Question for high mileage driver

I bought a rebuild, a GMC truck with 34k on the odometer, and put 170k on it, while going three years without a car payment after paying it off. More than made up for a transmission, starter, and heater core. No telling what the motor actually had on it. My dad has it now.
My Tundra had 48k when I bought it, and I'll put ten times that on it if it lives long enough.
A new car is the worst place to put your money, and if you can pay one off and keep it for several years without buying something new, you'll save a bundle. IIRC, my uncle had well over 300,000 miles on a Toyota truck before he wrecked it, and I'd love to go 4-5 years without a car payment after I get this thing paid for!
 
My last car was a Toyota 4Runner which I sold to the dealer for 6,000.00 and it had 235,000 miles on it. At that point it need a valve job (1500.00) but was still in great shape.
I'd say keep it and let er run!
Garciajr
 
I'm in outside sales now and put about 40K per year on my car. My advice is to find a good mechanic and run your cars until the wheels fall off. My last work cars have been Acuras. I bought the last one with approximately 120K on it for $5000. I drove it for 5 years to 300,000 miles with just regular maintainence before the headgasket started to go. I put in another 15K and sold it, still running, for a song at 315K. Everything, including the side mirror defrosters, still worked.

All I had to do was change the oil regularly, buy new tires, and do major tuneups at 60,000 mile intervals.

If you're going to drive a lot in your work it seems more cost effective to maintain a car that won't suffer substantial depreciation because of high mileage. It's also safer to keep what you're familiar with rather than taking a chance buying what could be someone else's problem.
 
Hang onto it - it's a Toyota and it'll last forever.

In a couple more years, when you are going over the 200K mile count, let us know and we'll help you out again. :)
 
My Toyota p/u is still running strong at 250k. Might need a little starting fluid in the winter to get it up and running, but it still starts. Keep that Avalon, you should be able to get 300k with regular maintenance.

I'm just surprised that the company wouldn't supply you with a car?
 
silenthunterstudios said:
I'm just surprised that the company wouldn't supply you with a car?
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I agree, but it's a long story. And at least this way I get to pick my own ride, not a fleet car--I still have nightmares about Chevy Celebrity assigned to me years ago...
 
Agreeing with previous posters, keep it. I've got 150K on my current Camry (2003) with zero problems. High mileage is not an issue.
 
Gollnick said:
The IRS Rate is 48.5 cents/mile. The Avalon should get at least 20MPG. That's $9.70 per gallon of gas. Gas is high right now, but not that high.

Of course, you have to factor in maintenance and such, but if your Avalon has only required routine maintenance, that shouldn't be much.

Insurnace is the other component.

The IRS rate is generally considered generous. It assumes you're getting an service every three thousand miles and that you only get about 10MPG.
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The IRS mileage rate is 44.5 cents per mile. Gas isn't the only cost involved the cost of the car comes out of the 44.5 cents. If you buy a $25,000.00 dollar vehicle make payments, buy gas, maintenance and insurance. You will find out fairly quickly that 44.5 cents a mile is about 30 cents a mile short. Larry
 
with the 0% financing going around, why dont you see what deal you can get on a new car

once your car gets over 100k, trade in value is usually 1500 max.

I say trade it in if you can get a great deal
 
This may be a silly suggestion, but may I suggest you spend $50 and get an opinion from an accountant. Those guys will know all the ins and outs in terms of tax benefits etc etc. It may be a waste of $50, but it also may just save you a packet!
 
omniphile said:
This may be a silly suggestion, but may I suggest you spend $50 and get an opinion from an accountant. Those guys will know all the ins and outs in terms of tax benefits etc etc. It may be a waste of $50, but it also may just save you a packet!
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Actually I did do this first. My accountant is, how shall I say, frugal (which is good)and his opinion is to keep it. But he doesn't do a lot of driving, so I wanted to ask here, because I can always find a range of opinions and experiences.

Having bought the car used, Toyota Certified at 33k, I fought my usual urges and bought an extended 100k warranty from another dealer. Good thing I did, as it's already paid for a bad wiper motor and just recently a major transmission issue that alone would have run well north of the cost of the warranty. I've got about 5k to find anything else wrong before I'm on my own:rolleyes:

I do like the car, intend to run the wheels off, and now only have an issue with the ride quality--it's a little poor even after changing the front struts, but I think I know what's going on with it(besides the increasingly poor quality roads in Ny and NJ, that is).

Thanks again, everyone.
 
Up until a year ago I was a fleet manager for a fleet of 40 cars, SUV's and light-duty trucks. Even with the Ford F-150 or Chevy Tahoe they never calculated an operating/acquisition cost near 44.5 cents-per-mile. Granted you might not have been able to get vehicles at the rates we did, it still seems that unless you were driving somethingvery high-end you should be to-the-good at 44.5 per mile. Course YMMV as they say.
Stay Safe,
Clyde
 
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