bought a '98 Isuzu Trooper last year with 103k on it as a work beater.. it needs some work done to it, but now I don't ever see getting rid of it at this point. it's going to become an off road/overland build when it officially becomes a 3rd car.
Buying a car with over 100k miles
- Thread starter OPButtrey
- Start date
see if the oil pressure sensor or pump has been done.. co worker has a '14 Silverado he bought used around 95k miles (was a road trip vehicle for a group of farmers who had it before hand) the 5.3 is known for several issues in theses years due to either Active Fuel Management and the above mentioned.. oil pump is about a $3k job at the dealer/mechanic... co worker seams to have gotten lucky and it was just the sensor on his. AFM causes excess oil consumption and lifter failures.
I've never bought a vehicle with under 100k.
Bought my Taurus with 131k (was a company car that I got for 60% kbb) and ran it 12 years to 185k before I got hit with a transmission and some other issue at same time that cost more than the car. Only had probably $1000 in repairs during that time (alternator was one thing).
Bought an Odyssey with 101k 4 years ago and have run it to 128k with just oil changes so far.
I use cargurus.com and limit my search to exclude fleet/salvage and only show cars with one owner and zero accidents. If it only had one owner shelling out that kind of money for new, they probably took care of it maintenance wise. The condition of the car can help back up that theory, if it looks excellent it probably had excellent care under the hood.
Bought my Taurus with 131k (was a company car that I got for 60% kbb) and ran it 12 years to 185k before I got hit with a transmission and some other issue at same time that cost more than the car. Only had probably $1000 in repairs during that time (alternator was one thing).
Bought an Odyssey with 101k 4 years ago and have run it to 128k with just oil changes so far.
I use cargurus.com and limit my search to exclude fleet/salvage and only show cars with one owner and zero accidents. If it only had one owner shelling out that kind of money for new, they probably took care of it maintenance wise. The condition of the car can help back up that theory, if it looks excellent it probably had excellent care under the hood.
I mean you average less then 7k miles a year across both of those examples... any thing will be reliable there for you really.
Saw this one at a nearby business for about 4 months. Did my research, and the price was legit.
A 2007 BMW 328i, non-turbo, no X-Drive, the only model recommended because the X-Drive overly complicated thing and turbo's were always driven too hard. As clean in the engine compartment, interior and trunk as it is outside. 107K miles. Paid $4750 cash. A peach.
Normal service for 6 plugs and coils, plus a real BMW gel replacement battery was needed 8 months later. Nobody locally would touch it for fear of bricking the OBC. Took it to the nearest BMW dealer, no problem.
$1200 for the plugs/coils, $400 for the battery. My neighbor asked if I know what BMW stands for.
"Nope."
"Break My Wallet."
A 2007 BMW 328i, non-turbo, no X-Drive, the only model recommended because the X-Drive overly complicated thing and turbo's were always driven too hard. As clean in the engine compartment, interior and trunk as it is outside. 107K miles. Paid $4750 cash. A peach.
Normal service for 6 plugs and coils, plus a real BMW gel replacement battery was needed 8 months later. Nobody locally would touch it for fear of bricking the OBC. Took it to the nearest BMW dealer, no problem.
$1200 for the plugs/coils, $400 for the battery. My neighbor asked if I know what BMW stands for.
"Nope."
"Break My Wallet."
I've only had cars over 100k miles but each one was less than $2000
1st - 1997 Ford Ranger. $800 piece of **** but I was 16 and my dad said he would pay insurance if I would pay for the car, maintenance and gas. So I did what I could. 130k miles on it if I recall. Drove it a year before I got into a hit and run and sheared an axle. Got $2100 from the other insurance company.
2nd - 1996 Dodge Ram 1500. $600. 90% sure this guy was a crack addict since he needed a ride after I bought the truck from him. 110k miles. Bed was nearly useless full of rust holes. But I just laid a piece of plywood down and lacquered it up. Title was clean and it ran great for 50-60k miles until the tranny was going. Sold it for... $600.
3rd - 1999 Ford Windstar Minivan. $1500 195k miles. It was an old dealership courtesy van that would pick you up/drop you off when you had major repairs. So was driven right and maintained super well. Added another 20k miles until my sister bought it from me for... $1500.
4th - 2009 Nissan Murano. $0 123k miles - Inherited from my father when he passed away
. Drove it about 30k miles and gave it away to a charity earlier this year since I had only done 5k miles in 5 years.
Now I am car-less. But The first two trucks in particular taught me so much about taking care of a vehicle, putting in new brakes and brake lines, spark plugs, exhaust, O2 sensors, new stereos, I fixed them up the best a high schooler and college student could on a budget.
I will probably go without a car for a while and if I ever need one again, was thinking about having a beat up truck as my daily and then a classic to drive around in. Probably need a house first.
1st - 1997 Ford Ranger. $800 piece of **** but I was 16 and my dad said he would pay insurance if I would pay for the car, maintenance and gas. So I did what I could. 130k miles on it if I recall. Drove it a year before I got into a hit and run and sheared an axle. Got $2100 from the other insurance company.
