Buying vehicle with 200k+ miles

[DollarJoe67]

I want to get some thoughts on buying a vehicle with 200k+ miles.  I have seen lots of ads for vehicles with high mileage in good condition for low $$$.  This includes both old and late model vehicles.  Please provide thoughts, especially if you STARTED in one of these vehicles.  That would be the case for me.  Thanks.

 

[idn88]

My experience is that at 200K everything mechanical and drive train related starts to wear out - ie bearings, breaks, transmission, water pumps etc - even if the engine runs good and everything was serviced properly. &nbsp;But that doesn't mean it won't run a lot longer with some TLC. &nbsp;There are lots of vehicles on the road with 300k+. &nbsp;<br><br>On the other hand, At 10+ years everything electrical starts to go, irrelevant of mileage - ie sensors, control modules, starter, alternator. &nbsp;However if your handy you can often fix a lot of these yourself without too many special tools except a code reader.<br><br>If your going to by something for little money, you need to expect issues,&nbsp;that is&nbsp;why there being sold - either current issues or expectation of ones. &nbsp;If it were me, and its just my opinion, if I were going to buy a van that I was only going to a few thousand miles per year, I would prefer something newer with high miles, since the heavy mechanical problems may not show up for a while if your using it minimally, and you may be able to live with some issues and still get where your going if its short distances. <br><br>If I wanted to get something cheap that I could fix up and still drive a lot of miles, I would get something older with lower miles, replace everything&nbsp;obvious&nbsp;up front and hope I get lucky with the electronics lasting. &nbsp;Just my opinion.<br><br>Either way, if you can find something with all the service records and&nbsp;obviously&nbsp;well cared for,&nbsp;that's&nbsp;the best deal irrelevant of mileage or age. &nbsp;I would also rather spend 2500 on something and have 2500 in hand for repairs, than spend 5000 on something and be broke, because something will need fixing eventually either way.<br><br><br> &nbsp;

 

[bk2valve]

Excellent advice from idn88, and my thoughts also. I believe the general rule of thumb is that it will cost you, either up front or later on. That is the dilemma of machinery. <br><br>I also agree that if you can get service records and it has had good preventive maintenance (PM) you will be way ahead of the curve. I always am willing to pay a little more if I get the records and receipts.&nbsp; Unfortunately it is a rarity that anyone keeps them or you will get them when you buy. <br><br>Even when I have sold a vehicle with the records...I always keep records on vehicles and keep all receipts.....they don't seem to have value to most buyers. To me they are gold.<br><br>Another thing I would recommend is to take a vehicle in for a mechanical survey by a qualified mechanic before you buy. Then you will have a pretty good idea of at least any immediate problems.<br><br>Best luck,<br>Bri

 

[MrNoodly]

Mileage is only a partial indicator of usage. A van that spends a lot of time idling still has the motor running, is still slowly wearing down, even if it's not rolling up miles.<br><br>And miles can't tell you how the van was treated. There are I-paid-for-this-myself-and-it's-my-livelihood miles and there are it's-the-company's-truck-not-mine miles. There are stop-and-go miles and easy cruising miles. <br><br>I think the condition of the load area can sometimes say something about the way the van was treated. Does it look like it has been beaten to death?&nbsp;

 

[highdesertranger]

wow idn88 great 2nd post i basically agree with everything you said.&nbsp; i personally like older vehicles, &nbsp;pre computer controlled.&nbsp; i know you get better mpg and overall performance with computer control but the headaches once they are over about ten years old are not worth it to me.&nbsp; i need dependable above all else.&nbsp; i can make anything run that doesn't have a computer unless it had a catastrophic failure.&nbsp; whats a code reader going to do for you when your electronic fuel pump goes out 150 miles from nowhere on a back country road and those fuel pumps will cost you big bucks, &nbsp;how much fuel could you buy with that. &nbsp;&nbsp;highdesertranger

 

[MrNoodly]

Older, less electronics-dependent vehicles might be easier to repair, but, because they're older and more worn, they are also more likely to <em>need</em> things repaired. Simpler machines have fewer things to go wrong, but their age means those simple machines are closer to wearing out or breaking.<br><br>A lot of used vehicles are for sale precisely because they have become less reliable. The owners are cutting their losses. I see an ad that says it has a new water pump, I think, great, a new water pump (hope it was the correct part and that it was installed properly), but what else is about to go bad on that 25 year old truck? Oil pump? Heater core? Piston rings? Rear end? Transmission?...<br><br>There are probably tables of data somewhere, with nice graphs, documenting what's likely to go wrong with vehicles at various stages of their lifespan, pre-digital vehicles versus modern techno marvels. Do electronics go bad sooner or more often than good old iron and steel machine parts? Or is it that the old technology is more familiar and less perplexing -- the devil we know?<br><br>Given the choice, I'd still go with the newer, lower mileage van. Twenty or thirty years ago, my cars (new and slightly used) were in the shop or left me stranded a couple of times a year. That hasn't happened with anything I've owned in the past 20 years.

