NZ Performance Car – September 2019

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CONTRIBUTORS

Jaden Martin

Email: [email protected]

Instagram: jaden_nzpcmagazine

AARON MAI DANNY WOOD RENE VERMEER

KEEGAN CLARKE-LATHAM MARTIN HANSSON RICHARD OPIE

H

ow much does mileage weigh in on a

car purchase for you? For most, it’s a

big driving factor as to whether or not

that cold hard cash will be handed over.

There are those that simply won’t even

touch anything considered to have high-kilometres,

regardless of the condition it may be in. Many still use

the benchmark of any six-figure number with a ‘2’ or

higher in front of it as the be-all and end-all. Others

are a bit more lenient, although they generally want

to pay as little as possible for the car in question. It’s

understandable, too, as for a long time I shared the

same mindset for no other reason than that’s what

those around me thought. Perhaps it’s a byproduct

of the automotive manufacturing industry wanting us

to subconsciously fear older cars in order to keep

sales numbers trickling on through. Or, it’s just the

fact that, as cars get on in life, parts start to break

down and the maintenance bills keep on coming —

everything has its lifespan.

I think that the attitude may have been passed

down from generations before that were more

inclined to replace cars in a shorter timeframe than

what many do now. And with our national fleet’s

average age only increasing as we hold on to the

imports of decades prior, finding low-mileage cars

is becoming more difficult.

But, in terms of buying a car that has seen a

few spins of the odometer, I don’t think it should

be the number-one factor that determines your

purchase. It acts as an indicator, sure. However, it

provides little to no information on how it has been

treated by the owner(s). I’ve known plenty of lower-

mileage cars that have been thrashed to hell and

back with no maintenance history at all due to a

complete ignorance of what they need and when.

I’ve also known cars with numbers higher than your

local crackhead that may as well have just been sold

off the showroom floor. The reality is that there is far

more to take into consideration than just a number.

The maintenance history should be your

first port of call. Is there anything at all? No? Then

your purchase is going to be a gamble. Most that

I’ve encountered have had some form of service

history, be it simple receipts from local parts shops

for oil and filters, to the more intensive logbook-

style records of home mechanics that service the

cars themselves, and then the holy grail: a folder

of complete dealership service history that can be

traced back to the day the car was made. There’s a

good story to be told from these records.

What I’m getting at is that, if the car has done

a few clicks in its time, but has all the paperwork to

back up a solid maintenance history to show that

an owner has clearly looked after it, you’re less

likely to incur any issues. Don’t be scared to get

amongst the older generations. There’s plenty of fun

to be had for a lot less coin — hell, there are plenty

of recorded examples showing certain makes and

models reaching the likes of a million kilometres! And

if the market is showing us anything at the moment,

desirable models with higher mileage still hold their

value like any other when they’ve been looked after.

So, next time you’re in the market, ask the seller

what the maintenance history is and if they have any

records to share. You never know when a brand new

car is hiding under a ‘scary’ number ...

GOING THE

DISTANCE

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