When it comes to comprar a second-hand car, the first thing you want is for the car to last thousands of kilometers without problems. And common sense suggests that the fewer kilometers a used car has, the longer it will faithfully serve its user. But with the used car prices At historic highs, a car that has a few more kilometers than expected may fit the budget better.
Even so, Is it a good idea to buy a car with high miles? And since higher mileage usually equates to an older vehicle, How many years is too old for a used car? Is the correlation to fewer miles, better car a golden rule? The real answers to these questions are a little more complicated than they seem. There are exceptions and they are not always obvious.
All of this leads to the obvious question: How many kilometers should a second-hand car have? To answer good arguments you have to explain certain aspects.
Use and abuse
When using a vehicle, the line that separates the use of abuse It is very fine. Some owners are so meticulous that they keep all receipts related to your car, whether oil changes, refueling or washing. Others are only aware of the need Check your car when the warning lights start flashing on the dashboard.
Most users fall between these two extremes. But when there are two similar cars with different mileage, You should choose the car with better maintenance instead of the car with less mileage. Of course, there is a limit to this: a car that has 50,000 kilometers is superior to another with 300,000 kilometers. But if the difference in mileage is only ten or twenty thousand kilometers, which one to choose?
To get an idea of a car’s maintenance and service history from its previous owner, the best resources are the real receipts of services performed or a record of repairs made. If these maintenance records are not available (and it is not uncommon for them not to be), a carfax report vehicle will reveal all service history in your report acquaintance.
These reports They will also indicate any previous accidents, which is another thing that should be avoided at all costs regardless of mileage. Feeling confident about a car’s history may be more important than any other factor, including the number of miles on the odometer.
And, of course, a complete inspection of the car should not be ruled out. As a summary, you have to take a look under the hood to evaluate the condition of a car. One has to remove the oil dipstick and if it is dark and slimy, it should have been changed. The cracked belts and hoses They’re probably past their prime, too. He cloudy coolant It is equally worrying. All of these signs point to poor maintenance and excessive wear and tear, which can mean more headaches down the road.
disused cars
The other side of the coin is the disuse. Sometimes a car is barely used and spends most of its life gathering dust in some garage. In the end, when this car comes on the market, the owner of the used car will probably try to get the best price thanks to its abnormally low mileage.
At first glance, the price may be worth it. But there is a problem. When a car sits idle for a long time, some parts break down. Rubbers, seals and gaskets are a perfect example of this: when enough time passes, these flexible components become brittle and lose their effectiveness regardless of use.
It is not uncommon for a car with unusually low mileage to present leaks after having been subjected to daily service, due to the failure of these rubber parts.
The irony is that if the car would have circulated regularly, this should not have been a problem: the process of thermal expansion and contraction when the engine is running, together with the light lubrication of passing fluids, usually extend service life of these rubbers.
This particular concern is only relevant for older cars but with very little mileage. These are findings uncommon, and they may be worth buying if you have a soft spot for a certain make and model, but you have to be very careful with the possible expensive repairs that a lightly used car can hide.
Excessive use
You should also be wary of a new car that has accumulated a mileage much higher than the average, which is between 12,000 and 15,000 kilometers per year. Any car with much higher annual mileage means the driver has spent a lot of time in the seat. It is inevitable that accumulating kilometers at such a pace means that will be needed before further maintenance.
You may be able to buy a car with more miles for less money, but it also means you are much closer to the most important revisions, such as timing belts, cooling systems and brake pads. Maintenance of these systems is not cheap, and it is an expense that can be postponed if you buy a car with fewer kilometers.
How many years is too many?
With the average annual mileage previously mentioned, it means that a car five years old you probably have it on the scoreboard 60,000 or 75,000 kilometers, just as a ten year old car will show about 120,000-150,000 kilometers on the odometer.
At a certain point in a car’s life, unexpected repairs will start to occur with an increasing frequency. There is no certain age or mileage at which this occurs, but it often occurs when the car is between eight and 10 years and reaches the 100,000-120,000 kilometers. This is inevitable: engineers cannot build cars that last forever. If you have to avoid a certain age or mileage, these are the cars more than ten years and that they already show six figures on the odometer.
In general, you want the car newer that you can afford within a budget. But the usual used-car considerations remain: If there’s a car that’s a year or two older than what you’re looking for, but it’s been well-maintained and has never been in an accident, it’s a better buy than a newer car that has been in an accident or has been poorly maintained. As usual, The general condition is essential.
Highway in front of city
Another thing to keep in mind is the mileage type who has accumulated a car. For example, a car that is sold in a neighborhood in Madrid or Barcelona will have a much harder life than one that is sold, for example, in a town in Cuenca.
Because? The Madrid car will go over potholes and swerve around traffic in its rush from stoplight to stoplight. The one from Cuenca, on the other hand, will circulate quietly without so much traffic or so much rush.
Most likely, the car from a rural area will accumulate more kilometers than that of a densely populated city. But those kilometers add up with a certain ease and are not found in urban driving. The reason for this is the same reason why salespeople love to brag about kilometers on the highway in its advertising: an open road with no curves to face or traffic lights to stop at is the scenario less stressful for a car. But it is also the scenario in which the kilometers accumulate the fastest.
A green traffic light in a city.
Cars urban Other than taxis or ride-sharing vehicles will probably travel significantly fewer kilometers than the national average. But I know will wear out faster than those who do a lot of road work, due to the nature of urban conditions.
In summary
He mileage should be considered as one of the most important factors when buying a used car, but not the only one. Therefore, it is clear that what you should look for is the car with the lowest mileage that you can get, that has been subjected to a regular maintenance, that has never been in an accident and has been used regularly.
Sometimes this criterion means giving up a car with fewer miles. No problem. More kilometers they do not annihilate a car, but the lack of care and maintenance does.
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