AIBU to consider buying a car that’s done 100k miles?

[Bordercollierun]

Just that really. Need to get out of a PCP I can’t afford due to the cost of living so smaller budget than I would like.

Car is a diesel, good service history (roughly every 20-25k miles) Good history of repairs, owner has had it for 6 years. It’s a 2019 plate. I need it to do 15k miles a year, lots of motorway. It’s priced lower due to miles hence in budget.

Am I buying a disaster here? Owner seems genuine but then so does everyone selling something!

A petrol would be fine too. Modern petrol engines can easily do 200k miles if looked after. In fact petrol is often a better bet as they are less complex and there aren’t so many expensive things to go wrong - like DPFs.

It doesn't sound to have been serviced to schedule as only ever 20-25k miles is usually far too long for most diesels. When I was doing very high mileage in a diesel, I'm pretty sure I was having it serviced every 10-12k miles (which was roughly every six months!) which was as per service schedule. So you need to check that. It's pretty easy to google if you put in the exact make and model etc.

Only having the oil changed every 20-25k if the service schedule says 10-12k miles could have caused excessive wear/damage to the engine that may not be evident now but could cause expensive repair bills and breakdowns further down the line, i.e. effectively reducing the life of the engine/components.

Also check if it was serviced at the manufacturer's main dealership rather than an independent as an independent (or other manufacturer's dealership) may not have performed all the checks on the manufacturer service schedule for that car, or may have used the wrong grade of oil, etc.

Which engine is it? HDi 1.6/1.5/2.0?
What was it used for before?
It sounds like it has the long life service interval. As long as it’s had the correct oil used, and it hasn’t been used as a taxi, it should be perfectly fine. Ideally it’s been serviced at a Citroen garage.
Plenty of Citroen forums where you can ask.
Diesels are more complicated than petrol, and a new DPF is very expensive if it fails, as is a turbo.
The cambelt should have been changed by now, with the water pump.

If the cam belt has been replaced and can be proved it should be good. I have a 2013 VW Golf and the garage reckons with service it should be good for unlimited miles.

It’s the 1.5. It’s been used as a part camper type thing, not converted they just had a tent box on it and took out the seats .

I need to use it to transport a lot of dogs in cages hence need this size.

Its had the recall to replace the belt that was faulty? Something along those lines!

How would I check the DPF is good?

What’s your budget @Bordercollierunmaybe we can help

there is also a great thread on Reddit cartalkuk that recommends cars based on your needs

That model has chain issues as well as the belt recall, I’d avoid.

DPF - check for tailpipe soot, diagnostic scan of soot levels, back pressure test, distance since last regen

Is there a suitably sized Japanese car that you can consider?

I wouldn’t touch a modern diesel - ad blu and DPF issues are rife and cost a fortune to repair. I’d go for a petrol, unless you’re buying a much older diesel.

And as others have said that’s a really rubbish service history. It would be a no from me.

You can pay to get it a good going over OP. The AA charge a couple of hundred quid the last time I checked and they'll fine tooth comb it.

I personally wouldn't get a car with that kind of millage.

My last five cars over 25 years or so have all had over 100,000 miles and I run them until they can no longer get through an MoT. First two were old Volvo estates (one sadly written off in an accident), an old diesel Discovery, two diesel Kia Ceed. Old diesels can easily do way over 200k miles. The Kia has a timing chain rather than a belt, no DPF, cheap to insure, cheap to run. Definitely avoid any of the wet belt Fords.

So you will be using it to drive about stop start picking up/dropping off dogs for your dog walking business?
If you do buy it, then you would need to increase the oil change frequency due to all the stop start. If it was used primarily as a camper before then it’s most likely ok.

Citroen have had an issue with this engine, no doubt the source of the recall/fix.
https://www.citroen.co.uk/owners/citroen-1-5-diesel-engine-key-information.html

is there any Citroen warranty for the work?
The explanation says the issue comes from poor engine oil/sooty oil. This is caused by infrequent oil changes.
Take a look on some forums or Reddit for the engine issues and see what they say.
Any second hand, 100k van has risk attached. This one sounds like you’d want an independent inspection before buying it.
Is it being sold by a Citroen garage?

