Is it a good idea to buy a high miler car?

[Graham Butcher]

I find myself looking for a new car following a no fault of mine car accident. The only cars I can so far find anywhere what I can afford from the write-off payment, even with another £4k from my savings chucked in, are all in what I call high mileage examples, 100,000 plus, sometimes upto 170,000miles and very few are even L&K's, most are SE's, Greenlines or Elegances, so it looks unlikely that I'm going to get another L&K, thanks to the other drivers action.

 

What are your views on these cars, are they OK to buy, they are certainly are expensive.

[nta16]

Sorry to hear about your write-off Graham.  If Superbs are too expensive and/or high-mileage for what you want why not consider other models or makes and models.  Perhaps with less toys (and computer programs) so less to go wrong in future and/or more reliable, less parts replacements/frequency and perhaps servicing vehicle model make/model.  (If you got the VCDS I'm sure you could get you money back on selling it, if needed.)

 

Now the others can advise on relative Superb models and mileages.

 

Good luck, all the best to you.

 

[Graham Butcher]

11 minutes ago, nta16 said:

Sorry to hear about your write-off Graham.  If Superbs are too expensive and/or high-mileage for what you want why not consider other models or makes and models.  Perhaps with less toys (and computer programs) so less to go wrong in future and/or more reliable, less parts replacements/frequency and perhaps servicing vehicle model make/model.  (If you got the VCDS I'm sure you could get you money back on selling it, if needed.)

 

Now the others can advise on relative Superb models and mileages.

 

Good luck, all the best to you.

 

Yeah, I have been down that avenue before, trouble is that I'm a large bloke, and tall, as are my 3 sons. I struggle to fit in most cars these days as although cars are bigger externally, that does not transfer to the interior, I expect the increased girth is more because of the need to accommodate protection beams etc. I have a sized 14 foot and extra wide so my feet also don't like manual cars as the pedal areas are extremely tight in space for my feet.

Edited 14 April, 2023 by Graham Butcher

[bigjohn]

1 hour ago, Graham Butcher said:

Yeah, I have been down that avenue before, trouble is that I'm a large bloke, and tall, as are my 3 sons. I struggle to fit in most cars these days as although cars are bigger externally, that does not transfer to the interior, I expect the increased girth is more because of the need to accommodate protection beams etc. I have a sized 14 foot and extra wide so my feet also don't like manual cars as the pedal areas are extremely tight in space for my feet.

 

Yup - I have a similar problem, being large and 6ft 4" with size 13 feet with a 6ft 5" son - although he has now left the nest (well some of the time). Many cars are not suitable for long distances which is why I've had two Superbs since 2005.  The position of the B pillar is my "big"gest issue as with many cars my elbow lands on this and I end up looking out of the back window if turning right.  The Superb has none of these issues!  The slight future problem for me is we eventually need to downsize to one car and Mrs BJ finds the Superb too large to drive!

 

Mrs BJ has a Fiat Panda - with me driving just think "Mr Incredible!"

 

 

 

Edited 14 April, 2023 by bigjohn

[softscoop]

When they offered you a value, did that compare to anything like what a similar superb to yours pre accident would be worth to buy on today's used car market?

[gav_is_con]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/134529959455?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=amEhwS_wQ2u&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=45o-tdWCRea&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
 

Does this fit your needs looks well loaded with extras. @Graham Butcher

[gav_is_con]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/145033741023?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=fum0U9wSQy2&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=45o-tdWCRea&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/125845624935?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=DdIRfXDQT-a&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=45o-tdWCRea&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/165999830439?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=0feikjvastk&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=45o-tdWCRea&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

 

 

[chimaera]

2 hours ago, Graham Butcher said:

I find myself looking for a new car following a no fault of mine car accident. The only cars I can so far find anywhere what I can afford from the write-off payment, even with another £4k from my savings chucked in, are all in what I call high mileage examples, 100,000 plus, sometimes upto 170,000miles and very few are even L&K's, most are SE's, Greenlines or Elegances, so it looks unlikely that I'm going to get another L&K, thanks to the other drivers action.

 

What are your views on these cars, are they OK to buy, they are certainly are expensive.

Sounds like you need to have a deep and meaningful conversation with the insurance company about their valuation: if what you say is true you're being fleeced by them. Show them the ads with prices of actual cars similar to yours and don't take no for an answer.

