Second hand cars - mileage?

[mrbeanthethird]

Just been browsing online for a ‘new’ to me second hand car, for when my 15 year old one finally becomes too expensive in repairs to keep running.

Why on earth do all these cars that are literally a year or so old have such high mileage on them? I can’t understand it! They can’t all be ex hire cars or whatever, can they?

Some of them have done more miles in a year or so than mine has done in its lifetime (admittedly I bought it due to its ridiculously low mileage and it’s more than done its job for me), where can I find cars a couple of years old that haven’t done 35k +, anyone got any suggestions?

That's very weird! I assume you're already using the mileage filter on AutoTrader?

Are you maybe seeing a lot of ex-rentals? When we bought a nearly new mid-sized car a few years ago the market was full of ex-rentals. There's a risk that they've not been looked after properly so worth asking for an independent check before you commit to buy. It can be tricky to get salespeople to admit that is the cars background too, but you can ask to see the vehicle log book.

DS’s car recently had to be scrapped and we couldn’t find anything with decent mileage within his budget. They were all either ridiculously high or Cat S vehicles. At one point, we found 11 cars nationwide that fit his criteria.

He eventually bought a car from a relative who was upgrading. It had higher mileage than we would have liked but had been very well maintained and we knew it was a pretty safe bet.

My 18 year old car had 23k on the clock when I bought it, we’ve just gone over 28k. It was previously owned by an older gentleman who used it to go shopping once a week.

Would it not be fair to assume if you are looking at newish cars with high mileage then your budget is too low

You can either have a newer car with high mileage

An older car with lower milage

Or you need to adjust your budget

You are right, probably need to downgrade my options, was trying to find a newer version of mine but looks like I am going to have to lower my standards! It seems to be that all the ones I am looking at in the same model are stupidly overpriced with ridiculously high mileages.

Most cars you are seeing are likely to be ex hire cars. Hire companies get rid at a year or two old. Anyone buying or leasing a new car is likely to hold on to the car for significantly longer than that before selling.

Are you saying that your 15 year old car has only done 35k miles? You must do a tiny mileage. Is it worth spending so much on an almost new car to use it so little?

Or if you do want to buy one, having 35k miles on it isn’t really an issue if you are only going to add another 35k miles to it over the next 15 years

pp are right - people don’t get rid of a normal runabout car after 1-2 years, hence any being sold after this short period are either because the owner had a material change (serious illness, move abroad etc) which would be rare, or are ex rental in some way

Just me that keeps mine (all Toyota) running to at least 150-200k bar any enormous expensive failures like an auto gearbox?! Family record so far is 355k on a diesel, friend has just bought a Transit at 199k, and at one point I was doing 22k miles a year just to get to work and back so 35k doesn't seem like a lot on the clock at all - but the newest car I've ever bought was 6 years old so maybe not in the same market 🤣

Or they maybe ex company cars. My DH does over 20k miles a year, mainly business miles. He usually gets a new company car every 6-18 months depending on how many miles he has done. The company don't want to sell their cars on with absolutely massive mileages but they'll still be significantly higher than average for the age of the car.

Didn't have time to read post but think I get the gist of it. You need to realise op that 100,00 miles now is not the same as one hundred thousand of your day. Have you ever seen a ship that has been lifted out the water for an overhaul? I have and it's covered in barnacles

I wouldn't be put off a car that's done 35k miles in 2 YO, as long as its been serviced properly.

And especially in your circumstances where your own mileage must be tiny, so you won't add that many miles. So before long it will even out and probably be a low mileage car, if you think that's 'ridiculously' high, when in reality its twice average at most.

I bought a car that had done over 100k miles in 3 years because it was some sort of ex 'rep mobile' and it lasted for years without any issues.

A good rule of thumb and benchmark for a second hand vehicle is to consider that at 80,000 it will need a cambelt change which is very expensive. So you need to consider your estimated annual mileage, and work back from the 80,000 miles, to see how many useful years you will get from a vehicle before you need to make major repairs. 30,000 miles is useful as the car willl have had services and likely an MOT but plenty of miles in the vehicle.

i would prefer a dealership over the local ads or Gumtree etc, as the vehicle will be checked over and you can buy an extended warranty for extra protection.