2nd - 1996 Dodge Ram 1500. $600. 90% sure this guy was a crack addict since he needed a ride after I bought the truck from him. 110k miles. Bed was nearly useless full of rust holes. But I just laid a piece of plywood down and lacquered it up. Title was clean and it ran great for 50-60k miles until the tranny was going. Sold it for... $600.
3rd - 1999 Ford Windstar Minivan. $1500 195k miles. It was an old dealership courtesy van that would pick you up/drop you off when you had major repairs. So was driven right and maintained super well. Added another 20k miles until my sister bought it from me for... $1500.
4th - 2009 Nissan Murano. $0 123k miles - Inherited from my father when he passed away
. Drove it about 30k miles and gave it away to a charity earlier this year since I had only done 5k miles in 5 years.Now I am car-less. But The first two trucks in particular taught me so much about taking care of a vehicle, putting in new brakes and brake lines, spark plugs, exhaust, O2 sensors, new stereos, I fixed them up the best a high schooler and college student could on a budget.
I will probably go without a car for a while and if I ever need one again, was thinking about having a beat up truck as my daily and then a classic to drive around in. Probably need a house first.
That seems like a good deal. Did they still do the battery in the trunk back then?
I have a 2015 m235i X drive and it really is a solid car. It hasn't been expensive at all for me. The oil changes are a tad bit high but they are only every 10k miles so about equal to the Japanese cars I've owned. I have heard that the brakes can be expensive. With that said, I plan on trading it in a few months because I'm getting old and it's not the most comfortable daily driver. I know I will miss the power when I move on.
I bought a manual Saturn Ion with 300K+ on it for $300. Its up to 330K now. The slave cylinder was out so I replaced that and some minor crap. I use it to drive to work and keep miles off my truck.
The problem is that the "basic repairs" are pretty minimal at this point. I've done a lot of work on cars and SUV's but it's at the point where a normal Joe can't do a lot of the work.
I had one vehicle that was cheaper to repair but was little things every week or two. I did the repairs so a $150 alternator then maybe a battery cable for $50 bucks, then door clips, and such. It soon just started wearing me out repairing it and I sold it for scrap price. I generally sell vehicles cheaper than there value so I don’t have to deal with someone chirping at me about this or that afterwards.
I have a couple times, both Honda Accord and was best decision I made financially haha.
I have bought salvage title trucks and cars my whole life. I have only had one vehicle (Wife's new Traverse) that wasn't. I have really never had an issue. Getting a 3-4 year old truck with 50k miles for under $20k was always appealing to me. I have had no issue re-selling them around 100k for a couple grand less than what I purchased them for. A couple have sold for more than I paid even after driving them for a few years. Pay attention to where it was damaged, I avoid all front end damage.
I always get a Carfax report on any used vehicle that I buy. I think that CarFax is more detailed than AutoCheck, but maybe not. The Autocheck report shows that the first 40K miles were put on it as a rental vehicle (think Enterprise or Hertz, etc.). The last 55K miles were put on it by the current owner and were done in the last three years. That's higher than average number of miles for the last three years. I'd check the book value on NADA or KBB, etc. as an asking price check; I would input the numbers into their website myself so as to get an accurate assessment.
Also all three front end damages were done by the current owner. What the heck? Three? Is the current owner blind? I've never had a front end accident (or any accident) and I've driven at least a million miles, probably more.
The last front end accident report shows that body work was done and also mechanical work done. That shows that it was more than just the front bumper that was damaged. There are a heck of a lot of electronics in that front end; sensors, cameras, radar detectors, etc. After any front end body work they all have to be re-calibrated. I would definitely be cautious of the vehicle. Have it inspected, drive it for a day or so in all types of situations. Have an unbiased friend or relative drive it. A Chevy dealer may be able to check the VIN through their system and pull up the maintenance history on it as well as accident repair reports if the repair was done at a dealership. The current owner should also have all of their maintenance/repair history records.
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Naw, when I was at the dealership all the sales people could tell you when the governor tripped out on about 95% of the vehicles.
The tricky thing that I find, especially now when used cars are $$$, is that the cars that are the most reliable are usually those that also are the most expensive used. You guys are talking about cars with 100k+ miles so that probably doesn't apply here but buying a two or three year old used car use to always be a better choice financially than buying new. That's not always the case any longer.
I should probably exit this conversation though since I've never had anything with more than 80k miles. I know that financially it's stupid but it's what I like and as long as it doesn't intrude on any other goals I have, I'll continue doing it.
I should probably exit this conversation though since I've never had anything with more than 80k miles. I know that financially it's stupid but it's what I like and as long as it doesn't intrude on any other goals I have, I'll continue doing it.
Yeah it holds true, look at Toyota Tacomas or 4Runner pricing and they hold value even to 200,000 miles.
Any recommendations for on-line used car purchases:
+ Carvana
+ TruCars
+ CarGurus
What was your experience?
+ Carvana
+ TruCars
+ CarGurus
What was your experience?
