Pimpbot

If you were looking to buy a cheap used car, would 121,951 miles on the clock scare you off if the car was a 2000 Ford Focus ZX3 2 Door Hatchback?. Asking price is $3,695. I know the miles are high, but what should I look for to detect if this is a piece of crap. I'm just looking at buying my wife a run about next month, thats only got to last a year or two if that.

Here is a picture of the actual car.

Dufus

Well it seems good value to me.

High mileage as long as it is with good service history is not too much of a problem.

It will probably have very much been a working car, so someone has sat in the seat for a very long time. The steering wheel will be shiny, if it is manual the gear knob will be smooth.

If when you sit in it you are happy and the steering feels tight enough then not a bad buy i would have thought.

I have bought some high mileage cars like this in the UK and had good years out of them.

They are harder to sell at the end of the day though, so bear this in mind when you come to sell it.

Cheap enough though. I would buy it i think.

Ben

I would go along with Dufus on the service record. As long as it has a service record with it with no obvious problems, the mileage wouldn't put me off. Doing that amount of miles in this country isn't a big thing and it is a good price.

If you are a member of AAA don't they come and look at cars for you before you buy them. Or is that only the AA Anyway, if you are concerned it could be worth paying the $100 to get someone to look at it for you

Gross50

have the car inspected. if its in good running condition the i wouldnt worry. with ford, you're more likely to get problems with the electricals than the engine. the price seems fair to me. also depends how much mileage your wife is going to put on the car for the duration (2 yrs).

Ray

The thing is worn out...leave it alone.. probably bought at the auctions for $800.. To do that mileage in 4 years thats been driven hard.. you would be better off buying something older but with a lot less miles...

cathy22w

Recommend getting a CarFax check done on it with the VIN # before buying. Nearly had a nasty surprise recently when looking for a car with apparently only 24000 on the clock - turned out it was a rollover and there should have been a 1 before the 2!!!!

Phew!

Got a nice brand new Neon SXT though... manual of course.. and it's lovely!

Pimpbot

Thanks for the advice. I've been speaking to both my dad, brother and brother in law today about the pro's and con's of buying a car with high mileage. All seem to think that it wouldn't be that bad an option, although my brother in law did question the amount of miles on this 4 cylinder engine and also the dealership with which the above car is being sold. The above car was more of a feeler to get some feedback from you guys who are more in the know than myself. Just looking at the Autotrader website and the local papers classified ads, we could probably pick something up with about 50,000 less miles for only a small amount more money.

Any advice always appreciated.

Englishmum

Check out the section on how to buy a used car on this website:

http://www.carbuyingtips.com


We've used it for buying and selling cars. When we sold our Dodge Caravan (bought it from new) we followed their advice and paid about $20 to register for a Carfax report (you type in the VIN no.). We then printed off some copies to give to prospective purchasers - and they were well impressed (the car had low mileage, clean history, no liens (outstanding HP payments) and all the receipts from the main dealer for servicing.

You can pay the $20 yourself which gives you unlimited access for I think, about a month. Then when you want to go and view a car, phone up the owner to get the VIN or get the number from the car at the car dealership then go online to see the cars history.

It may well be the best investment you might ever make....who knows if you are buying a rebuilt wreck....the Carfax reports will confirm this.

Hope this helps!

Duncan Roberts

Go to www.kbb.com and www.edmunds.com. You can put in the details of the car and where you are and they will give you a price. You can also do a free lemon check at kbb.com.

Pulaski

On the contrary, a high mileage in a short time is much less concerning than a high mileage over many years, because most the mileage will have been done while the engine is fully warmed up and therefore not wearing the engine anywhere near as much as puttering around town in stop-start motoring. Also to do a high mileage in a short time much of the distance is likely to have been on highway and interstate, so leading to lower stress on the brakes, steering and transmission.

More than that, it is probably in better mchanical shape than a ten year old car with half the mileage.

Pimpbot

Anybody got a Chevrolet Cavalier?. Just another option I'm looking at. It would appear that at the moment, I could get one of these for around $4000 for a 98 to 2002 model with better mileage than most Focuses on the market here. Its becoming increasingly more obvious over the last two weeks, that I need some wheels to help me further in my job search, seeing that I have missed out on 3 oppotunities, by either not being able to get to the place via the bus, or that I could get there, but wouldn't be able to get home. Or in the case of todays job, I'd have been travelling around 3 and a half hours a day on the bus for a job that I could drive to in about 45 minutes.

Pulaski

They don't have a great reputation, but then they seem to be bought by people who don't really look after then, at least appearance-wise. The American Cavalier is about to be (or maybe just has been) replaced, so being an obsolete model would explain why the second hand value has declined compared to the Focus which remains a current model. I'd certainly give one a look if you need some cheap wheels.