Mileage - It's Not What It Used To Be

I was thinking about my Dad's 1971 Plymouth Satellite the other day. He bought it brand new and for a car of that generation it was a pretty good car. Green was my mom's favorite color so when he had to decide between the white model with the cool bucket seats, center console and gearshift on the floor, he opted instead for the green one with a bench and a PRNDL on column. He drove that car to Mexico from our home in Hammond, Indiana many times and within four years we had put 75,000 miles on it. Shortly after it hit 75,000 we had to have the transmission rebuilt and well before it hit 85,000 it started blowing blue smoke out of the exhaust pipe. It wasn't long after that we had the old car towed to the junk yard.

Today's cars fare much better, it's not unusual to find a car with well over 150,000 miles that run like new. My old 1995 Geo Tracker had 170,000 miles when I sold it in 2006 and it still started on the first crank and ran like a champ. I had replaced the battery, the brakes, timing belt and the rag top each one time as you would expect but otherwise it gave me no problems. Recently I purchased a 1999 Ford Lariat with over 180,000 miles for a customer who wanted a truck for his teenage son. The vehicle was in great condition and he saved quited a bit on the truck because of the high miles. He took the truck to his mechanic to inspect it and he called me the next day to say that it check out fine and that the mechanic had found the cylinder compression to be "like new!" Considering how much he saved he got a lot of truck for his money.

Cars today last so long that it's hard to believe that odometers used to have only five digits and that we use to junk them before they reached 100,000 miles but what I find even more shocking is that when it comes to deciding how many miles that new used car should have many people are still locked in the 70's. Many still look for cars that have low miles based on the standard's established in the 50's , 60's and 70's even though they will pay a premium for those low mileage cars. 12,000 miles/year was at one time considered the average back when one car per household was the norm and the average American lived, worked and shopped in the same community. Today it's not unusual to live 50 miles from where you work and shopping malls have replaced the neighborhood shops. People do put more miles on their cars but these are often highway miles which are easier on the motor and drive train. Purchasing a car with low miles makes sense if your primary concern is ensuring that you get a bumper to bumper warranty but otherwise I can't see how anyone can justify the premium paid for these cars when quality late model cars with higher mileage are selling for so much less.

My advise to anyone who's interested in buying a used car is to consider purchasing that next car with more miles and keep as much of their hard earned money in their pocket. Ask yourself if you want the low miles because of the warranty or because you want a car that's going to last for a while. If it's not the warranty that you're interested in then you need to ask yourself how many miles you plan to put on the vehicle before the urge to buy newer car wins out. Chances are you'll trade in that high mileage car rather than have it towed to junk yard and it won't leave a trail of blue smoke as your buyer drives away.