 

[DownByTheRiver]

I want to get some thoughts on buying a vehicle with 200k+ miles.&nbsp; I have seen lots of ads for vehicles with high mileage in good condition for low $$$.&nbsp; This includes both old and late model vehicles.&nbsp; Please provide thoughts, especially if you&nbsp;STARTED in one of these vehicles.&nbsp; That would be the case for me.&nbsp; Thanks.

If it's a really good deal I might consider it if you don't drive a lot and just plan on sleeping in it.

I only put a few hundred miles per year on mine.
Most of it is just driving from one sleeping spot to another every few days.

 

[stinko]

I won't be hitting the road for a few more weeks but, my van has 220k. &nbsp;I runs well and I'm learning the&nbsp;maintenance&nbsp;and keeping up with it. &nbsp;The thing is, I bought for $1000. &nbsp;When it bites the dust I'll sell it to Pull-A-Part for $500. &nbsp;I don't know anything about vans, but I'm sure this thing will run for 500 bucks worth, and along the way I'll learn maintenance, repair, if this is what I want to keep doing, and what I want from my next van. &nbsp;

 

[Pikachu711]

Recently I was looking at a 1998&nbsp;van here in Las Vegas on craigslist. The description mentioned that the mileage&nbsp;was a little over&nbsp;220,000 miles. The owner did mention a new transmission and some other work that was performed on it. He was asking $1,500.00 for his van.<BR><BR>The owner&nbsp;replied he had done regular maintenance on the van&nbsp;but it was still a van with over 220,000 miles on it. From his responses he was giving me I sensed that it was beginning to have some serious mechanical problems. Under the circumstances&nbsp;I decided&nbsp;not to&nbsp;buy this van.<BR><BR>As much as I appreciated the fact that the van was regularly maintained (according to the owner) I'd rather air on the side of caution and buy a van with less than 200,000 miles on it. There are quite a few vans available here in Vegas so I'm not going to rush buying the wrong van.

 

[rabiesandpeewee]

Great advice on here! I'd like to add a tip that I read about somewhere online, regarding what KIND of miles the van has on it. If the driver's seat is worn away on the left side, you know it was a vehicle that made a lot of daily stops, and likely was subject to lots of stop and go. Highway miles are easier on the vehicle. My van fails this test, but whatever. It's just a tip!<br>Also, not sure how others feel about this, but I'd invest in an auto club or towing insurance. I have Better World Auto Club (it's like AAA, but better). I can get towed up to 100 miles for free, four times a year. You never know what kind of trouble the van will give you, so it's nice to have a bit of peace of mind.

 

[rabiesandpeewee]

along the way I'll learn maintenance, repair, if this is what I want to keep doing, and what I want from my next van. &nbsp;

<br><br>Stinko reminded me of something that affected my decision to buy a super old van. Anything you install to one van could probably FAIRLY (taken loosely) easily be switched to a new van, if the super old one bites the dust. For instance, I'm going to have plywood walls. They will already be cut, so if I buy a similar workvan, they will probably just fit right in there.<br>Mine was super cheap, though. It was just over 1500 dollars, with 150,000 miles on it, and a 1995. Pretty low miles for the age. If you're patient, you can probably find a good deal on something slightly lower milage than 200+. Anyway, I consider this my "tester," and if it doesn't work out, not too much harm done.

 

[highdesertranger]

i do agree older vehicles are less reliable but can be brought back.&nbsp; here is what i have done.&nbsp; find an older vehicle and go through the whole thing brakes, motor, trans, rear axle, steering,&nbsp;if 4x4 transfer case and front axle. &nbsp;repair everything back to factory specs or better. &nbsp;i can do this for well under $10,000 and have a vehicle that's good for 20 years with routine maintenance.&nbsp; the trick here is knowing what needs&nbsp;to be&nbsp;done so if someone isn't mechanical then you are stuck.&nbsp; lets face it transportation cost money its a personal decision how much you want or can put out.&nbsp; little story here. &nbsp;when i worked as a mechanic back in the 70's there was a mechanic from germany he was traveling around the world working&nbsp;along the way to pay for his adventure. &nbsp;he had a ford station wagon he bought for a couple hundred bucks.&nbsp; i asked him why he didn't drive a mercedes, bmw or vw because these were supposed to be better than american cars.&nbsp; he said in germany those are like our american cars the junk yards are full of them.&nbsp; what he wanted was basic transportation not a status symbol.&nbsp; when he left for australia he sold his ford wagon for what he paid for it.&nbsp; so basically had transportation for free just gas, oil change and a couple minor repairs.&nbsp;&nbsp; so the moral of the story is you can pay as much or as little as you want to pay for transportation if you know how to work on&nbsp;it.&nbsp; highdesertranger

 

[anm]

My 2005 AWD Astro van had 180,000 miles on it when I bought it. It had a few problems but all the major pieces worked and worked well. It left no oil on the street, it had no knocks or rattling, the transmission shifted well and didn't make any noises, it had good power and ran well, the rubber boots on the front CV joints were in good shape, and equally important the brakes worked well and made no noises. What it did have were things like the service engine light on, the A/C didn't work, the radio antenna was broken off, the heater/A/C blower didn't work, and the tires were shot. I am a mechanic so I knew I could take care of the problems. If I had to pay shop rates I'm sure it would have cost me $1000-$1500 to get it on the road.

