High mileage
Selling a car with a lot of kilometres on it
Dutch cars cover ground. A diesel estate that has done the Randstad commute for a decade can read three hundred thousand and still be mechanically sound. Private buyers stop reading at the odometer. We do not.
The offer
What this does to the price
A high reading brings the figure down and does not take it to zero, because it is one input of several. We regularly see a car at this mileage with a full book beat a tidier looking one that has nothing behind it. That only happens if you tell us the history exists. Without it we are left pricing the odometer, which is the harshest possible way to look at your car.
What's covered here
If your car looks like one of these, you are on the right page. None of it has to match exactly.
Well past 200,000 km
This is the point where a classified advert stops getting replies. It is not the point where the car stops being worth anything. There is a trade in cars at this mileage and it is busier than most owners realise.
Where the kilometres came from
Motorway kilometres are the gentle kind. A constant speed, a warm engine, a particulate filter that gets a chance to clear itself. Short cold trips around town are the hard kind, even at half the reading. Tell us which sort of life the car had, because it changes the figure more than the number does.
Ex-lease and ex-company cars
A Dutch lease car hands back high mileage and a complete dealer record in the same breath. That record is the single most valuable thing you have at this end of the market. Find the book or the service printouts before you ask.
Taxi and driving school history
If a car was ever registered for taxi use, that is recorded in the RDW register and a buyer will see it. There is no point leaving it out of your request. We account for it and move on, and so does the next owner.
Before you ask
Two things worth settling first
The fuller the picture now, the firmer the number stays once we see the car at the handover.
When selling makes sense
- The next job on the list, a clutch, a turbo, a particulate filter, costs more than the car is worth.
- A garage has handed you a quote and you are holding it next to the car's value.
- The reading alone has already turned away every private buyer who called.
- You would be paying for an APK test to find out what else needs doing on a car you are getting rid of.
Tell us this upfront
- The exact reading, not a round number
- Motorway work or town work, roughly which it mostly was
- When the timing belt or chain was last replaced, if that is known
- Anything a garage has already told you is due or borderline
Common questions
Is there a mileage at which you simply say no?
Not as a rule. What changes at the top end is the kind of value left, which starts to be about the parts and the metal more than about the car as transport. It is still a figure and it is still free to ask for.
The clutch is slipping. Do I mention it or wait and see?
Mention it. We are going to notice it on the test drive, and an offer that has to be reduced at the kerb is a bad experience for both of us. A known fault written into the offer from the start is simply a number.
Why does the exact reading matter if the car is this old?
Because it is already recorded. Garages recognised by the RDW log a reading at every APK and every service, and the register keeps them in sequence. The offer gets built on that history, so a rounded guess from you only creates a discrepancy we then have to ask about.
Can I name my own price?
Tell us, and put your own figure on the offer page. We look at it again properly and come back with a yes or a no, and the reason behind whichever it is.
Other cars we buy
Ready to sell your car?
Your number plate is all we need to start.