200,000 miles is in fact rare, only 1% of vehicles reach it

[Cujet]

I really thought that more than 1% of vehicles reached 200K miles in their lifetime. I guess the good folks here at BITOG really understand how to maintain a vehicle properly. I'd guess we exceed the norm here.

From the Autoweek article, the top 16 vehicles that achieve 200K miles:

Top 16 Vehicles Most Likely to Reach 200,000 Miles

Is your car this reliable?

www.autoweek.com

Quote "Granted, very few cars, trucks or SUVs clear 200,000 miles in their lifetimes. The average for all vehicles is just one percent of them ever reach the 200k mark"

What I find interesting is that the article also lists the percentage of each model of vehicle that reach the 200K goal. Toyota is very well represented in the top tier. With the Toyota Land Cruiser taking the lead followed by the Toyota Sequoia. Then the Suburban and a Ford, and more Toyotas.

 

[2EHA]

not a surprise at all.

cars are disposable

 

[kstanf150]

Says the data was gathered on 11.8 million trade in’s.
What about the regular ole Joe beating up and down the road everyday in his 250K miler ?
There’s plenty of guys posting here that have high mileage cars and trucks that’s not included in this info. I’d bet the numbers are higher than what’s reported

 

[drtyler]

I’m sure rust gets many northern cars before the drivetrains are worn out.

 

[Cujet]

Says the data was gathered on 11.8 million trade in’s.
What about the regular ole Joe beating up and down the road everyday in his 250K miler ?

That's the thing, I don't believe it's very common. Many people trade in their clunkers instead of junking them.

 

[Ws6]

Wow. Almost every one of my father's vehicles got to 200K. They were typically crown vic, or GM work van. GM work van 3-500K, crown vic, they die at 220-250K with the 4.6L, about 20-40K less with the 5.0 pushrod.

 

[kstanf150]

That's the thing, I don't believe it's very common. Many people trade in their clunkers instead of junking them.

Every high mileage vehicle I’ve owned I just sell em private sale. Dealer want give ya hardly anything for 200K mile car, at least not what I’ve experienced

 

[jeepman3071]

I'm curious where they are getting this info, since when I worked in insurance claims I saw many vehicles over 200k from all makes. Even in the rust belt.

 

[simple_gifts]

Some cars on that list many BITOGs wouldn't have a problem purchasing used with OVER 200K on them.

 

[4WD]

I’m sure rust gets many northern cars before the drivetrains are worn out.

True … and many here get towed south of the border
A number of pickup trucks reach 200k+

 

[MNgopher]

Recognize that is only based on dealer trade ins. A lot of dealers don't want to buy those cars to begin with and they are sold primarily on the private sale side...

 

[dishdude]

I think accidents and weather events take a lot of vehicles off the road as well. Once you get some miles and years, it doesn't take much to total a vehicle especially if the airbags and seat belt pretensioners deploy.

 

[Blinker]

The majority of cars I see at junk yards have under 200,000.

 

[Rmay635703]

That's the thing, I don't believe it's very common. Many people trade in their clunkers instead of junking them.

This has more to do with the fact that a car under 12 years old has a 99% chance of going back to the dealer
and a car over 15 years old has a 99% chance of not going to the dealer .

That said an overwealmingly large number of used and minorly damaged cars get exported because foreign buyers pay far more for our junk than can be had locally.

This has destroyed the used market and skews the metric you are looking at
Also kills the low end market and made it a lot harder to get parts cars.

Unfortunate really

The majority of cars I see at junk yards have under 200,000.

That is because for many years you got more for your car at the wrecker than on Craigslist.

It also doesn’t help that a small dent in the rear quarter panel can junk many older cars, it used to be no one had full coverage and would live with or quickly fix, now everyone has full coverage on their 25 yr old car and takes the payoff for a minor issue and the driveable car gets branded as junk with a minor problem.
If the car is the least bit desirable it will quickly move intact from the wrecker to an overseas buyer who will fix it up.

 

[Drew7a]

Wow. Almost every one of my father's vehicles got to 200K. They were typically crown vic, or GM work van. GM work van 3-500K, crown vic, they die at 220-250K with the 4.6L, about 20-40K less with the 5.0 pushrod.

This!

I don’t even think about getting rid of a car until it crosses the 200K miles mark.

I currently have two in the fleet that are over 220K and still going strong.

With maintenance 200K is easy to reach.

 

[jeepman3071]

Recognize that is only based on dealer trade ins. A lot of dealers don't want to buy those cars to begin with and they are sold primarily on the private sale side...

Good point!

 

[MrPlow]

When someone is just putting around town for a decade + without many long trips or long commutes, there's a lot more wear on the vehicles than what the mileage would ever show. It takes a really long time to hit 200K miles driving less than 10 miles a day.

 

[Ws6]

This!

I don’t even think about getting rid of a car until it crosses the 200K miles mark.

I currently have two in the fleet that are over 220K and still going strong.

With maintenance 200K is easy to reach.

To be fair, on his Fords "maintenance" meant frequent new transmissions, ROFL!

 

[RDY4WAR]

Based on trade-ins, that's probably accurate. I think the real number is more than 1% though probably still not high. I've always figured ~5% will reach 200k miles.

 

[Chris Meutsch]

I was bummed when I couldn't get my CR-V to 300k.......traded it on my 4Runner at 284k.