Hi, looking forward to becoming a Fit owner; I've heard great things, and loved the test drives. Reliability is my #1 goal. Coming off of a series of Subaru mishaps, never going back!

Car 1: 135,000 miles for $7300 (there is room to haggle); 1 owner; carfax shows regular oil change and maintenance (every 6-12 months). A few exterior dings and interior degradation.
https://www.carfax.com/VehicleHistor...GE8H4XAS022453

Car 2: 59,000 miles for $8600 (no room to haggle); 2 owners; carfax shows almost total lack of maintenance! (4-year gap between oil changes). Exterior and interior are spotless.
https://www.carfax.com/VehicleHistor...GE884X9S017300

Car 2 would be delivered, and comes with a 30-day warranty (and 5-day option to return, no questions asked); Car 1 I would have to schedule a mechanic check-up.

Given the miles, I would have snapped up Car 2 in a heartbeat; the lower miles and better condition suggestion it would have much better resale value. But once I looked at the carfax and saw the great regular maintenance on Car 1, I second-guessed, in terms of reliability. How valuable are those regular oil changes and maintenance?

Thanks for the thoughts, y'all!

 

I would never buy a car site unseen in fact I would do more than one test drive and try to test them both on the same day. Having a mechanic look at it is a good idea obviously, but not all mechanics are going to catch all problems. if you think you're up to the task of evaluating based on test drive and physical eyeball inspection that might be enough. With a warranty you can always take it to a mechanic after purchase as well and still bring it back. For this specific instance I would say since you can't decide a test drive would be a crucial deciding factor. And you should always test drive a car. certain cars have quirks specific to specific people when driving that you personally just don't want to put up with.

 

Impossible to evaluate given the information possible.
But lets put it this way.
If I felt a vehicle with 59,000 miles on it was or had only been getting Oil Changes every 4 years? I'd pass.- Don't care how clean and pretty it looked.
But I also don't know how carfax obtains their maintenance information. Could it be the original owner(s) or at least one of the two, did oil changes themselves so they are simply not reported?
If I at all felt this wasn't the case, I'd be obligated to pass on the deal. 1 oil change every 4 years is NOT acceptable.

 

Minus the 100k+ miles, I’d go for car 1 if it passes a look from a mechanic. If it’s necessities were taking care of properly and the carfax looks great AND one owner, id look at it as a steal. Lower price though

 

With 60k miles there is not much maintenance to be done besides oil changes. A DIY oil change would not be reported so hard to say if it was done or not.

Not sure how carfax tracks that. My vehicles are well taken care of by me so the carfax for them is lacking.

 

exactly Carfax is bullshit because so many people do their own oil changes and their own maintenance personally I trust someone to take care of their own car if they're even a halfway decent mechanic better than any dealer or mechanic because it's their own vehicle and Carfax has none of that information, so really take carfax with the grain of salt.

 

I wanted to add one thing about the test drive. I believe that if you know how a vehicle is supposed to feel than a test drive is maybe the most important thing. if you don't know how that specific vehicle is supposed to feel and drive then a test drive is not going to necessarily be as helpful. That's why it's important when you're buying a vehicle decide on a vehicle and test drive a bunch of those vehicles at dealerships with low miles and then test the higher mileage one and see how it measures up to the ones you drove at the stealership.

there's other variables too though when you drive it you have to get on it you have to take it both on bumpy City roads and on the highway for high speed off and times a check engine light will only come on when you go over 65. Some places try to limit your test drive ability to around the block. I'm leary of those places even though they're not always selling you junk but it's just an example of their common practices which aren't on the up-and-up in my book. But there are scammers on both ends people trying to buy cars will scam people selling them. And obviously it's important to check under the car for leaks and rust which can only be done properly by putting it on the lift a lot of places won't let you put it on the left to check underneath. But even if they do they could always clean up leaks for the time being so that's not always full proof either you have to take all the variables get as much information as possible and then use your gut. But most times using your head and thorough inspection and test drive you will do okay especially if it's a reliable manufacturer like Honda or Toyota and a model with good rating, I like to find out the most common problems with that particular year and model and look for those. I personally like Chevy's the way they drive better... And Fords with the air shocks I like their suspension but Ford really has inmy experience been fix or repair daily. Very small simple size and Chevys leak oil and shit. Sorry for the rambling just wanted to add the other variables in.

 

I bet the oil changes just weren't reported. The car will drive you crazy if you don't do it. I'd go with no. 2