Buying with high miles
 

Buying with 50k, what should I look out for versus buying one with 20k?

It's a Toyota/Subaru. If it's been even a little bit taken care of, there shouldn't be any issues that wouldn't be there at 20k. If there is something when you test drive, I'd just hold out and put a few more hundred dollars in for a lower mileage or better taken care of FRS/BRZ

About the same things.

The higher mileage one may be closer to needing new tires and new brake pads.


humfrz

You call 50k high? Piff add 100k then come back and ask.

Buying with high miles
 

It's not a hand built (falling apart) Aston


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Maintenance and condition.
Check carfax history, look for any red flags.
50k car was most likely a daily driver, including in winter time (exceptions apply, assume the worst). If that bothers you at all, ask if it was driven in winter.

If its a short term car and you're going to sell it within 3 years, lower miles will help you sell the car easier. However, if its a short term car, I wouldn't recommend even buying it to begin with.

Since these cars aren't old, there really isn't much to look for other than owner abuse. And thats easy to spot with any car.

Thanks for the reply. I'm a young guy and only purchased one other car. I'm not positive I know how to spot owner abuse other than how the interior looks, feels and smells.

Have a pre purchase inspection done by someone that you trust

I'm having someone get the car for me, the car is certified pre owned. It was driven 14,000 miles in 8 months.

Certified PreOwned doesn't mean much these days. Check the actual requirements of a CPO designation. I know that Audi will CPO a car even if it has a carfax history.

CPO mostly means you are buying additional warranty which is good, but doesn't necessarily insure that your car is perfect.

Signs of "abuse" can be tricky. My car looks like the front bumper was hit by several shot gun blasts, there is a big chunk of the splash pan under the rad missing, the engine compartment looks like I left the hood open in a dust storm and I have little nicks all over the place from highway debris. To look at it you may say "oh now that is an abused car" but the reality is that this is all just signs of heavy highway use and the car is probably one of the least beat on found on this forum. About 98% of my driving is straight line highway with the cruise on, I have 40 years of MT experience and it has probably only seen red line about half a dozen times. All maintenance has been done by the dealer (they are a good one) and I have not had one of the common "issues" that we see so often.
Meanwhile their are cars that look pristine but have had the living shit kicked out of them and are lucky if half the required maintenance was ever done or if done was even remotely done the right way.
The moral of the story is that it is very hard to tell if a car has been beat on. If you can get info on the previous owner it can help.

This is the best way to go ^^^^^

I regularly buy cars with between 50k and 100K miles on them and have not had any non-maintenance issues for the most part any more than you would if you had bought the car new. Most modern cars need very little break/fix service within their first 150,000 miles in my experience, if they are well maintained.

If you are buying at 50K, it should still be under the 60,000 mile/60 month drivetrain warranty so there is some minimal protection there.

In general though, the best advice is to get a mechanic to do a check on it. Most likely it will need tires/brakes. Also, you are coming up on the 60K service which can be expensive since it includes plugs.

Transmission will shift a LOT better at 50K than 20K, so that's definitely a bonus.

Something you should always check when buying used for proper documentation and maintenance logs proving the previous owner has taken care of it throughly. Good luck on your purchase!