[Graham Butcher]

On 14/04/2023 at 23:49, gav_is_con said:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/145033741023?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=fum0U9wSQy2&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=45o-tdWCRea&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/125845624935?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=DdIRfXDQT-a&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=45o-tdWCRea&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/165999830439?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=0feikjvastk&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=45o-tdWCRea&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

 

 

Thanks for these links, the first two, I have discounted them on the grounds of being the older model, pre face lift, and they will also the older, less efficient engines and also not as green. The last one, I did go see and while it was certainly in reasonable condition, I also discounted it on the grounds it was a manual and I have rather large feet and if I put my left foot on the foot rest on a decent journey and then go to operate the clutch, I find that my foot gets caught under the clutch pedal and I have to force it past the pedal before I can depress the clutch. I consider that a bad situation and decided that it could possibly lead to an accident, therefore require a DSG.

 

I tried out a new MKIII superb manual and the same issue, and during a test drive I was acutely aware of it and decided that a new MKIII superb was no better in that regard. Looking around a bit more it will be a miracle if I find a L&K with a DSG, in reasonable condition and at a sensible price that is not a preface lift model, So now I'm pretty much resigned to go for non L&K, DSG MKIII model as that get me a younger car and with the adblue it means that it will be exempt from the ULEZ charge. This incidently is the reason why the owner is selling the last of the links above, his daily journey takes him from Romford out onto the M25 and will cost £s a week extra to get to work.

 

So yes, I'll miss the extra toys the L&K has, but many of them were used by others, not me, the main one I used as a driver was the cooled seat function, so not a real hardship, just wack the aircon down a notch or two.

[CzechPassat]

Having seen the very minor damage to your Superb my advice would be to retain the salvage and get a local garage to repair it with a combination of new/used parts, that way you'd end up with a car you like, which you know the history of, you'd probably end up with money in your pocket rather than out of pocket as well. If you weren't so far away I'd offer to give you a few hundred on top of the buyback value and have it myself as it looks like a really nice example.

 

But to answer your question, mileage is no guarantee of condition, I've had terrible low mileage cars and great high mileage cars, it all depends on how well it's been looked after, driven and maintained. There are so may Superbs being run as taxis in the UK, I'd take that as an indication that they can soak up the miles.

 

But if you're not mechanically minded my advice would be to buy the newest and lowest mileage car you can afford. Paying more for a higher spec car won't make it any more reliable and the higher spec just adds complexity and increased liability of future repairs. 

[Graham Butcher]

3 hours ago, CzechPassat said:

Having seen the very minor damage to your Superb my advice would be to retain the salvage and get a local garage to repair it with a combination of new/used parts, that way you'd end up with a car you like, which you know the history of, you'd probably end up with money in your pocket rather than out of pocket as well. If you weren't so far away I'd offer to give you a few hundred on top of the buyback value and have it myself as it looks like a really nice example.

I got another estimate to repair it which was £7,600 with labour included. Stupid money when you stop and think that although they quote for new panels, the chances of them actually using new ones is very unlikely. I've seen how many of these body shops work before, they will firstly try to panel beat the dents out and then apply a very thin layer of filler to fill in any low spots. I watch lots of salvage YT channels where they do just that. Sometimes they buy sections of a wrecked car from a breakers' yard, remove the panel or cut off part of a panel that they need and weld it in. The finished job is pure perfection, and nobody would ever be able to tell the difference. The one, where my car currently sits awaiting its final decision, has extremely plush offices, so that's always a good indication of the amount of money they are making from insurance claims. It is a rip-off really and that just makes the premiums so high and that is how the world is going these days, gone are the days when companies were content with enough profit to cover their overheads and a small profit for themselves.

[chimaera]

11 minutes ago, Graham Butcher said:

I got another estimate to repair it which was £7,600 with labour included. Stupid money when you stop and think that although they quote for new panels, the chances of them actually using new ones is very unlikely. I've seen how many of these body shops work before, they will firstly try to panel beat the dents out and then apply a very thin layer of filler to fill in any low spots. I watch lots of salvage YT channels where they do just that. Sometimes they buy sections of a wrecked car from a breakers' yard, remove the panel or cut off part of a panel that they need and weld it in. The finished job is pure perfection, and nobody would ever be able to tell the difference. The one, where my car currently sits awaiting its final decision, has extremely plush offices, so that's always a good indication of the amount of money they are making from insurance claims. It is a rip-off really and that just makes the premiums so high and that is how the world is going these days, gone are the days when companies were content with enough profit to cover their overheads and a small profit for themselves.

