How much are Low or High kms worth?

[JC]

Originally Posted by Crazy Dazz

Ok, so for any given model & year, a low km example should be worth more than high km.
(All other things being equal, and granted you may not be able to judge the nature of those kms.)
But how would I quantify that?
With higher kms, the car has less life left, and I should expect higher maintenance...

Look at the price range on redbook and the kms it relates to, and you'll see that for a 5 year old falcon XR6, for example, the range is $13,900 to $15,800 for 80,000 to 130,000 km. So that works out at $1900 difference for 50,000km, which is $380 per 10,000km travelled - not a huge difference, really.

Looking at a 10 year old XR6, the difference is even less - $6,400 to $8,100 for 150,000 to 250,000km, which works out at $170 per 10,000km traveled......

[GO FURTHER]

High kilometres in any car is only an issue if you intend to sell the car, as I agree that most consumers will value a car with high mileage a lot less.

However, the other thing to bear in mind is that the biggest single factor that effects a car's value (not being a classic or rare) is depreciation itself.

With depreciation... Its a sliding scale and the dollar amount decreases with the age of the car and dollar value, with the most depreciation occuring in the first 4 years from new.

Plus with a new car.... As soon as you drive it out of the dealer, you immediately lose 10% or the GST value and initial on-road costs.

I think it also depends on the engine in a car as to how many kilometres are considered "high".

For example a 4 cylinder with 100,000 Kms is totally different to a V8 with the same number of kilometres (assuming both are driven carefully, and well maintained).

The 4 cylinder will be working a lot harder than a V8 or Barra 6 over the course of its life.

At the end of the day, it's not so much how many kilometres a car has done, it mainly depends on how it was driven, and how well it was maintained and serviced over the years.

Sure parts are going to ware out and need replacing with age... But it is still far cheaper to maintain a high mileage car in good condition than to buy a new car with car repayments / interest and high depreciation every 4 years in my opinion. Even at say the 200,000 Km mark.... Spending $5,000 in cash to fix everything that might need doing, is still cheaper than buying a brand new car.

I also think that with Falcons... Owners are going to keep them for longer, since they are no longer made and finding a comparable RWD large car is going to get more difficult unless you decide to go down the SUV / dual cab route.

[Smoke Pursuit]

A wise man once told me your first 100,000 is always your best...

50,000 is where I jump ship.

[Express]

Originally Posted by Crazy Dazz

Highway cruising miles are definitely easier on a car than city miles. The engine is not strained, there's less wear on drive-train and suspension components, and generally there will be less "passenger" wear per kilometre. Problem is that unless you know the person who owned it, how do you know?
Problem with a "country car" is that it could have it's life on back roads and farm tracks.

I agree a country car will generally have more appeal but as you say those that are regularly used on rough surfaces do pay a big price.

Almost all will be loose and rattle and I've seen higher mileage cars with metal fatigue where the shocks have broken through their carriers and punched a hole into the boot where plates have been welded in to repair the damage and the original metal then starts to crack around the outside of the weld.

The other factor to consider is whether it's lived in a major city or is a coastal vehicle where salt air has been doing its nasty work.


.

[BENT_8]

No given rule, weigh up each car on its merits.

When my son bought his 2012 VE2 we originally looked at an 09 FG Futura with 30k less on it and a country car but as it hadn't been through the detailers yet I could see how poorly it had been kept and no way on earth was it worth only 1k less than the immaculate ex cop VE with all the fruit.
12 months on and the VE has been faultless despite being an ex cop and with 130k on it.


When I went looking for utes I checked out nearly every yard in Adelaide looking for something worth buying in my price range, then I found an 09 Hilux which presented better than any of the utes id looked at under 10k, was blown away when I discovered it had 360k on it but when I discovered its history and drove it I snapped it up, was 1 owner family business and had only been used to cart crates of fruit and veg from the city to rural outlets.

I've had around 100 cars and the only time I got scared off by k's was when considering an R50 Pathfinder which had 295k's on it and only because it was the first time i'd considered a Nissan since i'd owned a 200B many years earlier.
Apart from the high k's it presented immaculately, I bought it and is still going strong in a friends possession 3 years later.

My2c.

[Tassie f100]

Originally Posted by Smoke Pursuit

A wise man once told me your first 100,000 is always your best...

50,000 is where I jump ship.

Only problem with that is that it probably costs you 50c / km just in depreciation whereas the next 50,000 would cost 30c/ k and so on til you get it down to about 10c/ km

[notNA]

thought id chip in, I currently have a 2015 xr6 turbo which was an ex-cop car.

got it with 92,000km almost over 100,000km wasn't as cheap as I wanted but is fully loaded and serviced.

pretty clean other than a few marks from the gun holster on the seat and door.

honestly, my 2 cents better to buy a car that has been used and you know its full history if you're not planning on selling it.

I once bought a car with low km thinking it was a bargain and the right thing to do but found it had more issues due to it not being used as much as a daily driver... age comes in don't forget that 2 years with only 15,000 new it was too good to be true even for a BF the Ford warranty was a pain cut my losses and ended up with an el wagon with over 150,000 and racked up over double that with no issues.

still sits in my drive way for fishing trips

[Bayson]

There is a big difference between buying a high km car and owning a high km car that you have done the km.

If your a car enthusiast you service and maintain your car meticulously. If the car has 10,000km or 200,000km it will drive beautifully.

But dont confuse this with a sales reps 200,000km, rental car or a police car with high km. I would not touch these high km car at any price.

Problem with a used car is you just dont know the history. Every high km seller say "country km" and drives like a dream lol.

[stock1991]

drive's like a dream until you have to fix something

[LTDHO]

Originally Posted by Bayson

But dont confuse this with a sales reps 200,000km, rental car or a police car with high km. I would not touch these high km car at any price..

When I worked for a major firm that rented cars, everyone of them was traded with kilometers between 49000 and 50000 (trucks excepted). The owners book had a business name entered (not the name of the hire firm) and they sold fora good price. Unbeknownst to the new owner they they have bought an ex-rental with a very hard life. Boy, these things were treated bad.

Story:
Back in the 90's there was a customer we jokingly referred to as "The bank robber" He would only hire a Calais (VS then VT at the time) and would be every month for a week. Every time the car was returned, the tyres were scrubbed, almost as though he had spent the week at Philip Island Circuit.
I would always need to add a few liters of motor oil too!

[Bayson]

Originally Posted by LTDHO

When I worked for a major firm that rented cars, everyone of them was traded with kilometers between 49000 and 50000 (trucks excepted). The owners book had a business name entered (not the name of the hire firm) and they sold fora good price. Unbeknownst to the new owner they they have bought an ex-rental with a very hard life. Boy, these things were treated bad.

Story:
Back in the 90's there was a customer we jokingly referred to as "The bank robber" He would only hire a Calais (VS then VT at the time) and would be every month for a week. Every time the car was returned, the tyres were scrubbed, almost as though he had spent the week at Philip Island Circuit.
I would always need to add a few liters of motor oil too!

Imagine what the police do to them. The "bank robber" would be a princess next to the police.

I had an extended family member buy a vf commodore sv6 with 65000km used, paid close to $30k from memory. She said it was so beautiful. I asked who the original owner was and unashamed she said it was an ex rental. I immediately felt sick in the guts after that.

[mike_nofx]

Originally Posted by stock1991

drive's like a dream until you have to fix something

Describes any car with any mileage. Not specific to high km cars.