts

CJhaughey

I bought my Avensis Mk1 2.0TD for 900, 3 years and 100k Miles(160K) later its still running like a top.
Currently 323,000 (516000 km) miles and counting.
Body is starting to give up though.
5k mile oil changes have ensured that the engine is still tip-top.
Oil is the lifeblood of an engine, don't change that and it will come back and bite you.
I don't believe these 15-20-30k oil change intervals that are currently in vogue, fine if the car is to be scrapped after the first owner but if you wan it to last then it has to be changed before that time.

goochy

I don't work in the car side of motor trade( did many moons ago ) , these cars just got me thinking about it but I am just saying mega mileage cars really only make sense if you are buying it for a couple of grand .

for

millington

goochy wrote: »

noticed that cars with very high mileages rarely seem to be much cheaper than average mileage cars. cant see the logic in buying them.

two cars for sale currently got me thinking on this , my local merc. dealer has a 2010 E250 cdi coupe with 288kms for sale at €18.750 with no warranty ! you think they would at least offer 3 mths warranty - they obviously had trouble offloading in trade. its about €6/7 k cheaper than other cars but is that enough of a difference to make it worthwhile ?

€7k is an awful lot cheaper its 27% less

DakarVert

I'd rather a 1 owner car with service history with biggish mileage.... Rather than a low mileage UK import that's been through the auctions and got a haircut on the boat.

Caliden

CJhaughey wrote: »

I bought my Avensis Mk1 2.0TD for 900, 3 years and 100k Miles(160K) later its still running like a top.
Currently 323,000 (516000 km) miles and counting.
Body is starting to give up though.
5k mile oil changes have ensured that the engine is still tip-top.
Oil is the lifeblood of an engine, don't change that and it will come back and bite you.
I don't believe these 15-20-30k oil change intervals that are currently in vogue, fine if the car is to be scrapped after the first owner but if you wan it to last then it has to be changed before that time.

Yea I don't get those high intervals either. I change between 10-12k km.

It's preventative maintenance and when it comes to oil the reactive maintenance is an engine change.

Slates

I am driving a 05 Focus 1.6tdci with 345631km on the clock. Bought the car new and have always serviced it on the button. Hope to get a few more years out of her !!

dr.fuzzenstein

CJhaughey wrote: »

I bought my Avensis Mk1 2.0TD for 900, 3 years and 100k Miles(160K) later its still running like a top.
Currently 323,000 (516000 km) miles and counting.
Body is starting to give up though.
5k mile oil changes have ensured that the engine is still tip-top.
Oil is the lifeblood of an engine, don't change that and it will come back and bite you.
I don't believe these 15-20-30k oil change intervals that are currently in vogue, fine if the car is to be scrapped after the first owner but if you wan it to last then it has to be changed before that time.

20k on the right car no problem. 2006 Cmax 1.8 TDCI, bought with 120k km on the clock, now has 352k km on in. Oil changed every 20000 km, engine as good as the day I bought it. So 20k km oil change interval for this particular kind of car isn't even a hint of a problem. But of course we'll see when it reaches half a mill.

Del2005

Caliden wrote: »

Yea I don't get those high intervals either. I change between 10-12k km.

It's preventative maintenance and when it comes to oil the reactive maintenance is an engine change.

Oil has improved a lot in the last few years, it's also got a lot more expensive. The high service intervals are no issue once the correct spec oil is used, it's fleet managers who look at cost of ownership that are buying the majority of high service interval cars and they wouldn't buy them if it was going to cost them. Once a vehicle is serviced on time, either mileage or time, it should be fine throwing oil in every 5k might feel good but isn't doing anything other than increasing the cost of ownership, Reason I say should be fine is because even with the best maintenance stuff still breaks.

ba_barabus

Thing is though most fleet stuff is sold around 100k miles. It's after that the lack of oil changes becomes an issue.

Voodoomelon

I still don't like high mileage cars, even if it has a good service history. Don't think i'll go for anything over the 80k mile mark, it's a bit of a mental block with me.

Sure engines are in good order at high miles, but a car that's done 150k miles compared to 50k miles is going to be in worse nick all round. You start to see worn pedals, seat bolsters and steering wheels, stone chips and dings, worn suspension, bad paint, marked windscreen, damaged interiors etc.

