I've been looking at used cars for the wife, and we found one she liked, but it's done just over 47,000 miles and its about 2.5 years old. That seems like a lot of miles for a car less than three years old. The service history is up to date, and has had 4 services in that timespan. First MOT due next summer.
Do you think it's a safe buy? It's going for about £11k less than the retail price.
My company car is just over 83000 miles and is a week over 3 years old.
What car is it your after?
That's about what we do, 18,000 a year ish, in our family car so it sounds ok to me, and the servicing seems up to date. Wouldn't put me off. No idea if the value is correct.
[quote=mrmuddybum ]It's going for about £11k less than the retail price.
That isn't very useful information without knowing the retail price!
[s]As for the mileage, that doesn't seem particularly high at all to me - not if it has been serviced to schedule according to the mileage. Personally I'd rather have a car which has almost certainly been driven up and down the motorway lots rather than one with 6k a year on the clock which has probably done lots of short trips. How does the price compare to others of similar age with less miles - I presume it's significantly less, which to my mind makes it better value.
I bought my current car at 4.5 years old with 120k on the clock![/s]
It will be worn out. Pay a premium for low mileage and leave the high mileage bargains for the rest of us 😉
Barely more than average milage, I wouldn't be concerned in the slightest as long as its been maintained well, the history is up to date, and the price is right.
My wife does 35k a year and tends to keep her cars for 5 years do 47k to me is pretty low mileage.
I bought a two year old Dacia with 100k km on it. That was three years ago and I've put another 50k on it without any major problems.
I wouldn't say it's a bad thing, as long as the price reflects it. You'd be far better off with a car that's sat trundling along the motorway on a daily basis, than with one that's done a fraction of the miles to the shops and back, picking the kids up from school, etc... Main thing is that it's been looked after properly. So many cars are abused, and miles are a poor indicator of their health.
Probably better mechanical condition than many cars the same age with a third the mileage - it's hard to clock up that many miles on short runs around town unless it's been a minicab!
Or it could be like my company car, 2 years, 1 month old, 44500m, almost all on B roads, ragged mercilessly, on its 3rd set of brakes, 5th set of tyres, slammed down dirt tracks, crashing through pot holes and through standing water that's come over the bonnet....
It'll go at 3 years and about 65k, to some poor punter who'll think, hmm, full vw service history, lots of miles so must be on a motorway, far better than being around town.....
It's the vehicle, not the mileage or age!!
[b]tinybits + Small Member[/b]
Or it could be like my company car, 2 years, 1 month old, 44500m, almost all on B roads, [b]ragged mercilessly[/b], on its 3rd set of brakes, 5th set of tyres, slammed down dirt tracks, crashing through pot holes and through standing water that's come over the bonnet....
It'll go at 3 years and about 65k, to some poor punter who'll think, hmm, full vw service history, lots of miles so must be on a motorway, far better than being around town.....
It's the vehicle, not the mileage or age!!
What makes you drive like this might I ask?
😉
Probably better mechanical condition than many cars the same age with a third the mileage - it's hard to clock up that many miles on short runs around town unless it's been a minicab!
Or a Driving School car.
5 sets of tyres in 44500m? What you doing with it - ploughing fields?
My car is just coming up for its 3 service in 18 months. Done 36000 miles. However, it's still on its first set of tyres and brake pads. Most of that has been motorway miles.
Still not sure I'd buy it at the end of its 3 years as the clutch is already whining. I think that's more a reflection of Ford's stop/start technology than the life it's has though.
What makes you drive like this might I ask?
Maybe he's James bond and is always either chasing after or escaping baddies.
Or just likes driving like a pleb 😉
The car will almost certainly be fine, the question is how long are you planning on keeping it and how many miles do you do ?
If you think you're going to be trying to sell a 100k mile car in a year's time you'll be struggling to find a genuine buyer from the leagues of self-styled Arthur Daleys who go on and on about being "in the trade" and buying cars "for cash" and offering you half the asking price. Save yourself the grief.
Oh, and when you say £11k less than retail, do you mean less than [i]brand new[/i], or less than the same model with average miles ? If you're comparing to RRP, that's a pointless comparison.
