Car mileage is one of the key characteristics of a vehicle that you should pay attention to if you decide to buy a used car.
Car mileage
Vehicle mileage is the total number of kilometers that this vehicle has traveled on the roads since it left the manufacturer's assembly line. In order to measure the mileage, special sensors are installed in each car, the readings of which are displayed on the dashboard of the car.
To measure these readings, a car has a special device - an odometer: its scale is usually built into another device called a speedometer, which is used to determine the speed of a moving car. Therefore, in order to find out what is the total mileage of the vehicle you are interested in, you should pay attention to the odometer scale. In most cases, it is located directly below or above the mounting point of the speedometer needle.
Mileage significance
The importance of a car's mileage when buying a used vehicle can hardly be overestimated. The fact is that mileage is the main indicator that affects the wear of all systems of a car, therefore, in most cases, it can be said with certainty that the more mileage a car has, the older it is, and its systems are worn out.
Knowing this, often car owners, when selling a used car, try to pass it off as a newer car by lowering the odometer reading: this action is very common in the unofficial car market and even acquired a special name - "twist mileage".
Nevertheless, it is still possible to establish the real mileage of the car with a sufficient degree of probability even in this case. Firstly, it is worth taking into account the average mileage in the standard mode of vehicle operation in the city. Experts say that the use of the car in the "home-work" mode on weekdays and the implementation of relatively close, within 50 kilometers one way, weekend trips in total provides the car with about 10 thousand kilometers of mileage per year. Therefore, if you see a ten-year-old car in front of you, the total mileage of which is about 30 thousand, it is highly likely that it has undergone an adjustment.
However, it should be borne in mind that the mileage is only one of the indicators that allow us to assess the safety margin of a car. In addition, it is worth paying attention to the general condition of the car, which usually quite expressively indicates the intensity of its operation. So, the degree of wear of the main components of the engine can show how high the level of depreciation of the machine, and what is the expected period during which it can serve you without any problems.
