Should I buy a manual Accord with 250k?

This is the ad -

The car is manual and has almost 250K miles. Yes or No? I appreciate the suggestions. Thanks
and btw I’m from Iowa.

Entirely up to the answer your mechanic says after he inspects this car top to bottom.

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15 years old and 250,000 miles for $3k??? Whatever that person is smoking, must be some good stuff! No car that old, with that many miles is worth that much money. Nor would I buy anything with such high miles at any price. I very seriously doubt there are many more miles left in anything with a quarter of a million miles on it.

Personally, I would avoid buying anything with more than 120,000 miles for models with normal reliability, or 150,000 miles for models with high reliability. I assume that a car has a design life of 200,000 miles, and will become unprofitable to keep running soon after that.

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OK, just how many ads are you going to post here ? Someone may assume you are a Spammer . You are going to get the same answer almost every time. Pay a shop fee and have what ever vehicle you might want inspected. Since those of us on the web can’t see , hear or drive the vehicle a reasonable recommendation is nearly impossible.

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Got it. Sorry about that.

I don’t believe that. I think this is a person looking for a low-cost car, and considering buying this one. Hypothetically speaking, why would a “spammer” post an ad for a car here, where 99.999% of the people looking at it live far away?

Actually, no. When the car in question is pretty much used-up, and the price is “optimistic” to say the least, I wouldn’t even recommend wasting money to have a mechanic inspect it–I’d say “keep looking”.

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Thank you for your suggestion.

While this is fairly high mileage for most people it’s not impossible for a Honda with this many miles to be still reliable enough for commuting, But it really depends on what your mechanic finds.

As with the Chevy you were asking about on another thread you pay a few thousand more for lower mileage.

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There’s a 2005 here in St. Louis with auto trans. and 145k going for $5500 so $3k isn’t that far fetched. Still, 250k is a lot of miles, way more than my comfort range.

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The going rate for a car that age and running is about $750-$800!!!

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its easy to find other cars and compare prices? is this the only one for sale in iowa?

The person asking $5500 for the 2005 with 145,000 miles needs to lay off the crack pipe too, I guess. There is a big difference between “asking” and “getting”. I see people posting the same ad on Craigslist month after month asking stupid money for an old worn-out car or truck with super-high miles. Sure, you can say the price is “firm” but then people just won’t call.

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I’ll be sure and tell the dealer selling the car that some character on the Internet says he doesn’t know how to sell cars. I’m sure he’ll be amused. I searched Autotrader.com for 2004-2006 Accords within 25 miles of my Zip code, 63130. Feel free to try it yourself. In my case, there were 6 results, all from dealers, ranging from $4800 to a whopping $7000! Mileage was from 119k to 149k so no direct comparison and I wouldn’t pay $7000 in any case but it makes the OP’s example look a bit better.

I’m finding similar results here on the west coast, $5,000+ buye a lower mileage car or there are comparable examples around. Found one with an asking just under $2,000 with 282,000 miles and a pattern of regular oil changes and services according to Carfax. I’ve known owners of Honda’s with this mileage to have very little mechanical troubles, it’s rust that kills these first.

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Perhaps in your area a 15 year old car is junk but in some parts on United States used cars have much more life in them. In my area a drive-able used car starts at $2000.

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From the ad
2005 Honda Accord LX
New Tires
New Battery
Remote Start
245,000 Miles
Manual Transmission
Bluetooth Stereo
Clean Interior
Great Air Conditioning

Well taken care of; I always have put full synthetic oil in it and have all maintenance records.

Now the guy might be overly optimistic about the price he can get, but he might also know that his vehicle was looked after and is running great. Have a look at the servicing requirements for it. If it uses a timing belt when was that changed, same deal for the clutch plate. It might be a great vehicle, and it might be even better if you can get it for 2K.

In my mind overpriced high mileage private sale vehicles, can often correspond to an owner who knows that it runs and has been maintained better than most and so values it highly.
If you can bond with them in loving the vehicle, and promise to give it a good life for more years, you may just walk away with it for a fair bit less.

Seriously ? It is an old vehicle , not a Puppy Dog .

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Its a high mileage manual Honda Accord not exactly the worse vehicle ever built. People who hang on to their vehicles for a decade or more tend to like them, and are a bit invested in them. Why some even give their car’s names. In such cases it pretty much exactly like buying a puppy dog. Some will put more importance on it finding a good home rather than who is willing to pay the highest price. When it comes to individual transactions the laws of economics do not really apply. Salesmanship makes a huge difference.