How many miles are too many for you when you buy used?

Disclaimer: Links on this page pointing to Amazon, eBay and other sites may include affiliate code. If you click them and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission.

xycrazy

Full Access Member
Joined
Mar 9, 2022
Posts
217
Reaction score
88
Just genuinely interested in your opinion about this: When you consider buying a used truck like the Tahoe, Yukon or Escalade how many miles are you aiming for to get the "best" personal deal?
I think this is very subjective and everyone has a different view about it. So I'm really interested in your thoughts about how many miles are too many for you all. Until what mileage you pull the trigger? If the vehicle has more mileage than you wanted what would mitigate/remediate it in your opinion so that you're still going to pull the trigger?
Just trying to get some other perspectives on this.

Happy 4th! :)
 

Stbentoak

Full Access Member
Joined
Jul 20, 2020
Posts
1,660
Reaction score
1,894
If it's a vehicle that I want to keep for say 5 plus years, I would look for one in the 30 to 50K range mileage Wise. If it's one that won't get driven much at all say less than 10,000 miles a year you probably could stretch that up to 70K. It really just depends on what the condition of the vehicle is in when you look at it there are plenty of them that are beat to crap at 30K. There are some real cream puffs out there that may have just road miles on them. Good verifiable service records help.
 

jforb

Full Access Member
Joined
Jul 13, 2022
Posts
123
Reaction score
177
Location
Sierra Vista AZ
Depends. I bought a 2006 Tahoe with 155k on it, for $6k six years ago. Sold it with 195k for $5k 2 years ago. I think I did all right on that one. When I went looking for a replacement, I decided that since used late models cost so much, I'd buy new, so I got a Tahoe with 4 miles on it. Now I can keep it forever (it has only 24k miles after two years)
 

15burban

Full Access Member
Joined
Dec 8, 2023
Posts
154
Reaction score
272
Location
Wisconsin
Rust is a huge factor where I live so that is more important to me then miles. The wife and I don't plan on getting rid of the vehicles we have any time soon, but when the time comes I for sure will be getting my next new older vehicle from down south. I'd rather put in a new motor and tranny then fix rust.
 

Trey Hardy

8” fabtech icon coilovers uniballs 24x14on35/15.50
Joined
Jun 12, 2020
Posts
3,330
Reaction score
8,868
Location
Eastern North Carolina
Just genuinely interested in your opinion about this: When you consider buying a used truck like the Tahoe, Yukon or Escalade how many miles are you aiming for to get the "best" personal deal?
I think this is very subjective and everyone has a different view about it. So I'm really interested in your thoughts about how many miles are too many for you all. Until what mileage you pull the trigger? If the vehicle has more mileage than you wanted what would mitigate/remediate it in your opinion so that you're still going to pull the trigger?
Just trying to get some other perspectives on this.

Happy 4th! :)
Shoot I looked at 07-13 Tahoe ltz and they were going for around the 15,000 range with 150k in the dash I found mine with 257,000 for 5,000$ loaded out all highway miles and I’ve finally put her up at 400,000 to replace the motor and really I could fix the motor but I want a excuse to built one to swap into it
 

Marky Dissod

Full Access Member
Joined
Mar 3, 2023
Posts
1,896
Reaction score
2,598
Location
(718)-
... how many miles are you aiming for to get the "best" personal deal?
I think this is very subjective and everyone has a different view about it.
Before you even bother checking the odometer, read 15burban's post again about rust, structural integrity, mechanical maintenance records, etc.
All those are way more important than miles.

Know what else is not only more important, but a better criteria than miles?
Idle hours.
Combine those with the odometer for even better data.
 

BacDoc

Full Access Member
Joined
Apr 11, 2024
Posts
247
Reaction score
329
Location
Vero Beach Florida
Like @Stbentoak said, the availability of service records make a big difference to me. Low mileage on a poorly maintained vehicle is worse than higher mileage on a well maintained vehicle.
I concur! I would much rather buy a high mileage truck that has service records over lower mileage. Clean truck 150k maintained with records is borderline high mileage imo.
A major concern on used trucks is rust. Some body rust may not be an issue as most body shops can handle that but frame rust is a deal breaker.

With the older models the mileage is much less important than the newer dysfunction on demand motors. I wouldn’t buy a newer model with out of warranty miles if I couldn’t get the extended GM warranty. I love the new trucks and own one myself, but they have way too much expensive tech that will eventually fail.
 

Marky Dissod

Full Access Member
Joined
Mar 3, 2023
Posts
1,896
Reaction score
2,598
Location
(718)-
Clean truck 150k maintained with records is borderline high mileage
Depends on how often it was maintained;
7500 mile oil changes make me nervous UNLESS the miles are nearly all highway miles.
Did they use a quality synthetic, or Wolf's pys, or crisco / wesson / whatever?

When was the last time the transmission was serviced? How about the time before that?
 

Forum statistics

Threads
132,309
Posts
1,865,736
Members
96,898
Latest member
UltimateDenali
Top