[i]maybe just me, but I would rather fix a car I know than go through the risk and hassle of swapping.
(obviously my opinion only, you don't have to share it, I was just putting it forward) [/i]
Me again.
Don't disagree, as in the past I've spent probably £500 (+servicing/tyres etc) a year on keeping it in good running order. A £40k car even if I only paid £2k for it still costs serious money to run.
But this time we've also moved, from a SE commuter town to a hamlet down a single-track road deep in the country, so bought an £1100 X-Type with AWD instead 😀
Seems a reasonable figure. As long as repairs are expensive and old cars cheap, most people won't bother keeping higher mileage stuff on the road.
If I don't get at least 250k out of my 300tdi before it needs rebuilt I'll be pretty upset mind...
So the same article suggests average annual (in UK) mileage is about 7,000.
I struggle to get my head around why it is economically worth running a car for that.
It also makes me realise that the argument for an electric car is a good one...
And meant to add that £800 was the starting 'estimate'...
Even for Singletrackworld this thread is particularly full of self satisfied smugness.Well done to everyone who has got their car past 100,000 miles.
But as pointed many people dont actually drive that far. If they only do 5,000 miles a year they would have to have owned the car for 20 years to reach this level so they might actually be other beings on their way to reach enlightenment like all you super beings.
Sanctimonious, much?
My 51 plate Octy TDi is currently on 111800, it was on 85000 when I bought it in '05, and it cost £560 to go through the last MOT, but that included a service, two tyres and labour. I don't plan on getting rid of it anytime soon, it runs beautifully on longer runs, like the trip down to Burnham-on-Sea today, around 150 miles or so, and it's very comfortable.
If I had to replace it, it would be for another Škoda, either an Octy or Fabia VRs, just for the extra poke and better handling. As it happens I average less than 5k/year, because work is less than a mile away.
Aye, every new car that gets crashed at 5000 miles throws your assumption for this stat out.
That said- my old Focus nearly went to scrap at 110000. Perfectly solid car but one big mechanical- slave cylinder- hit it with a repair bill that was half its resale value. Also while the overall condition was good it'd become a bit of a swine to work on- everything corroded together, lots of slightly worn parts. I chose to replace it and a local motor mechanic with spare time chose to fix it but it could easily have gone for scrap.
"smugness"... "they might actually be other beings on their way to reach enlightenment like all you super beings."
Lolcopters! You are so right. Guilty as charged 😀
Just to join in with the smugness, my 03 diesel passat has done 150k and is still going strong!!
I do use a very good vw specialist garage that don't charge me too much to keep in going!!
To beat ads678, our 1995 Audi A6 has done 280k miles, albeit only 200k on this engine. Still does 40mpg and doesn't depreciate, cheap cheap car.
Another thing that kills cars amongst my non petrol head mates is lack of servicing.
Maybe. Mine is likely to get scrapped sometime soon - currently on 156k and 13 years old. Since it went through ~90k it's had an MOT (and work done to get through that) along with an oil change every year, nothing much else in the way of servicing. I don't think the big stuff which is starting to go wrong would have lasted any longer if I'd spent lots more on servicing - not the sort of stuff which they do anything to in a normal service. Meanwhile the amount I'd have spent on full servicing is far more than the car would be worth if it was immaculate (which it wouldn't be even if it did have a FSH).
Another one where the upcoming repair bills are just too much compared to the value of the car - I was looking at ~£1k for the work required to get it through the last MOT if they'd done it properly, but they bodged it cheaply to get through. Also overdue a cambelt change. I don't think there's an awful lot wrong with my economics given what I've not spent on caring for it lovingly.
It'll change over the next few years:
ABS, ESP, DPF, DMF, Airbags, Electronic Differentials, ECUs, cambelts....... + The new MOT = lots of failiures
The manufacturers have lobbied hard for all this, so they can reduce the likely timeframe of a car (rust has been killed by galvanising and mechanicals are great) to keep sales up. The electronics are essential in achieving the EU emissions tests.
I asked my F-I-L who used to work in diesel engines and power train, why would you go for a Cambelts over a chain? He mentioned that "it seemed a good idea at the time but we couldn't help notice BMW and Merc stayed put. Turns out they got it right"
Petrol engines are making more sense, especially the new crop of small capacity turbos as diesels are going to become more and more fragile and costly.