I bought a vw t5 transporter that had done 160k in the same time. Your's is not high mileage by any stretch of the imagination.
I did 35k in the first year of my first car.....
Or it could be like my company car, 2 years, 1 month old, 44500m, almost all on B roads, ragged mercilessly, on its 3rd set of brakes, 5th set of tyres, slammed down dirt tracks, crashing through pot holes and through standing water that's come over the bonnet....
It'll go at 3 years and about 65k, to some poor punter who'll think, hmm, full vw service history, lots of miles so must be on a motorway, far better than being around town.....
It's the vehicle, not the mileage or age!!
i made a note to myself after 2 weeks into a new job never to buy an ex-company car or pool car after being a passenger with other employees driving. Some people really do not give a cr*p about stuff that isnt there own!
Even if it has been an individuals company car they know that they will be getting a new one in 3 years or so, and if it breaks it more than likely gets fixed foc, so may also be treated badly.
Of course, every car and condition is different so shouldnt tar them all with the same brush..
I bought a vw t5 transporter that had done 160k in the same time. Your's is not high mileage by any stretch of the imagination.
160,000 in 30 months 😯
Seriously, I'm interested to know what the Van had been used for to cover that mileage in that time ?
Cheers
I used to do that in a year. The car did 250k before I retired it. New tyres every 5k which I thought was good. I only got 2k out of the motorbike tyres.
Since buying a pickup truck 20k on tyres seem like wearing quick...
New tyres every 5k which I thought was good.
It's not. I used to get at least 12k out of Pirelli Pilot Sports on a 240bhp car. A normal car would get 20k from a set at least.
It's not. I used to get at least 12k out of Pirelli Pilot Sports on a 240bhp car. A normal car would get 20k from a set at least.
I think my driving style may have been related to the wear. A 535 is a big heavy old lump which didn't help. But mostly it was me...
My company car has done 40K in less than a year.
I'd buy it no problem if I moved jobs and didn't get a car with the job.
Ok, I may have exaggerated in order to make a point, however there's no doubt that my current commute, which is all b-roads, long straights up to junctions, has way more wear on my current car than on my last, even though the miles to work were the same, it was all along the motorway (I changed cars when I moved house). If I were to buy one of those cars after I had finished with it, it would have been the previous one. 20k ish miles per year in no what means motorway work.
The water bit was due to underestimating a flooded road, I think I was damn lucky...
My mother in law told me last week that she'd hit the 'milestone' of 500 miles in the first year of her new car!!! 😆
Simmy - It was a service engineers van. 3 engineers covering the whole country from a Newcastle base. 5-6 days a week and most of the faults are apparently quick to fix so most of the time is spent driving.
We used to do 20,000 a year in our private car, longish school run, active weekends, driving to Alps summer and winter etc.
I'm doing more miles per year on my motorbike than the OP's worrysome car and I don't even use it for commuting...
Rachel
My Golf is on 56k miles and is 2.5 years old. Barely worn in really and has only had one set of tyres.
So long as the servicing has been carried out as per manufacturers guides then should be fine.
[i] A normal car would get 20k from a set at least. [/i]
Not really, my ex-company Vectra's and Mondeo's use to struggle much past 10k on the fronts.
I ran a car to 160k, in 4 years, it was a skip when it went to auction. It's not like I didn't care, just didn't have time - these were days of 6k services.
[i]My Golf is on 56k miles and is 2.5 years old. Barely worn in really and has only had one set of tyres.[/i]
One set of tyres 8O, even my 80 y/o Mum gets through them quicker than that.
160,000 in 30 months
Seriously, I'm interested to know what the Van had been used for to cover that mileage in that time ?
Cheers
I do about that sort of mileage.
Over a thousand work miles every week plus own miles at evenings and weekends.
Have done 123,000 miles in current vehicle in 2 years. Still in great condition.
My Golf is on 56k miles and is 2.5 years old. Barely worn in really and has only had one set of tyres.
