How many kilometres are too many for a used vehicle

Almost every buyer’s first question is: how many has it done? Understandably — mileage is the only figure that appears objective. Yet the experience of the used-car trade teaches otherwise: mileage without context says almost nothing. Below we explain how to read it correctly.

The average as a starting point

The Croatian average lies between twelve and fifteen thousand kilometres a year. A five-year-old vehicle with around seventy thousand kilometres is, statistically, averagely used. Deviation in either direction calls for an explanation: unusually low mileage is as valid a reason for checking as high mileage.

How the kilometres were driven matters more than the number

A hundred thousand motorway kilometres and a hundred thousand city kilometres are two different vehicles. Motorway kilometres are covered at a steady pace, with a warm engine and little braking; city kilometres bring cold starts, constant acceleration and many times greater wear of the clutch, brakes and suspension. A vehicle that gathered its kilometres on long runs is as a rule in better condition than a city car with half the number.

Low mileage is not a virtue in itself

A vehicle that stands for years has illnesses of its own: tyres that age, seals that dry out, brakes that gather corrosion. Moreover, an unusually low figure on an older vehicle is statistically the most common target of odometer manipulation. Low mileage is worth something only with documentation to confirm it.

When high mileage is an opportunity

A vehicle with a documented history and orderly maintenance, but higher mileage, is often the best buy on the market: its price is noticeably lower and its technical condition known. That is precisely the profile of a fleet vehicle — our cars cover more than the average, but every service, every replacement and every kilometre has been recorded from day one. You buy a known condition at a lower price, instead of an unknown figure at a higher one.

Conclusion

There is no universal threshold beyond which a vehicle is worn out. There is only a ratio: the figure on the odometer against the documentation that accompanies it. A vehicle with a hundred and fifty thousand documented kilometres is a safer purchase than one with eighty thousand and not a single paper.