Mine has done 45k, at 15 years old. But is getting to the point where bits and pieces are failing so will cost me more than I paid for it at this point. So the point made about it evening out even if a new car has higher mileage is a very good point. as are the points about them having full services etc.

I knew the market for second hand cars had gone bananas but guess I was just shocked at the prices and how high the mileage is on them…

This is only my second time buying a car, and I am getting very overwhelmed, and can’t afford to be ripped off or make a mistake when buying, as new car will need to last me at least ten years.

Any suggestions on where to buy? Is it really best to buy from the dealership? I always assumed they would be more expensive…

I’ve just bought a car from Cinch and had it delivered to my house. Was able to search on the make of car that I was interested in, plus you can filter so I specified under 8 years old with less than 40k on clock. The car came with a standard 3 month warranty but you can extend this at a price. It was very easy and I’m delighted with my new second hand car.
There were hundreds to chose from

Totally depends on the car, wet belt cars could need the belt doing at 35k or 80k....
Unless the car has a FSH from a main dealer, i wouldn't touch these wet belt cars, around £1200 to change these, far more from a main dealer.

A dry belt one, such as some VW or Skoda are around 120 to 150k.
& an Independent VW specialist can do belt and water pump for around £700

Many cars have chains not belts, these can be for "life"

If you don't know much about cars, get one from a recommended garage, with a warranty that covers things like the clutch, which can wear out far quicker than a cam belt and cost a great deal more.

A dealership might be more expensive - but then often comes with some extra peace of mind like a checklist of parts that are working well etc

A garage or the AA/RAC offers pay for service to check any car you're looking to buy to ensure it's sound.

the point about using a dealership is the fact you have somewhere to go back to and hold their feet to the fire if the car they sell you ends up being duff. If you go with a private purchase you're on much more dodgy ground. You only get what you pay for, I've always used a dealership for peace of mind.

You could also use a car supermarket type place. I’ve used Motorpoint over the years and they’re very good. You can go to a showroom and see a wide variety of makes and models, they’re happy for you to test drive and their prices are good. They have a lot of 1/2 year old cars with low mileage - I recently bought a 1 year old car, 6,000 miles with 4 years manufacturers guarantee.

I’ve never understood the argument of ‘the repair costs more than the car is worth’ so I’m getting a new one.

A friend at work had an MOT failure that would have cost £700 to fix. So she said to ‘save money’ she was buying a new car that cost her £25k.

It can make sense to spend money on older cars to get a few more years out of them, and can be much better value than buying a new one.

I see your point, but when it’s going to cost me more and more £££ in repairs, and I’d get from with a part exchange as it is now, it’s a case of weighing up the cost in the long term. Plus in terms of reliability I would rather get a newer car for peace of mind as it’s at the age when stuff randomly stops working, and ‘due to its age’, parts etc cost more…

However, as you have probably gathered, I am no expert on cars so you may have a point.

It depends. I had a relatively new car (4/5 years old) that developed an intermittent engine problem. Car was in and out of the garage, totally unreliable and the garage couldn’t trace the fault. By the time we had paid for repairs the car had cost around £3000 in the space of 4 months., unplanned expense and huge inconvenience of not having a reliable car, arranging garage visits etc.

I made the decision to replace because the replacement meant a predictable cost, a reliable car and my existing car still had a decent trade in value. So I took advantage of the trade in value, bought a newer car with predictable costs and a decent warranty. Yes in cash terms it’s more immediately expensive but I could plan for that in a way that I couldn’t for an intermittent fault requiring expensive investigations with no definitive cause found.

Many dry belts cost significantly less than £700 to replace. As for a warranty which covers clutch wear 😂

I’m finding the opposite. For what I’m looking for there seems to be a glut of low mileage, relatively new (2-4years old) at affordable prices. I’m wondering if it’s because I want a big diesel and people are moving away from those.

You didn't have time to read OPs post but you did have time to write a comment that is of absolutely no help to OP at all?

Perhaps this would have been helpful if I was trying to buy a ship!! 🤣