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Any - Low Mileage? - ah207

Just curious - I have noticed a trend recently (post-COVID) in sales ads for used cars. Increasingly, vehicles with 80-90K miles on the clock being listed as Low Mileage. Is this the new bar now for modern (better build?) cars - as compared to say 30-40 years a go when 80-90K would have been a high milage range? Or are people just doing more driving nowadays so that 80-90K is just not that much in distance terms anymore?

Just curious.

Any - Low Mileage? - Falkirk Bairn

A 12 year old car with 90K on the clock is low mileage - 7,500 per year

A 1 year old car with 25K on the clock is High Mileage

Any - Low Mileage? - 72 dudes

A 12 year old car with 90K on the clock is low mileage - 7,500 per year

A 1 year old car with 25K on the clock is High Mileage

Well yes and no.

My 2007 Mercedes A180CDi has done 111,000 miles. I couldn't describe that as low mileage.

A better description might be "low mileage for year"

Average mileage has actually gone down in recent years. More working from home, fewer reps and Account Managers plying their business up and down motorways, which used to skew the figures upwards.

First 3 years, average mileage is 10 to 12k per year

Thereafter 7 to 8k per year.

Any - Low Mileage? - Engineer Andy

Part of all of this has to do with the lack of supply of new cars (especially) during the Pandemic lockdown periods and even now, where there are apparently still some kinks in the supply chain system, feeding into much higher demand for second hand cars across the board.

Many main dealers and the more reputable 'car supermarket' chains have been forced into selling older cars they they had done prior to March 2020.

They still want well-cared-for (preferably with a FSH and at worst only one or two minor MOT fails [e.g. headlamp levelling]) cars in good condition (especially without signs of bodyshell rust / damage) and cars with a low average mileage per annum in this condition are in great demand.

My local KIA dealership recently sold a 9yo Venga 3 1.6 petrol auto, which looked in great condition, FSH, only one minor MOT failure and just 30,000 miles on the clock. It was listed at just under £9k and sold in about 2 weeks, Bear in mind the original list price for the car would probably have been around the £16k mark.

I'd bet that had the last 4 years been 'normal' market conditions, that car would've been sold either at a knock down price at the dealership or quickly sold at auction, probably for half what it sold this time, maybe less.

Some dealers and car supermarkets may take PXes (presumably like that Venga) to sell on at their site with much higher average annual mileages if they aren't so old, but probably only if they come with no MOT failures, are in immaculate condition and have a full main dealership service history.

I suspect gaps in that or evidence of not being cared for via more serious (and obvious) MOT failures would result in low value trade-ins and being sent to auction, similar to much older cars like mine.

Any - Low Mileage? - Adampr

In my opinion (only), low mileage is before the first cambelt change or 60,000 miles.

Any - Low Mileage? - pd

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Some dealers and car supermarkets may take PXes (presumably like that Venga) to sell on at their site with much higher average annual mileages if they aren't so old, but probably only if they come with no MOT failures, are in immaculate condition and have a full main dealership service history.

I suspect gaps in that or evidence of not being cared for via more serious (and obvious) MOT failures would result in low value trade-ins and being sent to auction, similar to much older cars like mine.

I doubt any dealer gives a proverbial about past MOT failures - all they are worried about is the current MOT and whether the car is likely to come back and bite them. Beyond that they'll be looking at condition and overall retail appeal together whether it fits in with their other stock. However by far the most important thing is whether there is a decent margin in it!

Service history and things like past MOT failures have little or no retail appeal beyond things like whether it is due a major thing like a cambelt or something and whether it has a clean (ish) long MOT. Colour, spec, wheels and general look of the thing are far more important.

It is much easier to sell a car in a nice colour with nice wheels and a nice spec with a slightly iffy history than something poverty spec on 16" wheels in turd brown and 17 stamps in the book.

Any - Low Mileage? - Engineer Andy

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Some dealers and car supermarkets may take PXes (presumably like that Venga) to sell on at their site with much higher average annual mileages if they aren't so old, but probably only if they come with no MOT failures, are in immaculate condition and have a full main dealership service history.

I suspect gaps in that or evidence of not being cared for via more serious (and obvious) MOT failures would result in low value trade-ins and being sent to auction, similar to much older cars like mine.

I doubt any dealer gives a proverbial about past MOT failures - all they are worried about is the current MOT and whether the car is likely to come back and bite them. Beyond that they'll be looking at condition and overall retail appeal together whether it fits in with their other stock. However by far the most important thing is whether there is a decent margin in it!

Service history and things like past MOT failures have little or no retail appeal beyond things like whether it is due a major thing like a cambelt or something and whether it has a clean (ish) long MOT. Colour, spec, wheels and general look of the thing are far more important.

It is much easier to sell a car in a nice colour with nice wheels and a nice spec with a slightly iffy history than something poverty spec on 16" wheels in turd brown and 17 stamps in the book.

That might be true for some, higher spec / performance marques, but I think things are changing, because of how much prices of older second hand cars have risen, and because repairs are now both very expensive and cars have far more complex equipment on board (often crucial to the running of the car, including whether they pass its next MOT) that could go wrong.

