How smart is it to buy a vehicle with 100,000 miles on it?

Question

its a 2001 land rover to be exact.

Answer 1

Not very.

Answer 2

That depends.
The first thing you have to do is a carfax report on the VIN to be sure the vehicle has not had the odometer rolled back or been in a wreck. If you have a trusted mechanic have them take a look at the vehicle before you buy. If a vehicle has been taken care of it can run for a couple hundred thousand miles. Check Edmunds.com or other car buying sites to make sure the asking price is reasonable. Go into it knowing that you will have to make repairs on the vehicle...something is going to wear out. Consider whether you would rather pay higher car payments for a newer car or pay a repair bill every so often. If you go for the older car consider maintenance cost..some cars have more expensive parts. Do some research on the land rover to determine it's average life span. (Are there a lot of 2001's still out there?) Look at how clean the car is...People who take care of the inside usually take cared of the rest...if there are burns & stains all over the seats I would think twice. Good luck

Answer 3

it would depend on the price and the maintance record of the vehicle. if all the recomended maintance has been completed on time and documented and the price reflected the 100,000 miles then yes it could be a smart buy. a 2001 with 100,000 is a 6 year old car with less than 20 000 a year, thats about what i would expect. lots of low milage cars turn out to be lemons also. i would bring the car to a garage that I TRUSTED, that would be familiar with this make to have a general inspection, this should give you a realistic picture of what the vehicle needs and will need in the near future. usually at this milage things like timing belts and water pumps are due for service and can be quite expensive so the price needs to reflect this. if the seller does not agree to this inspection then run as far away as you can and dont look back.

Answer 4

I am 64 years old and have bought 4 cars used with a little less or more than 100,000 miles and have driven them another 100,000 miles. Check the oil, if it is black (not dark brown) better run. Everything should work on the car, horn, lights, winshield washer, wipers, stereo, heater, A/C etc. You will still need to spend some money no matter what. My rule is I buy cars for 10 cents a mile. So if I could pay up to $7,000 for a car with 100,000 miles on it and with repairs still come out at 10 cents. I have done this with an 86 Mazda 626, a 91 Isuzu Trooper, a 96 Buick Regal, a 1986 Nissan Maxima, a 1984 Nissan Sentra. They all came in under 10 cents a mile. When considering whether to keep the car (if it has paid for itself, such as, buying a $1000 car and it has gone 10,000 miles without a repair) just figure out whether it will go 5,000 miles if you make that $500 repair. You will be shocked how hard it is to justify getting rid of most of these cars. If it is costing way more, bail out, sell it and buy another one. Most of my cars cost less than $2,000 so I saved a lot of money on insurance (no collision), property and sales taxes. I have driven over 2,000,000 miles and only owned 3 new cars two VW's and a GMC van, the van actually cost me near my 10 cents but that was due to inflation in car prices. A brand new Honda Civic can yield a price of 10 cents, it is actually quite difficult for the used Civic buyer to do as well because of their exceptional resale value. But, remember the interest on the money, the increased insurance costs and taxes make it difficult to win with the new car. Good luck, if you have no mechanical skills not too great an idea.

Answer 5

Not so much how many miles... but how was the car maintained.
If the previous owner took car of the vehicle they should have no problem presenting a history on the car or atleast tell you where it was serviced.. then go and check up on it. Was major service work like timing belts done etc... Ask the mechanics at a dealership what type of stuff should have been done by 110,000 and verify it was done. Not that at 100000 there is some major exspensive job coming up for you to pay for.

Most modern engines are made to last 200,000+ if maintained properly.. oil changes, timing belts, tune ups, not beat on etc..
What is the overall image of the vehicle, beat up inside or outside normally means beat up mechanically.
My last 5 vehicles have all been over 100,000. WHY? I am a mechanic and can check them out 1st and most people get scared at 100,000 so the prices drop drastically.

Answer 6

Now days a hundred thousand mile really isn't that much but you have to be very care full there are a few lemons out there!!! Carfax.com should give you a full report on the vehicle and if it doesn't ask the dealer about paper work to show a scheduled maintenance. That is how you will know if it was taken care of properly and you are not buying a piece of junk. Inspect and do the background on it!!

Answer 7

It all depends on what a person wants and can afford. There are a lot of newer cars will last over 200,000 miles with very little repair. so at 100,000 miles would be half the life the car will last. A new car can lose a lot of its' value as soon as the owner drives the car off the dealer's lot. i bought one new car in my life and I know that I got a horrible value as in miles per dollar paid for the car. If looking at used cars look at the reliability reviews on anything you are thinking about buying.

Answer 8

Some vehicles (Acuras, Hondas, Mercedes, etc.) can run well beyond the 200K point with good maintenence. However, I wouldn't recommend buying a car with that much mileage unless you are only using it for local driving and are willing to invest the money to keep it running.

Answer 9

100k miles is nothing if its a well mantained car. The key is to inspect. HIgher technology cars like dohc and turbo/supercharged have a higher chance of failure.

Answer 10

That depends a lot on what you pay for it.

Answer 11

Not wise..
Toyota / Lexus or Honda / Accura would be good at 100k....