CASE STUDY WHY I BOUGHT ONE
Rod Green’s 709,292-mile Volvo S80 2.5D
WOULD you buy a car with 693,000 miles on the clock? That’s what Rod Green did – or more accurately, it’s what his son did for him. However, while a mega-mileage saloon might seem like a risky gamble, Rod knew the car’s history from day one, because he’d put most of those miles on its clock.
Rod said: “I started a new career as a corporate chauffeur in 2001, and I leased a pre-registered S80 2.5D with fewer than 20 miles on the clock. With an annual mileage of 80,000 to contend with, I needed something that would be reliable and not cost too much to run. However, 10,000-mile service intervals meant the Volvo would visit a garage every six weeks. I never skimped on servicing but I avoided main dealers – by using independents I got a much more personal service and I paid a lot less.”
With 350,000 miles on the clock, a piece of grit damaged a drive belt, wrecking the engine. Rod’s specialist sourced a factory-reconditioned engine and fitted it within a week. He added: “A main dealer couldn’t have matched this level of service, or cost.
“So when buying a high-mileage car, don’t be too focused on a main dealer service history. What matters is that it’s been maintained properly using high-quality parts. If that’s by a recognised specialist, that’s fine.”
At the end of its four-year lease period, Rod bought the Volvo for £1,000, eventually selling it in 2009, by which point it had covered almost 600,000 miles.
When Rod recently retired, his son presented him with his original S80, which he’d bought back as a gift. Rod added: “By now, the car had done almost 700,000 miles and it was still running superbly on the clutch I’d had fitted with the replacement engine. But it was looking a bit scruffy and its cosmetics would have put off many buyers – never mind the mileage! The S80 proved a great buy as cheap, comfortable transport, though.”
The Volvo has now done 709,000 miles and has needed a new alternator, while the suspension has been overhauled. Rod concluded: “I’d like to see one million miles on the odometer, but as my annual mileage is now just 5,000, I don’t think it’s going to happen.”