Is mileage on a car a big factor?

it is a factor ..but there are other factors ..city miles are far tougher than motorway miles ..a city car with 50.000 miles will have had a tough a time as a 100.000 miler on motorways ..another factor is diesel or petrol ..a diesel revs much lower than a petrol ..biggest factor is service history ...check its mileage with mot history ....check the service book to see its correct ..its simple to forge its history ...if its got full service it would not concern me to buy a 100.000 miler ...and high mileage means lower cost to buy ...my mates got a renault with 500.000 on clock ..his sons 1.1 peugeot has 350.000 miles on clock ..neither has ever been touched ..just serviced properly .....then on other end of scale ..3 years ago ..on december 2nd ..we towed a transit off the m27 motorway ..on inspection it had run out of fuel only ..it was brand new on august 1st ....4 months later ..68.000 miles!!..24/7 courier

Yes. It is a VERY BIG factor.

It is a big factor.

Look for an older car with lower miles. The high milage is what is going to stop you

It is a very important factor. 🤘

Um, yeah it is - it's the indicator of how much use the vehicle has had.

You are right that it isn't that simple; that a high mileage car is worse than a low mileage one. If you have a high mileage car who's owner is a cautious driver who does all the preventative maintenance on time, and another with low miles driven by a crazy teen, you probably want the high mileage one. So do take maintenance and owner profile into consideration. Model of car matters too, as some age better than others.

You can't just ignore mileage though. Parts wear down over time. As cars climb higher in miles, the amount of things that all begin to wear out increase. When a car is newer, a part might go bad and you replace it. Older cars, you can often see many things starting to fail all nearly the same time (just because they are all starting to reach their natural failure point). That is the risk you run; having just fixed something, and having to turn right around and fix something else, and so on.

Here's the science. All mechanical systems, like a car, have an expected failure rate called the mean time between failures (MTBF).

The quality cars that are typically high-priced ones (but not always) will have longer MTBFs than the cheaper ones. And those quality cars will sell on resale at a higher cost because they are expected to last longer than the cheap ones.

My point is this...high mileage on a quality car is less of an issue than high mileage on a cheap car. But even so, high mileage should not be ignored, it is a factor to consider for both quality and cheap cars.

Were I you, I'd get a Consumers Report and see what they say about the cars you are looking at. CR is pretty good at assessing used cars.

Mileage is certainly a big factor but the actual condition of the car is more important, regardless of mileage. A low mileage car that has been driven hard, poorly maintained, and possibly wrecked and poorly repaired is a poor purchase choice. In contrast, a high mileage car in great condition that has been well cared for and never been wrecked can be much better buy.

So how do you know which cars are in the best condition? Unless you are a mechanic, you should get a qualified mechanic to inspect any used car you think you want to buy -- regardless of mileage. Mileage alone is simply not enough.

Mileage is very important as very high mileage can reduce a cars value by as much as 40%.

Highway miles are easier on a car but they still reduce the value and there is no smaller deduction because they are purportedly highway miles.

All things being equal, a car with higher miles is more likely to need a very expensive repair. (Engine or Transmission)

WHOEVER MARKED THIS ANSWER NEGATIVE IS DUMBER THAN A BAG OF ROCKS.