My 12plate is on 5k. I drove a 47k 12plate van last week. So 10k a month and within a year it'd be done then??
Whenever I see vans with car average annual mileage advertised I 😆
Clocked or a big big chance if its ex commercial..
I'm still running around in my Jan 1992 Peugeot 605 that I've owned for over 17 years. I'll tempt fate by saying that despite the odd gremlin it's alwys started first time and always got me home, even when I bent a con rod. I came very close to buying a new Citroën recently but felt the odds of it starting after being left for a couple of weeks at altitude in Winter were much lower than the old Pug.
The dealer said that disconnecting the battery to take it into the appartement to warm it up would result in the electronic box needing a reprogramme for 50e. And that if I serviced it myself... . Remember those jokes comparing a Windows PC with a car that ended by saying nobody would put up with a car as quirky as a PC. Well cars are now quirkier than PCs.
The definition of cars must have omitted Land Rovers because that would have kicked the average up by 50,000 miles.
[i]It surprises me because every car I have owned, I have kept for more miles than this, or sold on at similar miles in perfectly working state...[/i]
But that just reinforces the stats as the average age of your cars when you sold them was 110,000 miles...just 4,000 more than the statistics 🙂 Now obviously someone else bought them but most of them may have been bought as 'disposable cars' that will be run for only another year or two and a few more thousand miles until a bill comes in.
The cars that seem to hit stellar miles are '1 or 2 careful owners' examples who's drivers keep them running for sentimental reasons/just to see how far they can go. As soon as they hit the secondhand market your 'super reliable tank' suddenly becomes a big old thirsty barge that 'doesn't owe me anything' so when a big bill starts looming scrappage is likely.
Sunday Times readers aren't going to drive bangers are they?
Its not that long ago that the majority of cars only had 5 digits on the odometer - so theres a folk memory that 100k is some sort of threshold for the useful life of a car. After that point a lot of people will be shy about spending money on larger repairs. Whats economically viable as a repair is completely subjective - it either is or isn't a sum that you feel like spending. Most people see any kind of repair or service bill as a punitive tax, they're happy to pay higher capital and bigger depreciation in the hope of not having to pay those bills. They'll see the prospect of paying that bill and then having a car thats no more valuable as a result as reason not to pay the bill
My dads of that mindset - even after 20 years of retirement and averaging 4k a year he'll replace a car as soon as its out of warrentee for fear of having to stump up for an exhaust or battery.
Personally - I see maintanance and repair as money well spent - I'd rather pay for that than watch money evaporate as depreciation
I run high milage stuff, my vans I typically buy with 250k already on the clock, I've got one with 310k and one relative spring chicken at 140k at the moment. But I'm happy to spend more than the resale value of the vans on servicing and repairs...... because they are vans - they earn money.
To beat ads678, our 1995 Audi A6 has done 280k miles, albeit only 200k on this engine. Still does 40mpg and doesn't depreciate, cheap cheap car.
Applauds. I want to reach the 200k milestone before i get rid of mine. Although i have started thinking of getting a Sharan!!
Whats economically viable as a repair is completely subjective - it either is or isn't a sum that you feel like spending.
Not necessarily. I'm looking at upcoming bills for mine (as I mentioned above, not for stuff which a more expensive servicing regime would have put off) expensive enough that I could instead buy something else several years and tens of thousands of miles newer with the money. It really does no longer make economic sense to keep it. If I add in the money I've saved by not religiously servicing to the schedule I can knock another year or so and ten or twenty thousand or so miles off what I buy to replace it (in reality I'll chip in a bit more than that, and live with a bit more depreciation than optimal for the cheapest motoring).
With regard to the age/mileage thing, I'm busy trying to make my mind up on that compromise when buying something new. The head tells me that a 4yo car with 80k miles is better value than a 5yo with 50k, but something still puts me off getting something so close to that psychological 100k mile barrier (even if I've gone significantly past that with my current one).
I had my Sharan from new and it went for scrappage with 128,000 miles on the clock, it still started first time every time and had the original battery and exhaust. It was a terrible waste really but I doubt that I would have got 2 grand for it otherwise.
