How Many Miles Are Too Many on a Used Car?

You can get a great deal on low mileage cars. Many of these cars are only a year or two off their release – they get sold by someone who wants to grab whatever the newest model is. Is there a cutoff you should be aware off, though? What’s good mileage for used cars?

Cars Lose Value Faster than Usefulness

A new car loses about 20% of its value in the first year. That’s a lot. It certainly hasn’t used up 20% of its lifespan in that time. Consider that the average American car owner drives about 14,000 miles a year, and that cars typically last to around 200,000 miles. That means a car that’s one year old has typically only been driven for 7% of its lifespan.

Cars depreciate in value faster than they depreciate in quality or usefulness. This means that buying low mileage cars instead of brand new ones can be an excellent way to save money on cars that still have years of use ahead of them.

Using the 14,000 Mile a Year Rule

Use this 14,000 miles-a-year rule to judge good mileage for used cars. A car that’s been driven for 50,000 miles has 150,000 miles of life left. Your yearly mileage (14,000) goes into the remaining life (150,000) a little more than 10 times. That means the car has a little more than 10 good years of life left.

Factor in how often you drive. If you drive 20,000 miles a year, that same car has 7.5 years of life left. If you only drive 10,000 miles a year, it has 15 years of life left.

Other Factors Matter

Mileage isn’t the only measure that matters. A car with 50,000 miles on it that’s in good condition with a clear maintenance history is going to be preferable to a car with 30,000 miles on it that’s in disrepair, belonged to an owner who rarely had the oil changed, or had to have body work because of a major accident. Mileage is one factor of many.

Mileage When Trading in a Car

This is all about what to look for when buying a car, of course. Good mileage for used cars matters when you trade a car in, but never assume that your trade-in is worthless. Even a car with 150,000 miles on it can have good value as a trade-in.

People will look for trade-ins that are below a certain mileage. For instance, if you have a car with 95,000 miles on it and you’re thinking about trading it in, do so before it hits 100,000 miles. The minute it gets to six digits, it will lose a decent chunk of value.

All other things being equal, low mileage cars mean that you’ll be able to use those cars for years to come.