How Many Miles Should a Used Car Have?

When you’re looking for a high-quality pre-owned car, truck, or SUV in Texas, there are few things to consider before you buy. One of the biggest things to consider on any pre-owned vehicle is the number of miles it has. The mileage can be a great indicator of the vehicle’s condition, but how do you know if a vehicle has good mileage or not? Lucky for you, Texas Auto Center has put together this handy guide to help you understand what mileage really means for a used car. We have a huge selection of low-mileage vehicles, and we’ll do everything we can to make sure you find the right one for you.

The Average

Generally speaking, the average driver puts about 12,000 miles on their car a year. That number has definitely gone down in the past year, but as more and more people start driving to work again that number will average back out to about 12,000. The simplest way to determine if a car has good mileage on it is to take its age and multiply that by 12,000. If that number is less than or equal to its mileage, there’s a good chance it wasn’t driven any more than usual. This is not a hard and fast rule though. There are a number of factors than can influence whether a car is a good deal or not.

The More You Know

Knowing a car’s background can paint a much better picture than just having the mileage. For example, two cars could have identical mileage, but if one was driven mostly in the city and the other almost exclusively on the highway, the highway driven car is probably a much better deal. City miles wear a car much faster than highway, so even though they would appear in the same condition based on the mileage, one is a much bigger bargain.

The previous owners can often play a big part as well. If one car has higher mileage but only one previous owner while the other has had four owners over the same period, the higher mileage vehicle may be the better choice. Vehicles with just one owner are much more likely to be well-maintained compared to vehicles with multiple owners. Likewise, cars that previously belonged to rental companies probably have higher than average mileage but were very well-maintained. You can often take advantage of these cars’ higher mileage to get a much better deal for a real bargain.

Some brands are also renowned for their reliability and can be a smarter buy with high mileage compared to others. Brands like Toyota, Honda, and GMC are well-known to last 200,000 to 300,000 miles easily, so they are often great choices even with high mileage.

If you’d like to browse a huge selection of reliable, low-mileage pre-owned vehicles, come see us at Texas Auto Center! We have two Buy Here Pay Here dealership locations serving Austin, San Marcos, Round Rock, Buda, Kyle, Georgetown, Pflugerville, Dripping Springs, Manor, and Cedar Park. Shop our huge inventory online, and even apply for our easy-approval financing!

We’ll see you at Texas Auto Center, A Better Place to Buy a Car!