😯
I'm a little surprised at how many miles some of you guys do 😯
have you ever actually worked out what that is in hours spent inside your car instead of miles?
[i]have you ever actually worked out what that is in hours spent inside your car instead of miles? [/i]
For some people it is their job, for others it is just a part of their job.
somouk - MemberMy Golf is on 56k miles and is 2.5 years old. Barely worn in really and has only had one set of tyres.
To all the 😯
Doesn't this mean it's had a replacement set? So, it's on its second set of tyres? Depending on how much is left on the 2nd set, 28k miles on a set of tyres is decent but not unheard of...
If it's still on it's first set, then yeah, that's pretty impressive!
I generally get a new set of fronts every year, so that's around 26k miles or so. Rears last a fair bit longer but then I am just trundling up & down dual carriageways, rather than 'making progress' or whatever that expression is.
To the OP, 47k miles in 2.5yrs wouldn't worry me although I'd want the price to highlight the higher than average miles.
have you ever actually worked out what that is in hours spent inside your car instead of miles?
For me, it's all day, every day, pretty much.
I love it,
[quote=jambalaya ]We used to do 20,000 a year in our private car, longish school run, active weekends, driving to Alps summer and winter etc.
I also did that amount of private mileage at one point - no foreign trips most years, but usually several trips to Scotland, and several to the Lakes and North Wales.
I'm changing car again this week, This one has lasted me just under a year (362 days to be precise) and I've covered just over 17k in that time, I had the previous car 13 months and covered 21k. I don't think of myself as being a particularly high mileage user, my wife has a 60 mile per day commute so covers similar mileage to me although we tend to use my car whenever we go anywhere together.
For some people it is their job, for others it is just a part of their job.
wasn't expecting an explanation as to why as obviously some people's jobs entail being on the road all day, but a fair few posters were commenting on private mileage and commuting.
It's just an astonishing amount of hours spent inside a car when you think about it, I get why some people are so picky about them when you spend that amount of time inside one.
My car is 3 and bit years old and has done 55k miles - I do 20k miles a year, they say 12k a year is normal for a private driver, add in a trip to the Alps, lots of work mileage and dare I say it trips to the trail centres and it's easy done - my car is pretty much 'as new'.
It's worth remembering that it's not miles that really wear cars out - engine wise cold running wears engines much quicker than warm running - 5k miles a year doing a 2 mile school run is going to be harder than 20k miles a year doing a 100 mile motorway run. Add in the fact it's been well serviced means it's probably in good nick.
Suspension, brakes and 'chassis' wise - hours spent at a pretty constant speed on a motorway barely effects them, lots of stop-start driving and roundabouts does.
Of course people are put off by mileage - that and age are pretty much the only 'on paper' indication of how used a car is so it effects the value - BUT the depreciation is always higher at the start so penalty is smaller than buying a low mileage car.
[quote=amedias ]It's just an astonishing amount of hours spent inside a car when you think about it
It is. At least most of the time I was doing that sort of mileage I was driving to and from long races, so still managing a healthy activity to driving time ratio. Now when I'm often only doing an hour or two I find it a lot harder to justify travelling far.
It's worth remembering that it's not miles that really wear cars out - engine wise cold running wears engines much quicker than warm running - 5k miles a year doing a 2 mile school run is going to be harder than 20k miles a year doing a 100 mile motorway run. Add in the fact it's been well serviced means it's probably in good nick.
We have some friends who drive everywhere. 1km to school. 800m to Tesco. 1.5km to work. etc etc.
Their car eats tyres, DPF and brakes on an annual basis, DPF most years as well.
Op I had a company golf that knocked up 37000 in the first year I had it.
Other than the odd random warranty issue it was spot on. When it went back at 3years/65 k it ran like new and looked like new. Had I not needed to replace our ageing estate and rationalise the then fleet from for cars to two I would have bought it out. Whoever bought that got a cracking car.
If however it's been driven by those with no planning skills/mechanical sympathy and a Lewis Hamilton / Gran turismo delusion probably best to steer clear.
My last two Audis had 75k and 100k on respectively, both at 3 years old. I put another 100k on each of them with no serious issues.