Seasoned mechanic weighs in on whether a car with 100K miles is a bad buy
Spending years wrenching on cars will teach you a thing or two. One of those things is the ability to pass along advice to car shoppers and buyers. And for car buyers who believe a vehicle with 100K miles is a bad idea, this tenured mechanic says otherwise.
A mechanic with loads of experience explains why a car with 100K miles isn’t a bad buy, with a few caveats
“Everyone is scared when it goes from 99,999 to 100,000,” a seasoned Georgia mechanic told his son on a popular TikTok video. “Everyone says, ‘Ah, my car is gonna break.’” But he maintains that a car with 100K miles isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
The mechanic calmly expresses that the ages-old 100,000-mile fear “doesn’t really hold true anymore.” So, what’s the big answer to the question, “Is a car with 100K miles bad?” In short, of course not. “100,000 miles is not a lot of miles at all,” he said. That’s good news for budget-minded buyers and long-time keepers of cars.
But then he adds a magic caveat. “As long as it was maintained… Do your oil services. Do your fluid services.” Maintenance extends beyond regular fluid changes and filters in your car. “Shocks and struts at 100K miles,” he asserts. “It’s way cheaper to maintain it than it is to replace it or fix it.”
How long should a vehicle last?
“It’s going to vary based on the vehicle,” he said. “It’s going to vary depending on where you live. That’s going to be a big factor… A vehicle should last as long as you want to look at it in your garage,” the Georgia mechanic responded. “You could make it go a million miles. It’s a piece of machinery. It can be maintained and it can be repaired.”
But he returns to the point of environmental factors on high-mileage vehicles. The mechanic explains that vehicles and salt, the kind of salt northern states use to clear ice and snow from roads, don’t mix. It’s not just salt, either. “If you live in Florida and you’re driving on the beach, you’re gonna rust,” he said.
That’s important advice for car buyers, as well. Don’t shy away from a badass deal with 100K miles and a great service history. However, keeping your searches to regions of the US with little to no road salt can be beneficial. Vehicles in states and regions like California, the southwest, and the southeast get very little exposure to corrosive road salt.
