Is age or mileage more important when buying used cars?

I'm looking for a used truck and I see some newer ones with higher mileage about 110,000 in my price range and some older like 08's with fewer miles.

I'm not sure which one to lean towards. In a perfect world newer with lower miles would be best but I'm not finding any in my budget.

Thanks

Depends, new back to 08 isn't that long. What is the difference in the miles? 110k on newer ones... how many are on the '08s, I would assume not many less.

What are you looking to spend and what kind of vehicle are you looking to buy?

The 08 has 81,000 on it.

I'm looking to spend around 12,000 or less on an extended or quad cab truck with a V8.

Most important thing I my book would be the maintenance that has been done on the truck....I have receipts on mine for all of it...I would rather have a higher mileage well maintained truck than a lower mileage truck you know nothing about maintenance wise.

I just bought a 2014 Ford F150 , Crewcab , 5.0L , with 93,000 miles . One owner , Carfax , no wrecks , dealership maintained , perfect condition , extremely clean and I bought it from a Ford dealership ! $21,000.00 OTD TTL , Pd cash . Found it on www.carguru.com . . You put in all the info on which vehicle your looking for , how far your willing to drive and max amount of $$ your willing to spend and hit search . I did a 300 mile search and found all kinds in my search which I also checked under 100,000 miles option .

I'd much rather have newer and higher mileage personally.

If your paying cash I'd take the newer model. A 9-10 year old truck is getting to the age where lots of things are going to be needing to be replaced. If financing then its all about the payment, how much down and how much a month, the american way. If that's the case then don't be afraid to look at something with less miles and newer for a little longer term loan but the same payment.

What he said. Metal rusts. Rubber rots. Highway miles never hurt anything.

Yep

My wife's 2012 Highlander has 107,000 miles (we bought it used in 2014 with 67,000 miles on it). I don't worry nearly as much about it as I did my 2004 Silverado. Age is a problem for our newer materials and design more than wear is.

The other part to consider is that newer, higher mileage vehicles will have been mostly highway miles (hard to rack up a ton of miles in a short time driving in the city), which means the transmission, braking system, etc were all worked less per mile than a vehicle that had a heavier mix of city driving where they had to stop all the time and had to shift through their entire gearset every quarter mile. I just think folks make a bigger deal out of mileage than it is on newer vehicle designs.

I'm with these two, but for $12,000 your likely going to be dealing with age and miles. A proven service history would mean more to me at that point and overall care and condition if it looks beat up they probably didn't take care of it.

Probably going to need to up my budget to 15,000 but it looks like I'm finding some good deals. 2013 year model trucks with around 115,000.

I'd prefer older with less miles.. Really, 2008 isn't old in my book.... Is it diesel or gasser?

2008 isn't old right now, but it will be before too long. I sold my 2004 last year. Didn't seem old til about 2 years ago and all of a sudden it just felt ancient. Slow, no power, random stuff starting to go out, no technology, etc.

How many miles were on it?? Have an '03 with the 5.3 at 100k miles and still yanking like the day I got it in 2003.

If the OP is talking about a diesel, then there's no issue either way he goes. Have an '06 Duramax with 179k miles. Just breaking in!!

Although I can agree, I guess on the "older" trucks whether it's diesel or not, cosmetic things can start to show wear.

I guess I'm one of the few to prefer and older truck with less miles than a new one with more miles (to a certain extent.)

160k miles. Went years fixing nothing. Within the last year of ownership, I had to replace shocks, a window motor, and the headliner started falling down up front. It was just time.

Yeah, I can agree on that. Same thing in my '06 Dmax. None of the issues you listed, but there are some cosmetic things that could use attention. Nothing major, just stupid simple stuff.

I think condition of the vehicle means more than mileage but in any situation as stated above, maintenance is the most important. Vehicles of today and for the past 5 years ago or more are/were built to last 250k before major overhaul. I would take a well maintained 5 year old 100k vehicle over a 10 year old 50k mile vehicle any day. Today's vehicles contain a lot of rubber and plastics that begin to crack and dry rot over time, and they have more electronics which time is tough on.