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So what is that person supposed to do ? Walk ? I drive about 8 miles a day, or about 2700 miles a year. There are some days I drive further, and some days when the car sits all day, so that is about what it averages out to.
My one Son flips cars, and he looks for cars that have from 50,000 to 80,000 miles on the clock. There is a mindset that says a car with 99,000 miles is low mileage, but 101,000 is getting up there. So he finds ones in that lower range easier to sell.
Don
That poster probably thinks that people who drive 5k miles/year are old ladies who only drive to church on Sunday or the like. Totally not true though.
For those that only drive one day a week, or less, renting often comes out ahead of owning.
That poster probably thinks that people who drive 5k miles/year are old ladies who only drive to church on Sunday or the like. Totally not true though.
For those that only drive one day a week, or less, renting often comes out ahead of owning.
On the other side of the coin, if you have a very long "stunt commute," it can actually be cheaper to rent a car from Enterprise every day with unlimited mileage, drive it as much as you need, then get another one once you get tired.
On the other side of the coin, if you have a very long "stunt commute," it can actually be cheaper to rent a car from Enterprise every day with unlimited mileage, drive it as much as you need, then get another one once you get tired.
That's quite true. For some reason the retail manager I heard about that commuted from Pennsylvania to Washington DC nonetheless owned the car, even though it might not have been the cheapest option.
Do you think a car like this has already depreciated significantly. I figure a 5-10 year old car with under 5k miles per year has already undergone most of its depreciation (assuming it was a $30k car to begin with) and that the low mileage is a bonus.
Like everything, I think it depends - - and on many of the variables mentioned by others. I do agree that the elapse of those first few years will depreciate a car the most regardless of miles. At a similar price, the low miles would be a bonus; but I would be less scared-off by a deal for the car with higher miles.
...Currently in the market for another full sized SUV and most of the 5-7 yr old ones start at 100K and the ones that are in the 50k miles range are asking about double the one with 100-125K miles. That is a heavy duty vehicle which most likely has never gone off road, being driven by the average suburban soccer mom. A well maintained one will last to 250-300K.
Depends on what "last" means. I gave up on my old (2000) F250 PSD recently at 153K miles because the "maintenance" was getting out of hand. The engine itself would likely have gone another 100K or more, and the (manual) transmission probably would have too, but I spent $8K on it last year for "minor" repairs and was looking at another $10K for this year for more of the same. It was well-maintained, always at the dealership where I bought it new, but old parts do wear out and can be expensive to replace. (clutch, turbo waste gate, injectors, alternator, brakes, ball joints, glow plugs, window relay, door lock relay) High mileage cars are fine if you don't drive them much, but if you do, they can become more expensive than buying a new one. If you're a hobby mechanic, enjoy scraping your knuckles, and can do without the vehicle for a week at a time, sure, parts are cheap. If you don't have the know-how or the time to work on your car yourself, shop hours can add up quickly.
Trading in they want to see less than 8-10K a year for mileage, but when they are selling you a used car, they'll tell you 12-15K a year is the 'standard".
All depends.... My minivan has just 75,500K at 9 years old {8-8500/yr}, but I don't dirive much/far with it. It takes us on a few trips a year, but nothing spactacular...just about 5-6 hours or so away at max. I work at home , so techincally I have no where to go, but I have more places to go than I thought, and when we go as a couple we always take my minivan.
I expect to get more mileage out of the old gal, until it becomes to expensive, to frustrating, or until I can't get parts any more.
When looking I look for around 6-10K or less/yr, if I can find it. We are currently looking for an extra car with AWD or 4x4 and finding it hard to find one under 100K miles, but I won't pay what they want for those vehicles. $12Grand+/- for a 130K+/- 4 cylinder car is NOT my idea of "cheap transportation with long life ahead of it".
MOHon the ohter hand, put 16K on a brand new car in a year, but drives special needs people around for job. So it will be a high mileage car, and we will keep it to at least 200K if it lasts that long. Should get 150K easily out of it.
It has to do with "who" drives their car like this. It's mostly
- Seniors
- Wealthy people who own a lot of cars or have a "fun" car they don't drive daily
- "city folk"
As for seniors, I'll guess that as the price of new cars went up other family members are more likely to call dibbs on grandma's well maintained low mileage car rather than sell it.
For people who drive discretionary cars, more are leasing. For them saving a couple bucks and driving an older weekend car isn't a priority. They lease, and turn the cars in well under the max mileage then get a new one every 3 years. You see a lot of luxury lease returns that are well below even the most restrictive mileage limits.
Another reason may be the rise in car sharing. Someone that lives in the city and might have kept a run-around car driving it a few thousand miles a year now has zipcar or car2go. If you don't drive a lot, it's far easier now to go without owning a car at all.
Good thoughts. Perhaps with the rise in car prices and slow economy 60k miles is the new 30k miles.
I would say the average is 12-15 k a year. Older folks seem to drive less. I recently bought a 2003 Avalon from my father with 59 k on it. He also has a 2009 Altima with 29 k. My brother is buying that. So now my dad bought a 2014 Avalon in December. I don't think it's gone 200 miles. Guess I will be buying that one day too.
When I commuted to my job (lived in the city and worked in a suburb, so traffic wasn't bad) and took the occasional car trip, I put between 13,000 and 15,000 miles a year on my car. Now that I work from a home office and don't go out much since I take care of my elderly mother, I'm driving about half that. My car is now 15 years old. I'd love to get a new one just for fun but it's hard to justify when this one is still running fine, gets great gas mileage, and has yet to need a major repair. It's practically paying me to drive it.
I buy my vehicles once they've jumped over the 100k threshold. The price decreases quite a bit and there are still 100-150k miles left in the vehicle if taken care of properly.
I do a very thorough inspection to make sure I don't see any signs of problems and if it's good I buy it.
Case in point, my 2006 F150 will roll 140k this week. Literally looks like new inside and out and has no leaks, damage, etc.. Motor is solid, trans is perfect, etc... Even if it does have issues they're minor and since I repair my vehicles myself, it's more cost effective for me to make the repairs and roll on.
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I drive about 8 miles a day, or about 2700 miles a year. There are some days I drive further, and some days when the car sits all day, so that is about what it averages out to.
