He got a smoking deal on the replacement engine, but the economics are still not great. Better off buying a 100K mile car for $10K than fixing a 180K mile car.

 

Thanks - yes, just saw the other thread with all the details. Agree that economics don't work out (as others have also found) but sounds like he didn't know it needed an engine until it was too late. And the deal on the replacement engine - amazing!
Still - all fixed up and working with low mileage engine, and all the other fixed for $14k isn't too bad really

 

Relative to what it would cost you to buy a new luxury car that is of the same caliber, it's a smoking good deal. But buying a low mileage XF for a little more money and changing all the plastic is the even smarter buy.

 

I don't think I'll be financially ahead in a sales perspective, but as a car to keep I think I will be far ahead because I have a much lower mileage engine (32k miles as opposed to 100k miles) and I will have replaced all coolant lines, cooling components, all fluids, full suspension etc etc. Essentially it will be a nearly new car with a slightly used engine. So for less money I will have a car with parts that are zero years old with a very little mileage on the engine, whereas I would have a decade old parts with an engine with triple the miles had I bought a 100k one that didn't need a rebuild. For a car to keep I think I made the much smarter choice, but that's just in my case. As the old saying goes "no risk, no reward" and I've definitely lost on some risks before so it's about time to win.


I don't agree with you on that logic. A car with 100k miles will need everything replaced. Chances are at 180k if it made it that far the person obviously maintained it. At 100k I should be replacing all the same stuff I should be on the 180k mile car. If you are talking strictly resale then yes I agree with you. But for personal usage, to keep for myself I think I made the better choice. That's my opinion...and you know what they say about those lol

I didn't know it was blown. I definitely wouldn't have taken that plunge at this time. Sales were slow, the market was tight this summer. But I had to make due with the cards I dealt myself.

 

Surprising. As a used car salesman, I am sure you know that there's no guarantees about previous owners. Just because it has high miles, doesn't automatically mean it was owned by someone that was good about maintenance and repair. But more miles definitely means that what has not been replaced yet is closer to failing than a car with lower miles/use. There's a lot more to fail than the engine. Think transmission, rear end, differential, wheel bearings, shocks, bushings and ball joints, seat foam, blend doors, etc. Unless you have all the service records, you never know. And there's far more bad owners than good owners in this world, so your odds are really bad with your logic.

 

When you've bought and sold thousands of cars you tend to be able to figure out certain tell-tall signs of the previous owners level of care. One often overlooked thing is tires. I've noticed more times than not problem cars have mismatched or generic brand tires. If someone wasn't willing to spend the money on quality tires, chances are very good they didn't take maintenance as seriously, or if they did they would use the cheapest possible fluids, and parts and probably didn't stick as closely to a maintenance schedule. Interiors that are clean are hard to fake. Sure things can be cleaned, however I've found interiors that are clean usually is a sign the owner wasn't disgusting. Again, I know how to a clean an interior really good, but I've found that even if detailed most people are too lazy to clean them right so I can typically spot those often forgotten areas to hint towards level of care. Exterior is easiest for someone to fake as you can always polish a turn lol. However again there's certain clues. When you buy and sell as many as I do you tend to start to see the patterns.

All of those parts you mention are getting close to failing at 100k so they are nearing the end of their usable life. So again my point was a 100k and a 189k are similar in the sense that they both need tons of money invested in. If you replace all of those things in the 189k car and the total price after replacing everything is the same as the 100k car, you are ahead of the game. Why? Because the 100k mile car would still be tired whereas the 189k mile car would be refreshed. There are cars at auction that roll through with 350k, 500k....it happens. If it didn't I wouldn't be willing to put this money in.

 

Cars talk to me too. But I don't flip cars, I personally care for them over years to really get to know them, and I'll take a 100K car anyday over a 180K car.