1996Z15

At what point is a car considered high mileage? I was at Kerbeck Chevrolet last night looking at their used Vettes. I was considering trading my CE in for a '96 LT4. I asked the salesman about it and wanted to know the mileage on my car. When I told him 46,000 he made a face like I had just said 100,000. I realize that Kerbeck typically deals with lower mileage cars but come on, my car isn't that bad.....is it?

They had just received a 1993 Ruby coupe with 5,000 miles as a trade. How does a car that's almost 10 years old have 5,000 friggin' miles? Why have it if your not going to drive it?

SlowJoe

It's easier for the high end places to sell them with really low miles. Otherwise, it's just another c4 in a crowded market. Your car has normal miles for the year, so you should get a normal price by selling on your own.
Think of it this way, even if your car only had 10 miles on it, they probably would have offered you a ridiculously low amount.

Alchemist

Exactly! An' it's really kinna sad, cause that vette probably won't be able to perform to it's potential without becomming a "money pit". :(

I mean...why bother going to the bother to buy a Corvette just to let it set? ...unless they were goin' for the "status" thing. :rolleyes:

Fuzzy Dice

I had that same discussion with Roger Judski at Roger's Corvettes just two weeks ago..he said that a lot of his customers have a lot of money, love corvettes but have no time to drive them...they just keep trading them for different ones... :crazy: ...I told him IMHO to own a vette and not drive it is very sad....

vert2go89

I don't buy anything to sit on the shelf.I am not going to save it for the next guy.

Mystic '95

Different strokes... I'd say that my 1995 has low average miles @ 32k.. Some people 'like me', just get off on owning a vette and polishing and tinkering with it. 'Fun in the sun!" I bought it for the sport! I don't think I'd like it as well if it was my daily driver.. But then, that's me!

As far as value vs milage, I checked blue book and noticed that it holds from about 25k to about 50k miles the drops.. So in my case, If I had 50k on it, it would bring the same $ as my 32k... :crazy:

Drewdog

I just hit 63,000 after the cruise-in, climbin' more every day :yesnod:

Mr Mojo

Wait you were there and didn't see me?


I'll go down to Kerbeck with my 103,000 mile beauty and blow away any car they have.
In my opinion, unless it's a one off prototype or very special edition car, it should be driven to it's limits everyday(like mine).
Low mileage cars run like crap, sure they look good, but why spend all the $$$(especially at Kerbeck) to look at a car, I would rather pay the lower price for a high mileage car and put a little $$$ into it and have a better car than the trailer queen.
My 95 is more reliable than my 93 and the 95has triple the mileage on it.

What I found amazing was the amount of C5's being trailered in and how many C1,C2, and C3's being driven.

High miles doesn't mean it's worth less, it's just a ploy for salesman to make more money by saying low miles are better.

I could have bought a Grand Sport for $20,000. The car was in absolute mint condition, not a scratch or ding on it(at least I didn't see any), the seats were in great shape, the pedals were worn down a bit, so why the low price? It had 120,000 miles on it.
The reason I didn't buy it was because I had already set my budget at $15,000 and I was looking for an automatic.

The Example

Yeah Mojo, I checked out your car, its pristine! Looks better than my moms 36,000 mile '87 which she bought last April with 32,500 miles on it. Most of the miles she's put on it came from CI-II and III. It sits in the garage all the time unless I manage to swipe it.

Juliet

When I got my '70 just over 2 years ago, it had only 44k miles. :eek: That's less than 1500 miles a year! Now, it's got 56k miles. :D I don't get why some folks buy 'em & park 'em. :confused:

Wanderer

Well, the typical response I always see to that question is "It's not my daily driver and it's never driven in the rain".

First part of that could be fairly reasonable statement. If I had to give a percentage of mileage put on because mine is a somewhat daily driver, I would guess 25% at most.

The second part about never in the rain is just nonsense, because it's not like any of us go for 400 mile cruises while it's pouring outside. I'd have to say 5% of the mileage at most has been in the rain.

scorpion

95 w/ 96k miles. wanted to trade in for a 02 coupe. was offered $10k. go scr#% yourself!. she still looks like a car with low milage, and if i sell her, than for at least $15k. no way i give her away. :mad

ragvette

My 91 has 40k and my 6 week old 02 has 550 miles. Call me :crazy: but I don't have much free time to drive them.

jwade91

The high mileage subject comes up alot. I'll have to agree with the others obviously, my '91 is very reliable, and still an extremely smooth/strong running car. The interior looks so much better than many newer C4's I've seen. It's only left me stranded once, and that was two days ago, the fuel pump went out on my drive into work. The transmission went out at 150K, but she didn't leave me stranded, still had enough gears to get to get home and then to a shop the next day.

Let's see, 218K/11yrs ---> 19.8K/yr ... that's more like it!

Paul G

I cant drive my vet every day. I work in a steel mill. It's a horibly dirty place to bring your car in to. The wonderfull Chicago weather is another story. I like to keep my car clean as a whistle. I have taken a few show and shine trophy's with it. If i get caught in bad weather so be it. But I hate when that happens. I will be cleaning it for 2 weeks then. I want to drive it, and show it not spend my play time cleaning it. Then the vet is a 2 seater. For people who have a family or basically a life, that is unpracticle for every day use. I still like to go out and enjoy it when I can, and I do. The rest of the time it sits.
Now saying that 2 similar cars have both seen good maintenance how can anyone who has a logical mind say that a higher mileage, higher wear car is the same as a lower mileage car with less wear on it? The lower mileage car should last longer before parts start to need replacing. Hence it will get the higher price. This statement is based on condition. A car with 10K miles can be trashed, and one with 100K could be in like new condition. Every thing equal I would take lower miles any time. It just makes sense. This is logic as I see it. I am glad everyone is not like me. :cheers:

Joe C

you hit that nail on the head. on the other hand, i love the guys who have these cars and don't drive them. when it's time to sell, they might get a couple grand more for a low miler, but i can pick up a late model, hardly used corvette for usually a good price.

i bought my '85 six years ago with 33k miles. it was fairly clean, only needing some very minor mechanical repairs. the idle speed was all over the place, and all the preventive maintenance stuff needed done, but i got one hell of a driver for a great price. i now have about 75K miles on it, and i drive the hell out of this thing, rain or shine, and i can say, the longer i drive it, the better it runs. overall, my '85 is in better condition today than the day i got it. i think there are guys out there that think they will keep these things for 20-30 years, and they will command the astro mid-year prices. that will never happen. the father in law of a friend of mine has a 98 convertible and keeps it in a bubble - only puts about a 1000 miles/year - says he has to protect his investment. well i got news for people that think like that - corvettes are liabilities, not investments. microsoft, GE, IBM, etc., are investments. if you got it, drive it and enjoy it. life's too short - why save it for the next guy. and BTW, these things don't melt in the rain, and the world only needs so many museum pieces.


[Modified by joe ciechanowski, 10:56 AM 5/30/2002]

dgoodhue

I agree, let them store and save them for us ...

thunderbolt47

Just from watching prices I have noticed (and someone up there said nearly the same thing) that for vettes under 25K is really low milage, around 25-50K is moderately low. Prices start taking a real dive around 80K and people are really shying away from anything over 95K. But then this varies as I saw a 92 yesterday with "low milage" at 120K.

Joe C

...just caught this quote - two thumbs up jwade91 :cheers:

...and like i always say, "drive it 'til the wheels fall off, then put some new wheels on it!"


[Modified by joe ciechanowski, 12:20 PM 5/30/2002]

scorpion

only 96000 on my 95 :bb