For example, lets say that I am looking at a 2002 model car with 20,000 original miles.
Assuming that I’m not being fed the “little old lady only driving to church on Sunday story” what issues would older cars have with low mileage? In other words, what different issues would they have simply due to age instead of wear and tear?
Dried-out rubber door/window seals, hoses or belts? Flat spots on tires from sitting? Condensation in gas tank? Critters taking up residence just about anywhere. Dead battery? If it was kept garaged, probably no problem at all.
If it was garaged and run every couple of weeks, I wouldn’t worry too much. I have a 1992 with 90K on it and other than a broken window gear, nothing has gone wrong.
A quick once over by your friendly mechanic would tell you for sure.
Agree that rubber perishes over time - there are also rubber bushes on the suspension (swing-arm bushes and anti-roll bar bushes). Wear in these will manifest itself as knocking sounds when driving slowly on bumpy roads, and a difficulty controlling the car at interstate speeds, especially with a bit of sidewind thrown in.
The brake fluid would need changing if that hasn’t been done for a while, as that takes in water from the atmosphere at a steady rate whether driven or not. The manufacturer should have a recommended interval for changing the brake fluid, and this should hopefully agree with the service history.
That said, '02 isn’t that old, and I wouldn’t anticipate major age-related problems here.
Well, 20,000 miles is hardly any wear at all for a newer car like a 2002 model. But it is 8 years old.
Body: I would look at the interior closely. I would expect to see very little wear on the seats if the mileage is correct. You can clean up dirt but it is harder to hide wear and tear. Feel around under the seats for moisture and smell for hints of mold that might be an indication of a leak or flood damage. If the owner has hung up a couple strong air fresheners that is a sign of hiding something. Turn on the exterior lights to make sure they all work. Make sure all the dash lights and indicator lights for fuel, charge, oil, etc. work. Any that don’t work may indicate a bigger problem. Dash lights can be a bitch to change and sometimes the fix involves changing the entire instrament cluster. If the check engine or service soon light is on, DO NOT BUY the car until you have had a mechanic check the codes and you know what you are getting into. This is very important. For $50 at the auto parts store a tool can be bought that will turn that light off and clear the code without fixing the problem. Usually the check engine light will not come back on until you have driven it a certain number of cycles, after you already bought the car of course. Ask if it has been stored inside a building or exposed to the weather. Look at the paint to see if it has been kept waxed. If a car has sat for a long period of time outdoors pollen collects in the cracks and window seal edges and algea will grow there. If a car is being driven and washed regularly you don’t see that.
Under the hood: A 2002 engine with 20k miles on it should not have been worked on other than to change the oil and filters, not even the plugs should have needed to be changed yet. So you should see a new engine that is dusty but doesn’t look like it has been worked on. Look for indications that things have been taken apart and put back together, this could indicate engine work. Check the oil, it should amber, maybe brown but not black if it has been changed regularly. Check auto transmition fluid. It should be pinkish-red and not smell burnt. Of course you should test drive it and listen for noises and see how it handles, like you would any other used car.
Generally what I would be concerned about is whether the car has low mileage because it was driven little or if it has low mileage because something went wrong with it and the car sat around for a long period of time without being driven.
3 possibilities, as Charlie Chan would say.
Sombody drove it very little, for whatever reason and it’s still a low mileage car in good condition.
The car broke down and sat for several years, has been repaired somewhat, and it being sold. Or the car was bought at auction as a formerly damaged vehicle and repaired.
The mileage is not as represented.
If you are convinced that the car is a good deal and there is nothing wrong then all you should need to do is change the oil and oil filter, air filter and fuel filter and you should be able to drive around in your basically new car.
Good luck.
Actually, this could be a significant concern if it were indeed true*. It suggests short trips rather than long ones, and that’s the kind of use that is toughest on the engine. Assuming a reasonable oil change schedule, 20K miles of this isn’t going to ruin the engine, but it might shorten its life.
*In this specific case, we have about 50 miles a week put on the car. If it really were only trips to and from church once a week, that would qualify as long trips (25 miles each way). More commonly, though, “only to church on Sunday” would indicate lots of short trips and no long ones.
One issue I came across quite a few times when I worked as a mechanic was with cars that had sat and not been run for years, whether garaged or not, was the head gasket perishing. They would tend to fail within a few weeks of the car being bought and used regularly.
This was a few years ago, (early 2000s) and IIRC all the failures I saw were with composite graphite or asbestos gaskets, which have fallen out of favour lately (in European cars that I know of anyway) and been mainly replaced by multi layered steel types which would seem to be less likely to degrade in this way, but thought it bore mentioning as I’m not aware of the materials used on the other side of the pond.
Just last week we had to replace the transmission in our 2000 Ford Ranger that we bought from my mother after my Dad died last year.
When we bought the truck (in October) it had 50,000 miles on it and seemed to be in great shape. But, Daddy had been sick for a while so those miles were put on the truck mostly more than a year before and the truck had been sitting for a bit without being driven much.
Before we drove it home we had the brakes done, the oil changed, the fluids flushed, the radiator flushed/cleaned/whatever you do to radiator and everything seemed to be in great shape.
Which brings us to last week, when the truck decided to stop going into 4th gear (auto transmission) altogether and make weird noises. We took it to the shop, the only thing we could do was replace the transmission (and U joints apparently) because it was too far gone for a repair.
The mechanics tell us that we should have expected it because of the truck sitting around, all the seals and gaskets start dry rotting, and things start breaking.
So with an older car with low miles, I would be very concerned about how those miles were driven and if the car has been sitting for a while. Replacing transmissions and such is not cheap, I’d probably be better of just getting a new truck for the money I have put into this one.
We had this story play out a few years back. Our elderly neighbor died, and his son sold his car to my SIL. It was a 1982 Olds Cutlass, with only 18,000 miles. It was perfect-excpet that within a month of her buying it, everything began leaking (all the rubber seals had deteriorated). She wound up selling it and it was a good move-that thing needed massive repairs…and i doubt it was a good car to begin with.
The other thing it could be is the mileage wound back - although why somebody would do that to such a ridiculously low figure I dunno
Another thing I’d watch out for is rust. Even if a car is garaged, water can collect in all sorts of nooks and crannies. In fact, if you drive the car on a rainy day, then leave it parked for a week, it might even give the water a better chance to do it’s work than if you’d driven it and forced the water out.
When my father died, my sister took his old but low mileage car. Once back home she took it to her trusted mechanic, who put it on the lift to change the oil, then called her and said “this car isn’t safe to drive!”