Thankyou everyone!

@KatiePricesKnickers no not a business. It will be my main drive for school runs, work etc but I compete my own dogs allover the UK so need to do regular long overnight trips, usually 3-4 hours driving each way once or twice a month.

The van has Citroen warranty for the recall but nothing else. It’s being sold by a little independent garage not Citroen. They offer a standard warrenty of 3m on used which isn’t long.

If anyone has any ideas, I need a minimum of 6 seats (so a crew van would do) Ideally big enough to carry 6 plus have a boot still. Sliding doors, big boot but not a LWB as I will be using it daily for work and school runs so parking a consideration. No SUV as boots too high (some of my dogs are old and the boots are always small- none with little pop up seats). I didn’t want to spend over £15k but would prefer closer to £10k.

Looked at Vauxhall combo XL and vivario, Ford grand tourneo and Toyota proace (which is £££)

Diesels are not great for schools runs, they need to be ran hot, not cold.
Petrol engines, without a turbo, are more suited to that (if hybrid/electric are not in the picture).
Look on Gemini (or your favorite AI) and ask what damages a DPF.
That said, compromises need to be made, and the regular long runs will keep the DPF clean.

Thankyou. I haven’t been able to find any petrol vans! Do they exist!

I have seen electric ones but I’m not sure about that and the long trips. Plus over budget.

This is harder than I thought

Garage owner here,20k between service on a diesel is not good.The manufacturers say it’s ok because they think a 5 year old car is scrap.You may be lucky but every one of my technicians say avoid any French car over 8 years old.They drive great and are good on fuel the electrical system will implode like its built in at some point.

If you’re doing lots of short drives then diesel isn’t great for your lifestyle and one long drive a month won’t cut it

Petrol VW sharan?

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-search?body-type=&channel=cars&colour=&distance=&fuel-type=Petrol&make=Volkswagen&max-year=2026&maxPrice=&minPrice=&model=Sharan&postcode=CW109HR&price-from=9000&price-to=12000&sort=relevance&transmission=

touran also maybe if you can do without sliding doors?

You are in for £1000 for a DPF. As it could go on any diesel, you should budget for one anyway.

My DH car has got 190K miles on the clock,

Not unreasonable at all, just make sure you check it's had a timing belt change, general check of suspension components and also things like brake disks/ pads will likely be coming to the end of their life if they've not already been changed. Agree with others saying that 100k miles is a big psychological factor to many people. 3 of my best cars have all covered well over 100k miles, and the lowest mileage used car I brought (a Volvo as well!) was an unreliable nightmare! my 2 current cars are on 117k and 97k miles) and neither have had major issues since I've owned them. I also part exchanged my old 06 Ford focus before buying current Seat Leon, that had done 140k miles and still see it driving around now!

My husband has bought cars at 90,000 miles before and myself 60,000 miles, but not 100,000. We always buy our cars outright, and due to budget constraints have to go older/ higher mileage than is ideal. Our savings haven't dipped below 3k for last decade so we can always deal with unexpected costs.

I’ve never bought a car with less than 90k on it, and never bought a car less than 10 years old, and never had any real problems BUT I would say stay away from French or Italian cars at this milesage.
VW, Toyota, Honda, Volvo should be fine. Theres miles and miles- I bought a VW with 125 k on it but it was a lot of motorway miles so no issue.

When ours was having issues in our truck we struggled to find anyone to sort it! Everyone wanted to map it out 🙄

I think it is going to depend on the vehicle as to whether the service history is good or not as mine is around 18,000 miles or every year which ever comes first so people saying it should have a service at less miles would be wrong for some cars.

My diesel is at around 85,000 mile currently and I expect it to last at least the same again but I do have the benefit of owning it since new so I know the service history.