Good mileage is average mileage for the age. Divide the kilometres on the clock by the years since the car was first registered, and compare that with what an Irish car typically covers in a year. MotorCheck's guide to how much mileage is too much puts the typical yearly figure somewhere in the fifteen to eighteen thousand kilometre range, with anything above roughly twenty-five thousand a year counted as high. Age matters as much as the number, and the service book matters more than either.
How do you judge mileage against age?
Work out the yearly average first. A car that is five years old with ninety thousand kilometres has done about eighteen thousand a year, which is ordinary. The same reading on a car three years old is heavy use, and on a car nine years old it is unusually light. Neither extreme is a fault on its own. Heavy use on the motorway is easy on a car. Light use around town, cold start after cold start, is hard on one.
MotorCheck's second guide, on what is too much mileage on a used car, makes the same point: the figure means little without the age and the type of driving behind it. Ask the seller what the car was used for. Rep's cars that lived on the road from Cork to Dublin have had a different life from school-run cars that never got warm.
Are kilometres and miles being mixed up?
Irish cars registered in recent decades read in kilometres. UK imports read in miles, and a mile is longer than a kilometre, so a reading in miles is a bigger number of kilometres than it looks. Check which unit the odometer shows before you compare anything. For an import, look at the NCT certificate and the history report for the unit used at each reading, because a mileage trail that switches units part way through can look like a drop when there was none.
Where a car has been converted from miles to kilometres on the dash, ask when and by whom. It is a common job on imports and nothing sinister, but the paperwork should say so.
Why can a high-mileage car be the better buy?
Because motorway kilometres are the gentlest kilometres a car does. The engine warms fully, the oil circulates, the gearbox sits in top and the brakes barely work. A car that has done thirty thousand kilometres a year on the N22 can be in better mechanical shape than one that did eight thousand a year of short hops around town, where the engine never reached temperature and the diesel particulate filter never got hot enough to clean itself.
Price usually reflects the number on the clock rather than the condition, and that is the buyer's opportunity. Two conditions apply. The service record must show the car was maintained to match the use, and the wear items must have been replaced on schedule. Tyres and brakes, the clutch and the suspension all wear with distance regardless of how gentle the driving was.
What does the service book tell you that the odometer cannot?
It tells you if anyone cared. A stamped book or a folder of invoices shows the intervals were kept, shows which garage did the work and shows what was replaced and when. With a high-mileage car the book is the whole case for buying it. With a low-mileage car it is the check that the low figure is real, because a mileage written on each invoice builds a trail you can compare with the clock.
Use the NCT as a fixed point too. The NCT validity check confirms the test date, and the certificate records the odometer at the test. A reading on the invoice trail or the NCT certificate that is higher than the one on the dash today is the clearest sign of a clocked car you will ever get.
Where does mileage matter most?
On a everyday car, the Polo and Golf class, the mileage usually decides the price more than anything else, and the book decides if the price is fair. These are cars that run to big numbers when looked after, so a higher reading with a full record is often the better value. On a premium car, the A-Class or A6 class, the parts that wear with distance cost more, so budget for what is coming up rather than what has been done. Ask the same question of both: what does the record say this car has had done to it, and what is next on the list?
Questions buyers ask
How many miles are too high for a used car?
There is no single number. Judge the reading against the age and against the service record, and treat a well-documented motorway car with a big figure as a serious option rather than a reject. Neglected cars with half the mileage are the worse buy.
Is 200,000 km too much for a car?
For a car that has been serviced on time and used mostly on open roads, that figure is a stage in its life rather than the end of it. Expect the wear items to have been replaced, and ask for the invoices that prove it. If the record is thin, the number becomes a reason to walk on.
Is 100,000 kilometers a lot for a car?
For a car a few years old that is a normal reading and often reflects motorway use. On a car twelve years old it is a light reading, which raises its own question about short trips and long spells parked up. Read it alongside the age before deciding either way.
What is a good mileage for a used car?
Average for its age, with a service book that matches. MotorCheck's guides linked above give the typical yearly figures for Irish cars, and a reading close to that average with a full record is the comfortable middle. Higher with proof of maintenance beats lower with none.
Want to see the book before the car?
Ring or WhatsApp RS Motors on 086 800 0001, Monday to Saturday 9am to 8pm, and ask what record comes with any car you are interested in. Buyers come out from Bandon and across the county, and you can read the paperwork alongside the car before you decide.
