Best Mileage Range To Consider When Buying A Used Car.

[udaya803]

Hi All,

What is the best mileage range to consider when buying a used car in Sri Lanka? for example should be better to consider less than 100 000 KM driven car or still is it OK to go with like 150 000 KM driven car?

I know the answer may be totally depend on what type of car it is, I'm considering to buy a Nissan N16 or Toyota.

what do you guys suggest ?

Thanks in Advance.

[kush]

In an ideal world it will depend on who much of running you would do and how long you intend to keep the car.

If you are doing only 1000 km per month and wish to keep a for 5 years you will do 60k, so a 100k car seems right when you sell it would have around 160k.

General formula is if you are a doing low mileage go for high mileage car and if you are a high milage better to go for a low mileage to same on potential maintenance of high mileage car.

However in SL price difference does not vary much with mileage and most of the cars are clocked especially the Toyotas and Nissans.

So your 100k “generally the magic mileage of the used car” could be actually 250k.

[GayanR]

Never buy a vehicle just focusing on the low mileage.It might be very well hacked and odometer reversed.A well maintained 250000km car can be better than a neglected low mileage one.Also if the car is nearing 90000km and the previous owner (assume First owner) claims that he has never done any repairs or touched the engine,be well prepare to replace every part of the car including mounts,shocks,bushes and so on.Most of the 10-15 year olds that sits around in magical 80000km range has done well over 150000km and reversed.There are genuine low mileage ones,You can get an idea just by speaking to the owner of the car and his knowledge about the car.Buy a car from a home with service records including it's previous owners records.More than the mileage consider the condition of the car and number of owners.For a Toyota,nissan 80000km is just breaking in.They can last past 250000 miles if you do the maintenance correctly.

[Hoonigan]

What GayanR said! The practice of clocking odos and selling cars on screws everyone down the line. The guy you're buying from might not even know the actual mileage.

And mileage is not a guarantee of proper usage. I know a guy who replaced a Toyota, of all, engine at 50,000 Km and judging by the way he uses the vehicle, I wasn't surprised. So it's better to get the condition of the car checked over or diagnosed professionally and identify the amount of work needed and an estimation of when the car will need those repairs, so you know what you're getting into.

[udaya803]

Yes you all are correct, as mileage is not the only factor to consider. But I was just curious.

In most other countries mileage plays a major role when buying a car. they cannot alter the odo as everything goes to a vehicle history report (mileage, accidents, maintenance etc.) So people who buy a used car knows what they actually getting in to. It is shame that people do all these bad things and sell the car and still expect to buy a good car. anyway that is how in sri lanka and we have to live with that. Lets hope one day laws will be implemented and this will change

Thanks guys for your valuable comments.

cheers!!

[kush]

Apperantly there is a way to check the actual mileage from ECU which can not be altered (unless you change the ECU,I suppopse)

I was told by a frend that De S***a motors have this facility, may be the agent can too

[VVTi]

Hi All,

What is the best mileage range to consider when buying a used car in Sri Lanka? for example should be better to consider less than 100 000 KM driven car or still is it OK to go with like 150 000 KM driven car?

I know the answer may be totally depend on what type of car it is, I'm considering to buy a Nissan N16 or Toyota.

what do you guys suggest ?

Thanks in Advance.

IMHO, a high mileage car with meticulous service and maintenance records is a safer risk than a low mileage car with no records or dubious records.

In Sri Lanka, you can easily assume the following cars are with tampered odo meters,

All models of Corollas, Nissan Sunnys

Civics, EG8 and EK3s mostly due to the rice factor demand.

Suzuki Swifts.

Marutis

The reason being, there is a constant demand for these cars and people will buy them at the price quoted, and unscrupulous sellers will try to hood wink the unsuspecting buyer by turning back the clock, which is very easy in all these cars.

If you MUST buy one of these models, best is to check if they have records and tally them with the respective agent/Service center.

If the mileage is unnaturally low and there have been multiple owners, walk away.

Flip side , if you find a single owner car, with 6 figure mileage BUT with a good record of all work done, then go for that. You are better off knowing than being surprised later on.

TRUE STORY

Our company owned a Toyota Camry wit 450K Kms on it, multiple drivers and towards the end of its life here, we got it serviced by every Tom, Dick and Harry and as expected it was a hoot to drive with the car stopping for no reason. Finally management sold it off for pittance, the new owner had the car back on sale, in fact on AL itself within 14 days with 'Company maintained, Single owner, 120,000kms 'Genuine mileage' in the advert

He actually sold it with a massive profit.

