The term "Low Milage"

[menemshaman]

What yardstick would you use to support the term low milage?

[Lugnut]

Low mileage generally means anything with less than 50K miles on it in my opinion. However, as it might relate to a vintage car anything with less than 100K might be considered low by some.

Since most vintage cars only had five position odometers, there are a lot of cars that have rolled over to the extent they may appear to be low a mileage car when they are indeed not. Even if mileage is indeed low, if the car is over 25 years old the affects of age will have caused many thing to go South and the car may require a lot of restoration expense even if the paint and upholstery look absolutely pristine.

[jsanford]

Well the average is 12000 miles a year, so multiply the age of the car by 12000 and you have "normal" milage, anything less is "low" milage

Jeremy

[collector]

...........

[phantomcobra]

GADS! 28 years old and 2,500 miles (me thinks the odometer is broken!)? That is less than one mile per day. That car is on the verge of abuse. Cars do need to run once in a while! I think your definition is a bit too low! I have to agree more with the 12,000/year as average. I worked for several years as a claims adjuster and that was our basis. It also appears to be about what NADA and the Bluebook use. But I'd say "low" mileage would be more like under 8-10K per year usage as a general definition.

My daughter probably has an above average but typical commute to work at 22 miles each way. That alone is about 15K/year. My commute is probably also pretty typical on the low end at 15 miles each way for an annual total of 8K.

Even my bike that only gets driven occasionally averages 4,000 per year.

If you look for a low mileage car at 8 years old and 4K miles you'll be looking a long time!

[bams50]

I've read your definitions of mileage, but no answer about "milage"?

You should always spellcheck for safty's sake.

[Zephyrmec]

FWIW my Wife manages a high end used car lot, (generally nothing on the lot under $10K, most between $15K and $30K) her buyer and trade in guy explain it this way:

Mileage is classified differently for cars that are not required to have a odometer statement. (10 years old) younger than that, it's a used car, generally the average mileage here in FL is 12-15K per year. For our general purposes just multiply it's age for a ballpark figure for what the car should have. When pricing for a dealership, different classes of cars add or deduct value depending on the rating of the car. For example a Kia Rio is in mileage class 1, 3 years old with 50K would have a big hit in value and be a "high mileage" car. A three year old Town Car (class 4 or 5) would have little or no deduction in value for mileage at 50K. For collector type cars, over 25 years old, under 100K is low mileage, much older than that, mileage means little. (my 36 says 87K, title says actual mileage, is it low? sure!) but over the course of 70 years how many years were 10K years back when 5K a year was normal? How many years did it sit somewhere unused? What about speedo head changes 50 years ago when nobody cared?
Bottom line, odometer reading means very little to a collector car unless it is absurdly low, and can be documented that it is correct with service records, etc.
Todays cars will go 150-200K as easily as cars from 40 years ago would go 50K. Restored collector cars, rebuilt to today's tighter tolerances, with better material wear parts, better oil and cooling, will last far longer than they did in their original incarnation. (as long as you drive them in the manner for which they were designed, you cant flog them as hard as today's cars)

[Dan Szwarc]

I've read your definitions of mileage, but no answer about "milage"?
You should always spellcheck for safty's sake.

Kilometerage

[fkhill]

I don't think I've ever had an old car that had low mileage. My Mark V has 37k on the odometer and I am sure that is not correct. Probably more like 137 or even 237. I don't know how to tell except for maybe the wear to the interior. I can remember my uncle always being a slave to the mileage on his cars. He got rid of the '78 Mark V he had in 1985 because it had 30k on it! He would always get rid of a car as soon as the mileage reached around 30k. I have never worried about mileage because it's so hard to tell if it's actual. I love Lincolns for how they drive and look. Mileage means very little to me. Seems whenever someone sees my car that is the first thing they ask. I always say about 140 but I'm not sure and they seem surprised that it's that high. But that doesn't seem high for a 30 year old car. In fact it would be extremely low. What is that like 4500 per year? i know the car sat in a garage for a number of years so that might account for some of it. My point is my uncle never really enjoyed his cars very much because he worried to much about the mileage. If I had a 1979 Mark V with only 5k on it and it was correct I would drive the hell out of that car for the remainder of my life!

[66Lincoupe]

Although it's not low "milage",

I only drive my '84 F250 seasonally (a lot more seasonally now that Spring, Summer and Autumn are only a month long)

It has been in my family and driven this way since brand new, and is meticulously maintained. The truck just turned 45,000 original miles 3,000 of which was the drive from Kingman, AZ to Romeo, MI (which went smoothly with absolutely no incidents BTW, not even a quart of oil.) I think that's pretty low for something that is actually still used as intended:



The trailer has probably 39,000 miles on it. I am the second owner of both.

[Barry Wolk]

My '77 Town Car has 19,000 miles or, 1.62 miles per day. The '55 Porsche has 3.19 miles per day. My daily driver is 38.10 miles per day.

[Dan Szwarc]

I dislike when people say "low mileage for its age".
Low mileage is not relative.

[Barry Wolk]

To what, value? I'd differ.

[Dan Szwarc]

Low mileage is not relative to a car's age. It is low compared to the service life of a car.

If a car has 150,000 miles, but is 50 years old, that may be only 3,000 miles a year, but it is NOT low mileage.

[Barry Wolk]

Hmmmmmmm.........................