Comments on: Do cars stop depreciating after 200K miles?

By: Tight Fisted Miser » Blog Archive » More Love for the Hoopty

Tight Fisted Miser » Blog Archive » More Love for the Hoopty — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 21:14:58 +0000

[...] Do Cars Stop Depreciating After 200K Miles? from Pro Bargain Hunter. My car has over 200,000 miles and I’m not at all worried about it depreciating. I plan to get just salvage value from it when I’m done with it, anything more will just be gravy. I bought my car for $1750 so even a 100% depreciation wouldn’t be that much. [...]

By: Steve

Steve — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 23:14:42 +0000

Your post regarding the 10 year old car hits home with me. I have a 1997 accord which just rolled over 200k miles last month. This month I drove it from Iowa to Orlando, Florida and back, 3500 miles on 104 gallons of gas (33 mpg). Even though it recently cost me $500 to replace timing belt and water pump, it’s a small price to pay for extreme reliability. Can’t imagine why I would get rid of it…or avoid driving it.

By: Yan

Yan — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 16:57:16 +0000

Joy, to some extent Japanese brands are over hyped. I read somewhere that Buick is the true ‘bargain hunter’s car’ (high reliability at low cost) and I would sure get one if it didn’t look so ugly.

By: Bill

Bill — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 14:45:12 +0000

Here’s my favorite website for beater car reviews:

http://www.beaterreview.com/

By: Alex

Alex — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 14:27:39 +0000

Oh, Yan… I do not consider a car an investment as well. I was trying to point out that we can get a lot more of a car for the buck now due to specific economic conditions. As far as countries in a former Soviet bloc - I sometimes get lost at the everyday living logic there

By: Joe

Joe — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 13:49:07 +0000

Steve - You are 100% wrong about your classification of Us versus rest of the world cars and long term reliability. The biggest factor in longevity of cars is how they are maintained. My 1998 Escort is still running strong after 193K miles, getting better gas mileage now than ever. My mother had an Accord that was 10 years old and was in great condition and sold it to a 17 year child of a friend who did not maintain the car. It was junk in a year. There are poor cars out there, but the primary factor in whether a car will serve you well is how you treat it.

As far as what the car is worth - compare a 5 year old US built car with 60K to 80K miles on it versus a similar non-US car. The US car is significantly lower because of the bias expressed in your comments. A well maintained older US car is a significant bargain compared to the inflated value placed on other cars. If you are a real bargain hunter, that is a huge distinction.

By: wally

wally — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 13:10:21 +0000

Renting a car for long trips is a peace of mind consideration when you have a 200000 vehicle. Your car will make the trip but breakdowns are more likely on it and rentals are cheap. 200 or less and they change the flat tires and provide a replacement when it breaks down.

By: Yan

Yan — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 03:36:32 +0000

Steve, completely agree with your point. You absolutely have to take a used car through a thorough inspection before you buy it. This small investment will pay you back many times down the road. It is also a good idea to find more about the previous owner.

I bought my Honda when it was 5 years from a lady who kept it at dealer maintenance and had a habit of exchanging cars every 5 years because she was afraid of repairs. Right now I am having hard time justifying selling it because ever since I paid it off 3 years ago the only expense I had was gas and regular maintenance. Hard to beat that!

Alex, I do not consider a car to be an investment. It is an expense by all means. Interestingly though, when I was in Ukraine, my friends were convincing me that cars go up in price in there and it is not uncommon to buy and sell in 3 years for the same price in US$. They were explaining this by devalued US dollar and raising commodity (metals) prices.

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 02:46:41 +0000

Interesting line of thought. I currently drive a 1996 Jeep Cherokee with 154000 miles and I have thought about replacing it, but I only drive 5000 miles a year on it (its my work car and doesn’t make long trips). I have always considered going with something in the 10,000 price tier as a replacement, but picking up another car when this one dies that is a $2000 high mileage car offers some benefits. I could buy nearly 4 old faithfuls to one lightly used car, hmmm.

By: steve

steve — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 20:43:07 +0000

It seems to me that this depends almost entirely on the make of car and how well it has been maintained. I can’t think of any American cars less than 20 years old with 200k miles that would be worth more than its weight in scrap metal. And you could start out with the best car in the world, run it 200k miles and neglect it, and again you’ll have scrap.

But take a good car like a Honda, Toyota, BMW, Mercedes, etc., take good care of it, and it will likely be worth a good sum, even with many miles on it.

I bought an ‘89 BMW a few years ago, and even though it has well over 200k miles on it now, I could still sell it for close to or as much as I paid for it.