Insurance quotes are always sky-high because they are done through estimating software that assumes a lot about what's damaged underneath, uses book values for time and prices for new parts at retail. Ask around you for recommendations for a good body shop that you can rely on, bring their estimator to see the car and get an accurate quote for the repair.

 

As I mentioned in another thread, you also need to push your insurance company MUCH harder on their valuation if you are genuinely struggling to find a similar car for the money they are offering. They are always going to lowball on their first offer in the hopes that you'll go away and they save on the payout. You have done a lot of research already trying to find a car, put that together in a file and send it to them, and ask them to come back with a realistic offer. It took me nearly three weeks to get my insurance company to cop themselves on when I had to go through this, it was hell, but I got the result I needed and got an almost identical car to replace the writeoff.

 

If you want a good result here you will need to put in the effort to chase the insurance company because they are really not your friend when it comes to parting with money.

[EnterName]

1 hour ago, Graham Butcher said:

I got another estimate to repair it which was £7,600 with labour included. Stupid money when you stop and think that although they quote for new panels, the chances of them actually using new ones is very unlikely. I've seen how many of these body shops work before, they will firstly try to panel beat the dents out and then apply a very thin layer of filler to fill in any low spots. I watch lots of salvage YT channels where they do just that. Sometimes they buy sections of a wrecked car from a breakers' yard, remove the panel or cut off part of a panel that they need and weld it in. The finished job is pure perfection, and nobody would ever be able to tell the difference. The one, where my car currently sits awaiting its final decision, has extremely plush offices, so that's always a good indication of the amount of money they are making from insurance claims. It is a rip-off really and that just makes the premiums so high and that is how the world is going these days, gone are the days when companies were content with enough profit to cover their overheads and a small profit for themselves.

That's a lot of cash, but (and I hope this isn't impertinent) what was the cash settlement from the insurance and the buy-back cost of your car, @Graham Butcher?

What I'm asking, is what would be the actual cost to you to repair, taking into account the money back from the insurance company minus the cost to buy back your car?

Presumably, that cost could be something your legal cover could chase up from the third party at fault?

 

[CzechPassat]

The software most body shops use does indeed do all the work of estimating and uses full price costs for everything. For instance without even looking it will cost for new headlamps at whatever the main dealer price would be when the ones you have may be repairable, it will quote for an entire new bumper including all the mountings and reinforcements when it may only just need the protective cover, things that can’t be seen without dismantling to look. 

My recent experience involved my sons car which had side damage. The insurance co estimated the damage at £4.5k and wanted to write it off, we went elsewhere and got a quote for £2.5k which the insurance co then settled for.

A £7.5k repair would have to include all new exterior panels forward of the windscreen, headlamps, full radiator pack and front panel. I just don’t see that much damage from the pictures. While I have considerable experience of repairing can N snd cat S vehicles the repair costs just don’t add up to me. 
Can I ask what the pre accident value and the buyback figures were?

[CzechPassat]

My current “project” car is a cat N Superb because of the damage in the pictures.  A full set of secondhand rear lights is £100, rear bumper £100, possibly less if I shop around,  to fix the two small dents, paint the boot lid and bumper £300, total

£500 to repair. The pre accident value of the car would have been about £2.5k, I paid £800 for the salvage.
There are huge savings to be made against computerised bodyshop quoting systems. 

[Swede90]

I have a 2016 MK3 estate SE-L Executive 190 DSG just about to turn 179k. I've had it 4 years now bought at 134k. Apart from the ad-blue pipe and injector replaced due to a leak at the joint, and the flywheel wobbling. I've had no major problems.

 

At work I'm in the process over refitting a 2011 MK2 manual Elegance 4x4 estate. That's on just over 166k. Because we're changing the primary use of the vehicle, cam belt, g/box flush, prop shaft bearing and diff flushes have been done. I've had to repair the wiring loom to the tailgate and drivers front door, plus repair the rear washer hose. All wear and tear items so I'm not too worried about it.

 

We have a number of 2015 Seat Toledo 1.6Tdi's left on fleet with over 210k without any major work being done. Only one out of the 6 left has had a new engine.

 

As long as it's been looked after, a high mileage vehicle shouldn't be a worry. As long as you don't pay over the odds, which is hard in the present climate.