LOL!!!

BTW, a cab company driver one day on the way to the airport in a Prius told me that (Owners) every month turn back the clock of their cars by about 10,000 Kms to maintain it just below 100,000Kms, regardless of how much the drive. They do it at the service.

So if any of you plan on buying a used Prius, make sure they are genuine and not former cab company cars.

Edited February 2, 2015 by VVTi

[Crosswind]

<blockquote class='ipsBlockquote'data-author="kush" data-cid="271167" data-time="1422777201"><p>

General formula is if you are a doing low mileage go for high mileage car and if you are a high milage better to go for a low mileage to same on potential maintenance of high mileage car.<br />

.</p></blockquote>

What are you smoking buddy? It's some serious sh*t!

[kush]

IMHO, a high mileage car with meticulous service and maintenance records is a safer risk than a low mileage car with no records or dubious records.

In Sri Lanka, you can easily assume the following cars are with tampered odo meters,

All models of Corollas, Nissan Sunnys

Civics, EG8 and EK3s mostly due to the rice factor demand.

Suzuki Swifts.

Marutis

The reason being, there is a constant demand for these cars and people will buy them at the price quoted, and unscrupulous sellers will try to hood wink the unsuspecting buyer by turning back the clock, which is very easy in all these cars.

If you MUST buy one of these models, best is to check if they have records and tally them with the respective agent/Service center.

If the mileage is unnaturally low and there have been multiple owners, walk away.

Flip side , if you find a single owner car, with 6 figure mileage BUT with a good record of all work done, then go for that. You are better off knowing than being surprised later on.

TRUE STORY

Our company owned a Toyota Camry wit 450K Kms on it, multiple drivers and towards the end of its life here, we got it serviced by every Tom, Dick and Harry and as expected it was a hoot to drive with the car stopping for no reason. Finally management sold it off for pittance, the new owner had the car back on sale, in fact on AL itself within 14 days with 'Company maintained, Single owner, 120,000kms 'Genuine mileage' in the advert

He actually sold it with a massive profit.

LOL!!!

BTW, a cab company driver one day on the way to the airport in a Prius told me that (Owners) every month turn back the clock of their cars by about 10,000 Kms to maintain it just below 100,000Kms, regardless of how much the drive. They do it at the service.

So if any of you plan on buying a used Prius, make sure they are genuine and not former cab company cars.

In fact I remember being in a Prius Cab with 68k on clock and last service tag hanging from the wiper stalk that indicated over 200k.

You need to be extra careful when buying Prius/ Insight/ Allion/ Axio as they are being run as cabs.

As individuals have hired them to cab companies most of them come in to second market as personally used.

[Knight]

I heard a company in Colombo (C*r Ch**ks) check the vehicle including mileage. They claim their tech can reveal the actual mileage. Something useful when buying a used vehicle with everything that's going on.

[bycap]

I've seen some advertisements, 10 - 15 years old cars with the mileage of lesser than 90K. Even they reverse the odo, it should be realistic.

On the other hand our family car, 1992 Toyota carina diesel 23 years old car still has 136,000km on the clock. It wasn't driven frequently. If I plan to sell this I may need to rotate the odo forward

[The Don]

I heard a company in Colombo (C*r Ch**ks) check the vehicle including mileage. They claim their tech can reveal the actual mileage. Something useful when buying a used vehicle with everything that's going on.

I have heard of this company too. Provides conservative inspection reports, and often the reccomended repair list is a bit overblown. But having said that, thats probably whats expected of them.

But personally there isn't a way you can get accurate mileage out of a used vehicle which has not had a proven service history from the day it was manufactured. That is unless you have a crystall ball and some magic potion. You can give a ball park figure through inspection, but that is more indicative of how well the car has been kept (as it is depedent on signs of wear) rather than actual mileage.

[Crosswind]

I heard a company in Colombo (C*r Ch**ks) check the vehicle including mileage. They claim their tech can reveal the actual mileage. Something useful when buying a used vehicle with everything that's going on.

There's no way on earth you can get the actual mileage of a car. Not sure about some Euros but definitely not in japs.

Car checks will find faults even in brand new cars. Forget them. They are only good for creating paranoia.

[Supra_Natural]

There's no way on earth you can get the actual mileage of a car. Not sure about some Euros but definitely not in japs.

Car checks will find faults even in brand new cars. Forget them. They are only good for creating paranoia.

Im curious as to what makes you so vehemently opposed to Car checks, bad experience?