Engines can take it, but not other parts.

ba_barabus

Voodoomelon wrote: »

I still don't like high mileage cars, even if it has a good service history. Don't think i'll go for anything over the 80k mile mark, it's a bit of a mental block with me.

Sure engines are in good order at high miles, but a car that's done 150k miles compared to 50k miles is going to be in worse nick all round. You start to see worn pedals, seat bolsters and steering wheels, stone chips and dings, worn suspension, bad paint, marked windscreen, damaged interiors etc.

Engines can take it, but not other parts.

I suppose the pint is that the purchase price should account for this

dr.fuzzenstein

Voodoomelon wrote: »

I still don't like high mileage cars, even if it has a good service history. Don't think i'll go for anything over the 80k mile mark, it's a bit of a mental block with me.

Sure engines are in good order at high miles, but a car that's done 150k miles compared to 50k miles is going to be in worse nick all round. You start to see worn pedals, seat bolsters and steering wheels, stone chips and dings, worn suspension, bad paint, marked windscreen, damaged interiors etc.

Engines can take it, but not other parts.

'tis true, so it is. If we were to go by what armchair experts are writing, you'd expect the car to throw it's injectors out of the pram every 20000 miles and there to be an endless supply of DMF and DPF going into the car and nothing else.
In reality its steering, brakes, suspension components and wheel bearings that will go a lot. Of course petrols are so much more reliable because these things neeeever go wrong on them.
For some reason the exhaust will never go on a high mileage car. '06, 350k km, still on its first exhaust. I haven't had a car with a DPF, but with my daily commute it shouldn't be a problem.
Its the little low mileage runarounds that Mary uses to go to the shops once a week and that hasn't had an oil change in 2 years I wouldn't touch.
But:
You shouldn't worry too much about high mileage cars. Buy one that has been looked after and it won't go wrong on you, because it would have all the work done. And to get to a high mileage you have no choice buy to look after it. A neglected car will not make it to 300k km and more, because it would have fallen apart long ago.

CJhaughey

dr.fuzzenstein wrote: »

20k on the right car no problem. 2006 Cmax 1.8 TDCI, bought with 120k km on the clock, now has 352k km on in. Oil changed every 20000 km, engine as good as the day I bought it. So 20k km oil change interval for this particular kind of car isn't even a hint of a problem. But of course we'll see when it reaches half a mill.

How many wet belt changes have you done, or did you convert to chain?

dr.fuzzenstein

CJhaughey wrote: »

How many wet belt changes have you done, or did you convert to chain?

Mine always had chain, so never been changed. The upper belt has a 200k interval (I think or at least I hope ), that's been changed once. Won't be due for another while. The chain has some interval, but really I don't see a reason to change it.

TrailerBob

I would echo the sentiments of dr.fuzz. The ancillary parts are what go really. Buying a high miler is straight forward if you ask me. Either it's been run into the ground and will show all the evidence of such, or will be well cared for, and so be worth a punt. I recently compared my 260,000 mile Toyota to another identical model with 144,000 on it that's run by a farm up the road. Chalk and cheese. It was in bits, nothing had been done. Test out by 4 months. Driveshaft joints, bushes, drop links, shocks, all needed replacing. Would have taken €1500 or so to put it right, that's before bodywork. All the owners neglect, which is too common I'm afraid. I would take mine to Italy in the morning without a thought, but I'll have to wait till next summer when it'll be pushing 280,000

Abuse of vehicles needs to stop. Text 'hurt car' to 51666 to donate :pac:

The Sidewards Man

Them cruisers easily do a million miles so yours is not even run in yet trailor bob.

TrailerBob

I know, hence I'm still running it, and have no plans to stop anytime soon! I suppose to stay on topic the point is that in the open market, mine is worth more than the other one because overall it's in better shape, and requires zero spent on it for the time being. So mileage and price are not necessarily linked.

chriity139

My 535d has 168k miles on it and still feels brand new. Its all about how a car is looked after. If you look after a car the car wil look after you. If you neglect a car the car will punish you.

With my 535 it gets everything its needs and serviced every 10k kms