- Joined
- Jun 8, 2022
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- 5,566
My daughter needed a car for a short drive to work a few days a week. After looking for used one weekend I decided to just give her my Xterra for now, so my +1 car is gone. Since I have been looking more - mostly online, but some in person. I have noticed a trend. Cars with 150K or more miles, with extensive carfax history of oil change every 5K miles, but little else. They seem to list everything - like alignments and tires balanced even.
However I fail to see any service at all for ATF or Coolant, or PS or anything else. Just oil changes and the occasional brake fluid flush. I guess everyone assumes there lifetime?
Also noticed almost no mention of timing belt change. Lots of what looks like nice Honda 3.5's with 150K miles - what appears to be original belt. I did see one that always went to the dealer that mentioned 90K service, which I assume includes that - but other than that one, nothing. No sticker under the hood either. A lot of them seem to change hands around that time and go only to speedy lube afterwards. I assume if it runs when I bring it home, I can just change the belt then. I guess no one knows or no one cares?
So would you buy any of these cars? I have found a couple that look very nice - well kept, Southern cars, no rust. But it seems risky to me to pay maybe $12K for a 150K mile car with no service but oil changes?
However I fail to see any service at all for ATF or Coolant, or PS or anything else. Just oil changes and the occasional brake fluid flush. I guess everyone assumes there lifetime?
Also noticed almost no mention of timing belt change. Lots of what looks like nice Honda 3.5's with 150K miles - what appears to be original belt. I did see one that always went to the dealer that mentioned 90K service, which I assume includes that - but other than that one, nothing. No sticker under the hood either. A lot of them seem to change hands around that time and go only to speedy lube afterwards. I assume if it runs when I bring it home, I can just change the belt then. I guess no one knows or no one cares?
So would you buy any of these cars? I have found a couple that look very nice - well kept, Southern cars, no rust. But it seems risky to me to pay maybe $12K for a 150K mile car with no service but oil changes?