When shopping for a used car how many years old and/or how many miles do you consider the best ratio between depreciated cost and remaining service life? Just curious.
What’s your “sweet spot” for used car purchases?
- Thread starter Elkins45
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GON
$150 Site Donor 2025
Sweet spot for me (not necessarily in order):
-Southern, Southwest, or Western vehicle
- One owner
- Owner was exploited by dealer resulting in excessive preventative maintenance (trans fluid service, brake fluid service, coolant service, differential service, etc)
- No accidents
-Southern, Southwest, or Western vehicle
- One owner
- Owner was exploited by dealer resulting in excessive preventative maintenance (trans fluid service, brake fluid service, coolant service, differential service, etc)
- No accidents
Less than 5 years old and 60,000mi.
Non-pilau single owner. Oh yeah I judge appearances.
Not parked along the coast/beach vehicle
Ongoing 'fuel crisis' if buying a truck.
That's how we bought our 01 Tundra. Original owner can't stomach the $4 gas and needed a truck to replace a 30 y/o mini truck.
Bought it with 53,000mi which was perfect to perform baseline maintenance with full fluid changes and tune-ups. Still strong with 205,000mi on all the original engine and drivetrain components.
Non-pilau single owner. Oh yeah I judge appearances.
Not parked along the coast/beach vehicle
Ongoing 'fuel crisis' if buying a truck.
That's how we bought our 01 Tundra. Original owner can't stomach the $4 gas and needed a truck to replace a 30 y/o mini truck.
Bought it with 53,000mi which was perfect to perform baseline maintenance with full fluid changes and tune-ups. Still strong with 205,000mi on all the original engine and drivetrain components.
GON
$150 Site Donor 2025
That's a interesting strategy, buy a pickup or like vehicle when gas is priced at its highest and trending upward.
pre- covid it was 5yrs old, 60k mi, $10k.
I'm sure the price point will have to go up the next time I'm in the market.
I'm sure the price point will have to go up the next time I'm in the market.
10-15 years, under ~150k miles
For years it was sub 2 years and sub 20k miles. Gone by ~80K, on to the next.
I don't seem to have one. I like the late 90's Camry's, easy to work on... but that's a model, not a range. I'd have to say, in the past, I preferred to just buy new, drive ten years / 250k, then lather rinse repeat. But I have road salt to contend with, so a car with that many miles is getting to be end of life, what with any hidden corrosion.
Edit: as I go about shopping (again), I just realized: I've long shopped wanting ABS. Now I'm thinking, side impact airbags too. While I like the simplicity of having none, there's something to be said for them.
Edit: as I go about shopping (again), I just realized: I've long shopped wanting ABS. Now I'm thinking, side impact airbags too. While I like the simplicity of having none, there's something to be said for them.
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2-3 years around 30k or less.
Fully agree. As long as there's no rot, almost everything is fixable if the price is right. Bought my daily driver '86 Daytona in 2011 for $300.00 as a non-runner with 44K original miles. One timing belt job and a ton of basically routine maintenance - with the preponderance of parts from the Rock Auto closeout section - and she still hums along to this day...with ice-cold A/C to boot. I'd hop in and drive the car anywhere at any time. And I could not care less what anyone thinks of my old cars. I laugh all the way to the bank.
Miles, depreciation, etc. mean almost nothing to me. I seek opportunity when I buy cars. And many, many people give up on cars that just aren't that hard to fix.
I’m OK with 12 years but want low mileage up to 50,000 miles. Grandpa’s car from the retirement home is perfect.
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Wondering how many here got your "non-pilau" reference. I'm leeward so not too worried about rust here in West Maui.
Depends on the intended use. $4K to $6K "beaters", $10K to $13K "nice" and $30K or whatever for a really good car like our GS350 F Sport.
I try to buy vehicles that have a reputation of "miles don't count". Honda Toyota and now Mazda. Oh yeah our trusty Tundra has 220K and needs nothing. But it sucks the gas.
I try to buy vehicles that have a reputation of "miles don't count". Honda Toyota and now Mazda. Oh yeah our trusty Tundra has 220K and needs nothing. But it sucks the gas.
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Similarly, but not really:Mine was the rule of 7's...
7 years old
70,000 miles
$7,000.
Those days are gone.
Less than 17 years old
Less than 170k miles
Less than $700 USD, which now close to $5000 CDN
8-10 yrs old
1-2 prior owners.
100-120k miles.
Known reliable brand - engine and trans
Preferably a auto enthusiast owner or at least knowledgeable about cars.
Reasonable history or maintenance - trans, coolant, brakes, oil etc.
No rust
Came across a 2005 RX330 recently on CL for a sub $4k price -220k miles but looking good.
(Needed one for short commuter runs in college town - 3000-4000 annual miles max for 4 years)
Promising, until it came out that timing belt was most likely original! Apparently the owner was clueless
that it had a timing belt that was due for change every 100k miles.
1-2 prior owners.
100-120k miles.
Known reliable brand - engine and trans
Preferably a auto enthusiast owner or at least knowledgeable about cars.
Reasonable history or maintenance - trans, coolant, brakes, oil etc.
No rust
Came across a 2005 RX330 recently on CL for a sub $4k price -220k miles but looking good.
(Needed one for short commuter runs in college town - 3000-4000 annual miles max for 4 years)
Promising, until it came out that timing belt was most likely original! Apparently the owner was clueless
that it had a timing belt that was due for change every 100k miles.
Probably couldn't use it as a talking point to reduce price, but could have tried, might have been able to get $500 knocked off. One TB job later it might have made a good cheap ride.
Auto enthusiast is a double edged sword for me. It makes me think they have informed speculation that something’s not right or about to go bad with the car.
Engines with timing belts are something I try to avoid. I don’t want to risk screwing it up and I don’t want to pay a professional to do it. To me the difference between a 2006 and 2007 Toyota with a V6 is significant because the 3.3 has a belt and the 3.5 has a chain.
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