Taking a car with 110K+ on a trip around the country?

[Midwest Michael]

It looks like you add a little over 10,000 miles a year to the Malibu, so this trip is essentially going to take about a year off the life of your car.

I do have to disagree with this a little bit. The problem with saying it would take about a year off the life of the car, is that it assumes that a car comes with a certain number of miles that it is driveable and that all miles are the same.

If you are only driving a car 10k a year, its almost certain that you're doing a lot of short distance, stop and go type trips which are hardest on all the moving parts in the car. Roadtrip miles are far easier, and would put a whole lot less wear and tear than you would over a year.

Even from a resale value, if you look at the difference between a 10 year old car with 110k vs. one with 120k on a site KBB, there's going to be hardly any difference at all.

If you were talking about a car that was relatively new, and you were planning to sell it after just a couple years, it would be something to consider, but I just don't think it is significant when you're talking about a 10 year old car.

[Utahtea]

I do have to disagree with this a little bit. The problem with saying it would take about a year off the life of the car, is that it assumes that a car comes with a certain number of miles that it is driveable and that all miles are the same.

If you are only driving a car 10k a year, its almost certain that you're doing a lot of short distance, stop and go type trips which are hardest on all the moving parts in the car. Roadtrip miles are far easier, and would put a whole lot less wear and tear than you would over a year.

Even from a resale value, if you look at the difference between a 10 year old car with 110k vs. one with 120k on a site KBB, there's going to be hardly any difference at all.

If you were talking about a car that was relatively new, and you were planning to sell it after just a couple years, it would be something to consider, but I just don't think it is significant when you're talking about a 10 year old car.

I wasn't even thinking of resale value, but how long will this vehicle last for the owner and how long does he need it to last.

Utahtea

[Midwest Michael]

The resale value was a secondary point, done more as an example of putting an actual dollar figure on the amount of wear done to a car.

The larger point is that just because he typically drives 10k in a year, doesn't mean that a 10k roadtrip will take a year of life off the car. The roadtrip miles will put far less wear on the engine, transmission, brakes, and pretty much any other thing impacting how long the car will last or go before it needs repair than making 10k miles worth of short, stop and go, trips. The overall impact of this one roadtrip on the long term life of this car should really be quite minimal.