Is it still worth buying an older high-mileage car over a newer model?

Question

My employee bought a 2002 Honda civic. I kinda like it. I know most would say new tech in cars is better but an older car will last longer. Do some of you remember years ago the Toyota commercials had real customers jumping up and saying they have 300 thousand miles and still going. Nothing today will last that. New is sometimes not the way to go. Any opinions on buying older?

OneViewpoint · Accepted Answer

My rules of thumb for buying a car... Never buy luxury brands (German). Their value plummets like a rock. They are horrible to maintain and repair. They tend to have a lot of design issues. Never buy new. Depreciation can be 25 - 50% in the first 3 years. A safe bet is any Japanese brand 3 years old coming off lease as a CPO car. That's Certified Pre Owned. They are generally the cream of the crop for lease returns. All the infant mortality issues have been found and corrected. The tech is reasonably up to date. The car has been restored to a standard so there should be no surprises in the first few years. And the warranty is generally extended to 100K miles. You can find them with as little as 25,000 miles. Sales tax will be less. Insurance will be less.  Try to stick with high volume production stuff like Camrys, Accords, Subarus, Altimas, etc. Tires will be cheaper. Repairs will be cheaper. Aftermarket parts will be more plentiful. And the car will have a low profile / blend into the parking lot full of cars. Buy a sports car if you must have one but realize they depreciate as bad or worse than luxury cars. Tires and maintenance are outrageous. Insurance is ridiculous. And they are targets for thieves and vandalism.

NathanDavis · Accepted Answer

it really depends on a million factors... but generally speaking, newer models are all kinds of shite... lol

emeraldsaphire · Answer

So back when I was younger I always got really old cars because it was all that I could afford, but the old cars broke down so often that I practically have trauma from calling triple A XP Anyway nowadays I don't buy a car that is older then 3 years. I don't want to break down on the highway again, it's not fun

exitseven · Answer

If you buy a high milagecar you usually are buying somebody else's problem. I bought my kids Fords that were two year old program cars. They were all gone over by Ford and anything that was broken was fixed. They also had a new car warranty of 100,000 miles. I bought two of them and had really a good experience with both of them.

Buying somebody's old beater is just looking for trouble

msc545 · Answer

It might be worth it, except if you're going to have a ton of trouble with the car because it was high mileage or poorly built to start with. It's not worth it. You're going to wind up having more difficulty in putting more money into it than you otherwise would with a newer model with less mileage.

Pohjolan · Answer

You know this is  extremely  contextual. Depends on the model and how well its kept. A 500K car may be in a better shape than a 100K car. Also spare part availability varies. You should ask some car guy you know for his opinion and take him along to check it before buying.

Kelley1 · Answer

It depends on what you value. Based solely on the cost of miles driven, a used car has greater value. However, a new car has a higher social value and slightly greater comfort.

AngryCarl3 · Answer

Hondas are considered very reliable cars so high mileage shouldn't be an issue.

Mike_Hum · Answer

I'd do anything to avoid a car with that auto shutoff feature.

Redstang88 · Answer

For the right price yeah, I think vehicle tech peaked in about 2012. My daily is an CRV and I love that thing new vehicles are nice for the first 100k (maybe) but are generally junk

DryGermanGuy · Answer

If it's well maintained and you get all the typical parts for it, absolutely.

jamesgoldman · Answer

Old German and Japanese cars are pretty solid ditto Volvos In good condition I often see 30+ year old examples

Staximus · Answer

Late 90's and early 2000's Hondas and Toyotas will go more miles than any other car

Is it still worth buying an older high-mileage car over a newer model?

Most Helpful Opinions

Most Helpful Opinions

What Girls & Guys Said

Do you like older cars or newer cars better?

Is it still worth buying an older high-mileage car over a newer model?

Most Helpful Opinions

Most Helpful Opinions

What Girls & Guys Said

Do you like older cars or newer cars better?

We're glad to see you liked this post.