[ NOVICE ] [ QUESTION ] [ LONG POST ] — We’re all more-or-less familiar with the lifespan of consumer vehicles, and how to judge whether a used car is a good deal or not. I need help figuring out how this translates to commercial trucks. What does a good used truck deal look like?

Hello everyone,

Full disclosure, I am not a trucker. I am a contractor. As such, I’ve never driven a commercial truck, and do not even have my CDL yet. That said, I hope to buy my first truck for my business in the near future.

Problem is, I have no idea what the lifespan of a commercial truck is.

Like, when it comes to consumer vehicles, I think this is more-or-less a fair breakdown:

<25000 **KILOMETERS** = virtually brand new

25000-40000 = quite new, still a good buy

40000-70000 = a car in the middle of its problem-free life

70000-110000 = a truly used car, but with several good years left in it if its a reputable make.

110000-140000 = a used vehicle with only a few years left in it. Not worth buying if its a poorly-made brand.

\>140000 = only worth purchasing if it’s a honda or a toyota, and then only if it’s been regularly serviced, and has no apparent problems or rust.

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Now, those numbers are just in terms of the vehicle being problem-free, and, admittedly, have more to do with the life of the ***entire vehicle***, not just the engine, as most consumer cars start to have rust and transmission problems by 150K km. You can absolutely get your Corolla or Accord to 200, 250, 300 000 km, but you’ll be putting some serious money into rebuilding major components. I know a guy with a Gasoline Honda CRV with 400 000 MILES on it, but he’s had to rebuild the engine twice, and the transmission twice as well.

**This whole scale is also affected by where you live, of course, and the scale I gave is representative of Canada. Most peoples cars up here are destroyed by rust by the time they start hitting 100-200K km.**

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# THE POINT:

**My question, though, is how does this all translate to commercial trucks?**

**I know that diesel engines are capable of going for 800 000** ***MILES*** **before they’re even considered old, but what about the** ***rest*** **of the vehicle? Sure, a commercial truck with 300 000 km on it might be new when it comes to the engine, but the rest of the vehicle still has more than twice the amount of km on it that you’d consider reasonable for a consumer vehicle.**

**What does the suspension look like at 300 000 km? What about the transmission? The chassis? In my mind, if a car tends to be nothing but broken, rusted-out scrap at 200 000 km, surely a truck with 400 000 is going to be just as dead? Yeah, the truck might be built tougher to begin with, but still.**

Like, take this listing, for example:

[https://www.kijiji.ca/v-heavy-trucks/oakville-halton-region/2019-isuzu-npr/m4866561](https://www.kijiji.ca/v-heavy-trucks/oakville-halton-region/2019-isuzu-npr/m4866561)

290 000 km. 180 000 miles. They’re asking for 40K for it. Is that a fair price? Does the truck look like it’s in good condition?

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Any help, insight, wisdom, or experience with this stuff would be ***hugely*** appreciated. Thank you all for your time, and your work.

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