Old car, low mileage or New car, high mileage?
Discussion
Is it always better to go for an old car with a low mileage rather than a new car with high mileage - for the same car model, say a Tesla Model 3?
Say, a 2018 model with 10,000 on the clock vs a 2023 version with 50,000 miles, at equal price.
What other things need to be taken into consideration? TIA
Say, a 2018 model with 10,000 on the clock vs a 2023 version with 50,000 miles, at equal price.
What other things need to be taken into consideration? TIA
Depends how it's been driven, but the newer car with higher miles is what I'd go for.
I bought a very low mileage civic once, 20k miles in 8 years - but had issues with parts that had rusted away from lack of use. Headlight adjusters had failed so needed new lights, aircon condenser rusted through, etc.
Plus you can usually get an extended warranty on new er cars provided the mileage is below the limit, as they are not age excluded as older ones are.
You'll also get the improvements made to the model since the earlier ones, sometimes fixing earlier model issues, eg Mk 7.5 golf vs Mk7.
I bought a very low mileage civic once, 20k miles in 8 years - but had issues with parts that had rusted away from lack of use. Headlight adjusters had failed so needed new lights, aircon condenser rusted through, etc.
Plus you can usually get an extended warranty on new er cars provided the mileage is below the limit, as they are not age excluded as older ones are.
You'll also get the improvements made to the model since the earlier ones, sometimes fixing earlier model issues, eg Mk 7.5 golf vs Mk7.
Prices for some low volume, more desirable models are more sensitive to miles than others. But that's not what we're talking about with a Tesla Model 3, so on the whole it's age that determines trade price more than mileage. There's a risk that you might overpay for a low miler and then find it's less material to the price you eventually sell it for.
Most cars don't suddenly become uneconomic at a certain age or mileage - certainly not if we're talking about 2018 / 2023 ages - so I'd just buy with common sense and an eye for the condition of each car.
Most cars don't suddenly become uneconomic at a certain age or mileage - certainly not if we're talking about 2018 / 2023 ages - so I'd just buy with common sense and an eye for the condition of each car.
I’d say it’s age and/or lack of maintenance that usually causes problems in cars, not mileage. I’d therefore go newer with higher miles given your example. As you start looking at older cars, say 10 plus years, it’s all about condition IMO, with a possible swing back towards lower mileage.
Depends where you're heading with it.
If you are a high miles driver, you could be better off with a lower mileage car than will end up closer to 'average' than buying something already high mileagle and either having it worthless or facing bills like clutch, camchain etc sooner
If you are a low miles driver, then paying over the odds for a low miles car might still leave you having lost a lot in a few years, because you don't get too much credit for your old car being super low miles?
But you can't predict the market 4 years ahead, and you'll have lsot a fair chunk anyway.
I'm more interested in the probability of grief and significant bills than retained value beyond a couple of years.
If you are a high miles driver, you could be better off with a lower mileage car than will end up closer to 'average' than buying something already high mileagle and either having it worthless or facing bills like clutch, camchain etc sooner
If you are a low miles driver, then paying over the odds for a low miles car might still leave you having lost a lot in a few years, because you don't get too much credit for your old car being super low miles?
But you can't predict the market 4 years ahead, and you'll have lsot a fair chunk anyway.
I'm more interested in the probability of grief and significant bills than retained value beyond a couple of years.
Tesla Model 3, definitely newer with higher miles. The batteries are warranteed on age so the longer warranty on the most expensive item makes most sense. Only issue would be if you were going to be loading it with super high annual mileage hich might make the economic better on lower miles , but really there is little difference between 20 and 40 k miles. Yes if 100K vs 50K and I'd stil opt for 100K one with ICE.
Currently pondering this dilemma as I've seen a BMW 440i that I like the look of. May 2018 with 12,388 miles. I'd set 5 years old and 30k (ish) miles as my limit but this is quite an exceptional example. Now pondering what can deteriorate a bit by 6.5 years due to time and how this weighs against the benefit of the lack of wear and tear on mileage related items due to the very low mileage.
MitchT said:
Currently pondering this dilemma as I've seen a BMW 440i that I like the look of. May 2018 with 12,388 miles. I'd set 5 years old and 30k (ish) miles as my limit but this is quite an exceptional example. Now pondering what can deteriorate a bit by 6.5 years due to time and how this weighs against the benefit of the lack of wear and tear on mileage related items due to the very low mileage.
6 year old car with an a average of 2000 miles pa - I am not familiar with BMW service regime but I would be looking at service history for a start - how often was the oil changed since that will degenerate and potentially the engine might never have got warm.I often think that low miles can be quite bad with maybe only a few short journeys a week or even worse.
It's an approved used BMW so servicing will have been carried out in line with the manufacturer's schedule. For these cars that's an oil service every 18,000 miles or 24 months, whichever comes first. In the case of this one that'll be every 24 months (4,000 miles) assuming it's accrued mileage at a fairly even rate.
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