When buying I look on sites that have vehicles that show car-fax history of oil and filter changes at proper miles. If it has a cvt then it either has to have less than 30 K miles or had the cvt fluid changed every 30 K miles or less. If it has less than 30 K miles and no cvt fluid change, I change it when I buy it.
If it has an automatic trany then it's every 40 K miles instead of 30 K.
Don't forget to change transfer case and rear-end fluids if it has them.
Change brake fluid and antifreeze, and clean intake air sensors and put on new filters if required. New pcv, check serpentine and replace if required. If over 100 K miles also idler(s) and tensioner. Check hoses. After 12 years of age I also replac the radiator if working on the cooling system. Radiators now days have aluminum cores with plastic tanks, and the non-replaceabld rubber gasket where they crimp the two together is only reliable for 12 years. Anything beyond that and your into unreliable teritory.
Check the battery with a modern tester that shows the CCA. It needs to be charged to get a good reading. If it shows less than 110 % of rated CCA replace it with a walmart maxx. Clean the battery terminals.
This drastically limits my choices and takes time to find one. And when I do find it I buy it quick before it's gone.
Hondas and Toyotas are perfered over all others, but even then you have to research because even they had a few bad products.
The hills around Pittsburgh are brutal on drive-trains, so while my screening may seam excessive to people who live in flat-lands, it works here.
There's still people who have the services performed at locations that enter it into car-fax. So those vehicles are out there. Ya just gota look, sometimes look a lot.
Maybe you could bump the trany services up a notch in flat-lands, maybe not if it's a brutally hot area.
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Used and abused vehicles are a waste of money and time and they are un-reliable. I place high value on having a reliable vehicle.
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If I were into buying cheap high mileage vehicles there are a few test I would be doing.
Open the Radiator cap when it's cold and look for oil in the antifreeze.
Have someone do the first start of the vehicle while you look at the exhaust.
Unscrew the oil fill cap and set it unscrewed on the oil fill opening and idle the engine. If there's a lot of blow-by gases from the pistons, that cap will be dancing off the fill hole a lot.
Drive it a lot, and really get on it. Make that engine and trany work. Don't have the radio on. And tell the sales-person to not talk, I want to hear the vehicle while I'm testing it.
See if it can maintain straight while on a straight and flat road with only 2 fingers lightly on top of the steering wheel. If not, something in the front end ( possibly back end ) needs attention.
If it has a trany dip-stick, pull it and look for black fluid and or the smell of burnt fluid.
Check the engine oil. Especially if it has chocolate milk oil ( oil with water ) don't buy it.
Crawl under it and look for leaks under the engine area. I bring large sheets of cardboard and a good strong flashlight.
Inspect everywhere under the vehicle.
Open the trunk and look for water and water damage.
Check that every control item works, horn, all lights, including turn and brake, wipers, squarters, interior lights, radio ( but don't leave it on during test ride ).
Does it idle smooth, and have plenty of power for what it is?
If I were buying several high-mile vehicles I would purchase an exhaust gas analyzer.
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One of my brothers bought a very used white van that had a trany without reverse, for three hundred dollars. He got 18 months out of it before it died. He considered it a challenge to always park it where he could drift backwards, or just would not require reverse. That van held a lot of his kids sporting equiptment, and 18 months of use for 3 hundred dollars is a good deal even without reverse.
So sometimes it does depend on the price.