People are becoming more discerning about what they spend their money on, because it doesn't go as far as it was 5 years ago

There is also a whole world of difference between a cheesy-looking poverty-spec car and a reasonable one shod on sensible wheels and tyres. If someone wants to spend loads more money on a sheep in wolf's clothing and £50 - £100 more per tyre replacement and which lasts half the time, gives a much firmer ride, then more fool them.

Eventually they will cotton on, especially if a supposedly 'immaculate' flashy 1-2yo car has been PXed so quickly - it may have been it has a horribly hard ride, or that it's had reliability issues that the previous owner got few up with dealing with and just got rid of it for something easier to live with.

Most of the quickest sellers of PXes with decent maintenance/MOT histories at my local KIA dealership are not that top spec/flashy new car type, but of that Venga, Ceed mid-spec type, the Venga in question being shod on sensible 205/55 R16 tyres. That and those from makes like Toyota and Lexus that are synonymous with reliability.

Any - Low Mileage? - Andrew-T

<< People are becoming more discerning about what they spend their money on, because it doesn't go as far as it was 5 years ago. >>

If you are suggesting cause and effect, 'discernment' should be continually rising, as money has gone less and less far for many decades !! I don't think that is the case.

Any - Low Mileage? - gordonbennet

Average mileage has actually gone down in recent years. More working from home, fewer reps and Account Managers plying their business up and down motorways, which used to skew the figures upwards.

I'd have thought that would be the case, but the roads are now more congested than i ever recall.

Any - Low Mileage? - 72 dudes

Average mileage has actually gone down in recent years. More working from home, fewer reps and Account Managers plying their business up and down motorways, which used to skew the figures upwards.

I'd have thought that would be the case, but the roads are now more congested than i ever recall.

More cars, but each doing less mileage GB?

Any - Low Mileage? - gordonbennet

More cars, but each doing less mileage GB?

May well be, its not just that urban areas are always congested either, motorways the same.

I think commutes have changed for many, in my county the widely spread boot and shoe industry has been exported and we are now the distribution hub of the country with massive warehouses and food RDCs over hundreds of acres of once lovely land, its surprising just how far people commute in to these massive industrial estates, where in times gone by when there was varied local industries many people walked/biked to work within the same district, or if they used a car the commute might be 5 miles or less.

Any - Low Mileage? - John F

Cars (and people) last much longer than they used to. They (not people) will last indefinitely if cherished. (My two cars, a TR7 and Audi A8, have a combined age of 63yrs). The country is full of old codgers who treated themselves to a 'forever' new car when they retired and then did only around 4,000 miles a year till they...., er, couldn't. So their 20yr old car will have done a mere 80k and will probably rapidly expire at the hands of the youngster who buys/inherits it. Here's a bit of info giving the current average sc*** age of 15yrs, but that is skewed by much younger cars which are RTC economic write-offs.

www.bmssalvage.co.uk/blog/how-old-is-the-average-sc***-car/#:~:text=But%20how%20old%20is%20the,same%20year%2Don%2Dyear.

Any - Low Mileage? - movilogo

If you can see the mileage it is up to you to interpret whether the mileage is high or low. It does not matter what the advertisers say.

Any - Low Mileage? - Engineer Andy

If you can see the mileage it is up to you to interpret whether the mileage is high or low. It does not matter what the advertisers say.

I'd say it's more a combination of mileage, age and the type of driving the previous owner did. My dad's previous Fiestas only did an average of 2500 miles a year, but mainly local shopping trips along poorly surfaced roads and where there were a LOT of speed humps.

Needless to say, the engines were fine when he PXed them, but the suspension and tyres had taken quite a beating despite the low mileage and needed replacing far more often than on my Mazda3 or previous Nissan Micra, both of which did an average of about 4,000 - 5,000 and 7,000 miles a year respectively, less trips but longer ones on better surfaced, free-flowing roads.

Oddly enough, his cars had a far better time as regards battery replacements (especially my Mazda3), which was odd given how short his trips were.

I suppose the problem is that on the surface, both my Mazda and his Fiestas have done 'low mileage' for their age, just different methods of 'getting there'.

Any - Low Mileage? - skidpan

Had a very odd experience when we sold the uncles Suzuki Cererio last year. It was 4 1/2 years old and had 3200 (not a mistake) on the clock. Always serviced by Suzuki (they did great deals for low mileage users) thus was still under warranty and with a service at 5 years and 6 years would be covered for the full 7 years of Suzuki's current deal.

A great car for someone.

First place I tried was a few hundred yards from where we live. They sell cars of this type but declined the Suzuki since the mileage was too low, said buyers want higher mileage cars.

Dealer it came from snapped it up.

Any - Low Mileage? - Adampr

In 2012, I tried to sell a 2011 Mitsubishi Colt with about 400 miles on it. No dealers or private buyers wanted it. The supplying dealer didn't want it back in stock. Eventually, I sold it to a car buying service for a stupidly low sum.

For anyone who cares - I had bought it about a month earlier, then my wife's mother died suddenly and we inherited her Micra, which my wife could not bear to part with. At that stage, we lived in London and already had another car. I wasn't prepared to have three, not least as wife couldn't drive at that point...

Any - Low Mileage? - bathtub tom

I had a Micra, inherited with stupidity low mileage. Gave it a good clean and (slight) polish and asked a premium. Flogged it straight away (should've asked more).