How many miles is too many, when buying used.

[anthonyg99 0]

I'm looking into buying a used 04 Sierra 1500 SLT Z71, it has 201,100 and is in kinda rough condition but it's only $5,900. Is this a bad idea?

 

Also, what is too many miles when buying a used Sierra 1500 4x4?

[kstruckcountry 1,704]

Depends on what you are planning on using it for and personal preference. It basically comes down to this: you can pay for a truck, or you can pay for parts. Yes, it will cost to keep a truck with lots of miles going, also costs to find one in perfect shape. If you like working on em, go ahead. Whether or not you save money will depend on previous owners, and luck.

 

Most people will say a truck will need major work in the 200-250000 mile range. It's proven true for us. There are always exceptions though, in good or bad ways.

 

Just noticed the board this is in, think it could be moved to a more appropriate one mods?

[Stevens03 130]

Cheap or not... Sounds like it would be more of a headache than a pleasure. Personally I think over 200,000 at purchase would be to many miles But thats my opinion. If I had a vehicle that I kept that long and put over 200,000 on it... that would be a good feeling. But starting out that high is just asking for problems.

[SouthCo 68]

$5900 for an 8 year old truck with over 200k miles seems kind of steep.

 

 

Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk

[tyhuck 67]

I wouldnt mess with anything over about 125K - 150K. But, I runt the highways in mine. If it were a farm truck or hunting vehicle, or even just a toy to tool around in, then it wouldnt matter so much as long as it ran good. In those cases, Ide say an average of 15K - 20K per year would be OK, but for a DD, I like to stay around 100K or under if possible.

 

Also something to concider, the 4L60E has a lifespan average of around 175K-200K so if its the original trans, Ide take that into concideration and maybe subtract the cost of a new one from the NADA value.

[Zane 385]

Moving to Full-size truck forum

[Gurrzt 123]

I agree with the others, also you do not know how the vehicle was maintained, I tend to over maintain a vehicle, and when I turned in my 04 Tahoe (107k), it was in excellent running condition.

 

I know of people that @ 100K the vehicle is in need of alot of maintenance, which would involve costly repair.

[steveR 4]

could be a nice truck. pay for it like you'll have to sell it tomorrow. Sounds like a 3500 dollar truck to me. Cost in a transmission and a transfer case. i'm sure you could find a 2003/4 for $6500 with 120,000 miles

[tyhuck 67]

honestly, Ide concider the cost of replacing or rebuilding the driveline (engine, trans, t-case) then add that to you budget, an buy a ytuck for that much. Cost would be the same, but you have more peice of mind that the odds of a breakdown is less.

 

That being said, the truck you are looking at may run another 30K or more with no problems. By the same token, people have to spend big buck on vehicle repairs with less than 100K on the clock.

 

Like I said before, it all depends on the condition of the vehicle and what you intend to use it for.

[KMGZ400 656]

i would never buy a vehicle with over 100k, but i would keep a vehicle i know the history of and how its been driven and where its been WAY past 100k

[STINSAN3 140]

I bought my truck used with 102K on it, all those miles were interstate/highway. Right now its at 135K, nothing wrong with it at all. Except AC won't work on the driver side due to a broken actuator.

[yukon_denali_05 12]

Yes, I would buy a truck if it had 200k miles on it if the owner maintained the truck like me

[rph74 0]

I wouldn't hesitate to buy a truck with that many miles on it if it runs good. I bought my 99 with 211k and I have 239k on it now. I have taken this thing on long (700 miles one way) road trips without a hiccup. If you do a lot of wrenching on your own, all the better.

 

In my years of buying used cars, I have had the best luck buying cars with 120,000+ miles on them. At that point, the previous owner(s) have already replaced a lot of parts. Buying at 70-90k has brought me the worst luck. Usually those cars have mostly original parts, with repairs coming soon.

[BlackZ71Silverado 560]

IMO that has to many miles and will most likely be in need of repair not long after you own it. You never know what kind of maintenance was done to it, was has already been replaced/repaired/rebuilt. Just to risky if you ask me....I would keep looking, you can find a much better deal than that.

If the purpose was to rebuild the entire truck to be like new condition, I'd say go for it.

[Garrett Street 6]

If the owner maintained it like I maintain mine than I would. But if it's like 90% of the population I'd say no. Also, there's no way I'd pay that much for it. That's more than I paid for mine and mine only had 120,XXX on it.