By learning to service your vehicle yourself significant savings can be achieved. I bought an OBDII code reader off eBay for $25, anyone trying to operate on a shoestring should have one (assuming their vehicle has the OBDII diagnostic port), if for no other reason than it puts you on equal footing with the repair shop.

My OBDII code reader said the MAF (Mass Air Flow) sensor was bad and the engine was not reaching operating temperature, those were the cause of the service engine light. A quick search on the Internet revealed that the first thing to do with the MAF sensor was just spray a cleaner on it. $7 dollars later I was no longer getting that error code. The only way an engine does not reach operating temperature is if someone has removed the thermostat, put in one of too low a temperature, or it's stuck open, mine was stuck open. I replaced it and the associated error code disappeared. Now the service engine light was off.

The tires were the most expensive part but I found a brand new set that someone was selling on Craigslist. They had been pulled off a new Jeep that was getting a set of big, off-road wheels and tires. I got the four new tires for $250 and had them mounted for another $32. From Goodyear they would have cost me $600-$700.

When I looked at the van before buying it, I switched the A/C on and saw that the compressor was turning, so I touched the A/C lines around the evaporator and found that the lines were cold, freezing in fact, that told me that the A/C was working, just the blower motor or ducting was defective. As it turned out it was both of those, a plastic vacuum line (used to open and close the A/C and heating ducts) had deteriorated. I replaced the vacuum line and then found the blower motor resistor and connector burned, I had to replace both, and then I found the blower motor itself was shot. After all that the A/C worked like a champ. Trouble shooting this required being able to read the wiring diagrams and using a voltmeter, methodically go through the circuit, testing it until finding the defective component(s). It's not that difficult to do.

I guess what I'm really trying to say is that when buying an older vehicle it is better if you can work on it yourself. Things do fail as the vehicle ages, some of them are easy, simple fixes, but will cost you if you have to take it to a shop. Some of the fixes might be more difficult, but if you can do it yourself you will still save a bundle over the shop.

 

[PastTense]

One point no one mentioned in this older thread is that diesels will last well over 200,000 miles. The problem though is that if they do break down the cost will be very high.

 

[HarmonicaBruce]

I bought my 2002 Sprinter van 4 years ago with 315,000 miles. It needed an egr valve. I paid $7,000 for the van, and spent $1,800 getting the egr valve, transmission service, and other stuff. Well, it still runs great, and has 400,000 miles. By the way, it's diesel and is available for $4,000.

 

[deltarat64]

This is an interesting thread, and it brings up a saying that my father taught me. "What do you want? And what are willing to pay for it?"
IE. if you want reliability then you are probably going to have to have a loan payment or put down a large chunk of cash. If you want a cheap/affordable vehicle you will probably have to sacrifice that reliability and be willing to work on your own car or pay to have it worked on for you.
One of the items in Bob's budget that stood out was putting money away for maintenance which as a former auto repair service writer I can't recommend enough. I used to have customers come in that had just paid off their 5 year car loan with car problems and complain about how they couldn't believe there car was giving them problems after having just paid so much for it, when asked if they ever did any preventative maintenance, the answer was usually "No, that they couldn't afford it with the car payment"
So they had driven their vehicles for 5 years usually 20k per year or more with little to no maintenance then were surprised when things started to fail?
My wife and I are looking at starting this lifestyle in the next two years but will have to put out about 15k to get started, and believe me I will be buying older and working on it myself so that we can get out on the road earlier.

 

[PastTense]

Loan payments are only reasonable for people who have a significant regular income coming in (like a pension) or who have enough assets to be able to pay it off at any time.

They are a bad idea for people with intermittent incomes.

 

[Reducto]

I got my little Toyota with 200k and it's still purring at 235k. Eventually it will reach a point where I have to ditch it, but that's ok. It's a little freeing in a way - I don't feel guilty about cutting a hole in the roof, screwing things into the walls, or scraping up the sides while driving down remote paths. I can park it anywhere and not worry too much about my computer or generator being stolen. Who would leave anything of value in a weird old van like this?

One thing about buying anything old - you have to like working on cars! Other than the clutch going out (which was near death when I bought it) I haven't had any major failures but I've had a ton of little stuff! Starter falling off, alternator going out, headlights, windshield washer, brake light not turning off, brake line developing a leak, fan clutch going out, plus all of the usual hoses, belts, gaskets, etc needing replacement. Most of this has been cheap and relatively easy, but only because I could do it myself. If I had to go to a mechanic each time it would have broken me.

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

Mine had just under 100k on it, but it sat a long time which brought its own set of issues.

Just got done lubing my joints, once i figured out the darn gun it was easy

 

[Reducto]

Did I say 235k? I thought that looked wrong. I have 245k on mine. Just today it wouldn't start - I eventually tracked it down to a frazzled wire coming off the battery (which eventually went to the solenoid) so a 10 cent connector later I was back on the road. I don't even think that wire was supposed to be there - a previous owner must have rigged it up that way. In any case, like I said, if you like troubleshooting weird stuff like that then go ahead and get something 25 years old with 200k+ miles