What age / mileage of car to buy

Honest John Back Room » Motoring discussion
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Sun 14 Nov 2004 14:36
What age / mileage of car to buy - Car
I currently travel around 20,000 miles a year and may look to replace my current car a Rover 416i 99T with nearly 80,000 miles in the next 18 months and are trying to work out the best way of minimising deprecetion. On my present car wich cost £6,000 2.5 years ago I have lost according to what car price guide £5,300. Taking the above into account what would be the better option

(A) Keep the car for 18 months and replace with 3year old car
with 30,000 miles and keep for 4years.

(B) Keep the car for 18 months and replace with 3year old car
with 60,000 miles and keep it for 4years.

(C)Keep the car for 30 months then either replace with a 3year
old car with 30,000 miles or 60,000 miles.

Thank you
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Sun 14 Nov 2004 18:08
What age / mileage of car to buy - MichaelR
Despite high mileage I would be very suprised if your Rover is now worth just £700, which according to your figures it is.
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Sun 14 Nov 2004 18:16
What age / mileage of car to buy - Happy Blue!
As long as your Rover is roadworthy now, it wil have a higher value than £700, especially as a trade in against something of reasonable value.

The best way to avoid depreciation is not to sell! Given your level of mileage, you will lose far more buying a new car than keeping the current one, even if it petrol and not diesel. Hang on for a long as possible and then worry about its replacement. 18 months is far to long to worry about it!
--
Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
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Sun 14 Nov 2004 19:08
What age / mileage of car to buy - Mapmaker
(c). Or better still, (d) - which is to keep the car until it dies, expensively.

(Assuming that your car really is worth #700...) I bet you wish that 3 years ago you had bought your current car for #700 & that it was now worth #400.

Tip: the only place where cars change hands at that sort of price is eBay where people are desparate to be shot of cars within a week, with only a couple of months' MOT.

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Sun 14 Nov 2004 21:37
What age / mileage of car to buy - Car
According to What Car website the part exchange value is £695,
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Sun 14 Nov 2004 20:43
What age / mileage of car to buy - barney100
Follow the old formula: keep the car until the cost of the repair exceeds the value of the car. I have had the same problem as you and settled on buying a diesel Mercedes C class. The depreciation is quite manageable and they domore miles than the starship Enterprise.
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Sun 14 Nov 2004 22:42
What age / mileage of car to buy - Huw
unfortunately life is rarely that simple in my experience. i have yet to find an instance when a single repair has been more than the worth of a car but looking back on several reapirs in a year I find that may have been the case. When you have done the first repair you feel you have made an investment and stick with it.
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Sun 14 Nov 2004 23:15
What age / mileage of car to buy - Car
Thats been my experience, what I tend to do now is to look at what has been replaced and if a wear & tear item discount it from the equation eg at some point on any car you would need to replace tyres, pads etc
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Mon 15 Nov 2004 01:19
What age / mileage of car to buy - MichaelR
Mileage adjustment on the What Car website is, in my experience, completely useless. Enter anything remotely high and it just throws back a completely silly value. I got it to tell me that an E39 5 Series on a Y plate is worth £1300 with 150k on it, once.

Happily, the previous owner of my current car did not spot this and priced it at the book value of What Car's mileage adjusted price! Hurrah, nice saving there :)
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Mon 15 Nov 2004 13:35
What age / mileage of car to buy - Negger
I do a similar mileage to you, and am self employed - Depreciation also concerns me.
I buy good quality older cars, Audi's, V.W's,Volvo's etc, at anything up to 100K miles. I've not yet failed to get another 100K out of any of them after 4-5 years.
Recent purchase, via the Auto Trader link on this site, was an N-Reg Passat TD Estate. Very tidy bodywork, drives beautifully, and only cost me a £1K.Early days yet, but depreciation on this should be negligible!
Just buy carefully!!!!!!!!!!
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Mon 15 Nov 2004 14:33
What age / mileage of car to buy - MarkSmith
Let's imagine (being pesimistic) that next year your engine blows up and needs to be replaced. £2000.

The year after your gear box becomes unserviceable. £1000.

The year after than you need an entire new exhaust system. £600.

Let's also assume the car is then so old and undesirable that it's worth nothing, and you scrap it. £700 you could have got if you sold/PXed the car now.

Total cost for these three years: £4300.

Cost of your last 2.5 years' motoring (in depreciation alone): £5300.

And that's being _extremely_ pesimistic.

Old cars are cheaper than new. They're not as nice, they're not as shiny, they're not so good for pulling chicks, but they're cheaper.

My 2p :-)

-Mark
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If you cover no more than 100 miles per day and have easy access to a charging point at home or work, then an EV is ideal for you.

Is an electric car right for me?