How to buy a high-mileage used car for half price

According to the DVLA, of the 40.3 million cars registered in the UK in 2022, nine million, or a little over one in four, had done more than 100,000 miles.

With the UK’s car parc getting older (one in two cars is now older than 10 years), the likelihood is that the proportion of cars with a seriously high mileage has since increased.

Many are listed for sale with a leading online marketplace. Just over 45,000 have done between 100,000 and 199,000 miles.

Beyond that, the number falls sharply to around 700, with mileages peaking at around 500,000.

One such ‘ultra-miler’ is an Audi A5 2.7 V6 TDI Sportback, a 2011-reg example that has now done 210,000 miles. John Sharrock, its owner, swears it performs like one that’s done half that, but then it should because he has spent a small fortune on it.

“I bought it with 200,000 miles on the clock and it was running fine,” he says.

“But I didn’t want to run the risk of it giving me trouble, so I had it fully serviced and many of the major parts replaced.”

Those included a new crankshaft pulley, timing belt, injectors and brake discs and pads, in addition to fresh engine and gearbox oils.

Broadly speaking those can all be classed as consumables, but it all adds up to the kind of expense that puts people off buying a high-mileage car, and it’s why the trade fears them.

“The general market view is that high-mileage vehicles have been out of favour with both trade and retail consumers for some time now,” says Jeremy Yea, senior valuations editor at Cap HPI.

“A higher percentage of vehicles need increased refurbishment, often requiring mechanical and body repairs.

"The sector has recently seen rising costs for parts and labour, which all add to the cost of the vehicle for the dealer and their customer.

"On top of that, following Covid, when many people bought older and cheaper cars in order to remain mobile, there has been a higher concentration of older, sub-standard high-mileage examples coming back to the market, leading to an oversupply.”

Until recently, high-mileage cars have largely been petrol- or diesel-powered, but with more electric cars with longer ranges being sold, so more of them are also accruing high mileages.

Martin Miller, a co-founder of EV Experts, a Surrey-based specialist, says he’s seeing more three-year-old EVs that have done 60,000 miles.

In consumers’ minds, that’s the equivalent of 100,000 miles for a petrol or diesel car, but it’s a perception he believes is unfounded: “With only around 20 moving parts in an EV motor compared with 2000 in a petrol engine, 60,000 miles is no hardship for an electric car.

"There are plenty of Teslas and Polestars with 150,000 miles. It’s only the condition of the brakes, suspension and tyres that a buyer needs to be concerned about on a high-mileage EV.”

Even then, electric cars can be very light on their brakes. One BMW i3 that is attracting attention on social media has done 237,000 miles on its original discs and pads.

On the subject of EV battery degradation, Miller insists it’s a function more of a car’s age than of its mileage: “Regardless of the car’s mileage, a battery typically suffers a 2% reduction in battery capacity per annum.

"High-mileage cars may have experienced more rapid charging, but this doesn’t accelerate battery degradation; the UK’s ambient temperature quickly cools any heat generated.”

A new report by Geotab, a vehicle telematics company, supports Miller’s claims.

Following a study of 5000 EVs, it found EV batteries degrade by an average of 1.8% each year.

This compares with 2.3% when it conducted a similar study in 2019, leading the firm to conclude battery technology is improving.

It also found that high-use EVs did not record higher rates of degradation than low-use vehicles and that as batteries age, their rate of degradation stabilises.

However, batteries that were liquid- rather than air-cooled degraded slowest, it found, the best performers by 1% each year.

Back at Car-Pod, Paul Toomer has finally sold his high-mileage Golf.

Amazingly, the buyer was unaware of its mileage when he came to view it and merely shrugged his shoulders on hearing the news: they took it for a spin and expressed complete satisfaction.

Goes to show that when all’s said and done, mileage is only a number.