Does milage matter?
When I was a kid I remember car shopping with my father and grandfather one a professional mechanic and one an engineer. Both guys liked to change up their fleets so car shopping was a semi regular thing. I distinctly remember anything over sixty/seventy thousand miles received major side eye and the closer it got to a hundred thousand miles the closer it resembled a rotting corpse with few exceptions. As I got older seeking out the best example with the lowest miles was always the rule. But in the last ten years or so it seems like milage has ceased to be relevant and I don’t get it.
Roads aren’t getting better and folks surely don’t seem to be getting more mechanically inclined. While cars may be safer and more efficient milage wise... I don’t think they are necessarily that much better made. I have lots of buddies that also change their fleets up with semi regularity and each and everyone has stories about interior and exterior quality issues. So why then are cars and trucks with over a hundred thousand miles still selling for big money? Is a 2007 Denali crew cab with a hundred thousand plus miles worth eighty or ninety grand? Not to me it isn’t but I feel like when I am looking, as I always am, this kind of pricing is more the rule than the exception.
Yes I understand that the Rona and political issues have conspired to choke supply lines cutting stock of chips, components and raw materials and thus new vehicles which in turn drives up cost of used vehicles. Supply and demand right, ok. But at the end of the day these used/new cars are vastly more complex than our classics which is just more stuff wiggling and rattling as miles rack up. Its also very rare, driving even moderate distances doesn’t have me dodging potholes and obstacles. Hell I’ve had to replace the rims on my truck several times even doing frame repair once due to pothole damage specifically. As much as I love her Trucky Verde has its shares of rattles and shakes and I like to think I am pretty on top of maintenance. I can't imagine these high priced, high milage used vehicles are any different. I don't know about you but if you've tried like I have to chase down rattles it seems the newer or more modern a car is the harder it gets! Or as Matt Farah is fond of saying in regards to chasing rattles and aging plastics, "its almost impossible to un shit box a car".
So does milage matter? Judging by the prices and milage I am seeing on used cars these days I am not sure that it does to the regular public any more?
What do you guys think?
James
The Lowered HMFIC
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Hi James!
I have used mileage as a factor and have recently purchased a car with over 150k on the clock.
I think the worlds chip shortage has bumped up prices for newish/ luxury cars.
My theory on mileage factors on cars so far is get it low enough to give you time before major service replacements are due, or, get a vehicle that will have had all the parts that need replacing/ overhauled done.
Sam.