Value of high mileage Defender?

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lightning

lightning

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My 2005 Defender TD5 is currently on 140,000 miles and is in pristine condition.

l've been offered a new Defender Commercial and with the current govt tax back scheme it's something l am seriously looking at.

My Defender is worth l think around £20,000
A dealer has offered £18,500 cash, they'll sell it for maybe £23,000 but that's with a warranty etc

I've got to decide whether to go with the new Defender 90 Commercial or keep my 110.

Thing is, the dealer has told me that if l
take my Defender up towards 200,000 miles the value will plummet as nobody wants 200,000 milers.

As this may sway my decision (l'll reach 200,000 in around four years) what do people think.

What's the value of a pristine 2005 110 CSW (l look after it, £10,000 spent over eight years of ownership) but with 200,000 miles

Dealer says maybe £12,000 trade price at 200,000 rather than the £18,500 they are offering now at 145,000
 
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lightning said:
View attachment 277408 My 2005 Defender TD5 is currently on 140,000 miles and is in pristine condition.

l've been offered a new Defender Commercial and with the current govt tax back scheme it's something l am seriously looking at.

My Defender is worth l think around £20,000
A dealer has offered £18,500 cash, they'll sell it for maybe £23,000 but that's with a warranty etc

I've got to decide whether to go with the new Defender 90 Commercial or keep my 110.

Thing is, the dealer has told me that if l
take my Defender up towards 200,000 miles the value will plummet as nobody wants 200,000 milers.

As this may sway my decision (l'll reach 200,000 in around four years) what do people think.

What's the value of a pristine 2005 110 CSW (l look after it, £10,000 spent over eight years of ownership) but with 200,000 miles

Dealer says maybe £12,000.
Click to expand...

High miles doesnt bother me it means the motor has been doing its job & hasnt been broken/damaged
Ive seen low mileage motors with electrical nightmares, hence having mega low miles.
Id keep what youve got tbh I do wonder what the new defender will be like after doing 150k

Btw you landy is a belter. :cool:
 
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Your 110 looks fantastic, if it's as good inside (and underneath) as it looks on the outside then it worth upwards of 20K.
The car is 18 years old who wouldn't want a good looking 18year old in thier stable ? :cool:

Keep it ....
 
Keep it, only problem is though that it’ll always be in the back of your mind that they are a target to being stolen
 
Yes there is that, although the thieves would have to get past certain special security measures that l won't reveal on a public forum.

l don't want to get to obsessed about values, l am trying to decide which vehicle would be best for me and my business rather than whether l would be any better or worse off in ten years time.

To be honest l will be more than happy if l am still alive in 2032.

ln the past l've been obsessed with values, we sold my missus's 90 back in 2018 for less than it could have gone for and l beat myself up about it for months.

Eventually l bought another Defender 90 to "make up for it" but it we had to sell it in lockdown due to money issues at a loss of around £4,000
 
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In four years time it will be 22 years old so even at 220k that is still average mileage (10k per year), not high mileage for the age. The milage will only have an effect if you are selling it to a dealership because they advertise on mileage rather than condition and service history. If you are selling privately the condition and extensive file of accompanying paperwork, invoices, and parts receipts will still make it worth a realistic amount
 
Modern cars on 200k yes values effected as they dont have an enthusiastic following yet, normal high mileage cars just end up as scrap.
Proper defender are one exception to that rule.
 
l would agree, but was a bit shocked when the dealer (a specialist LR one who are very good) said that nobody would want it at 200,000 miles.

I tend to trust them, but can see that mileage would be an issue for them trying to sell it, because people would look at the mileage and say "no way l want that"

They've got a 178,000 mile tdci and it looks used, it's basically okay but the steering wheel and gear levers are smooth, the carpets worn, drivers seat worn etc
Where if you looked at my 140,000 mile one you'd think it had done 30,000
 
Yes, but that's dealerships trying to shift stuff off the forecourt which is rather different economics than those which apply to the classic car market.

After all, if you consider other highly priced classic cars with a cult following like E Type Jags and Austin Healy 3000s nobody says 'I'm not having this one it's done 200,000 miles'. Desirability is more often based on condition and originality. Similarly with TD5 Defenders, if you look at the ones for same online the original ones seem to be going for more than the ones that have been plastered with accessories like winches, suspension lift kits and enormous tyres.
 
Any defender I'd buy solely based on condition. They're just meccano, so if anything wears out, it's easy to replace.
 
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keep it i know people with new defenders and other land rover models most have problems at least with yours you can fix it yourself and its a propper landy
 
Looks like most of the love is for keeping my old Defender 110

I am trying to base my decision on which vehicle would serve my business better rather than which vehicle would in the long term cost more

I can imagine that in 15 years time the new Defender will be worth £5-10,000 where my existing one will likely be worth £15-20,000

Currently l am going with keeping my 110, but the dealer has invited me to go and view the new one which could get me signing the order form.

So still no firm decision either way.....
 
lf only my Defender was a 90 and not a 110

If that was the case my missus would drive it and we could part exchange her Jimny which the dealer offered a straight £24,000 for.

Then l wouldn't need to sell anything
 
Ignore the dealer’s offer of £12k. They know in that condition they can sell it. The mileage is irrelevant, it’s the condition that matters. I bought a very low mileage Audi a few years ago which had no end of issues, caused in my opinion by being used for lots of very short stop-start and irregular journeys. My old 300Tdi disco with nearly 200k on it ran like a Swiss watch!
 
Knappster said:
Ignore the dealer’s offer of £12k. They know in that condition they can sell it. The mileage is irrelevant, it’s the condition that matters. I bought a very low mileage Audi a few years ago which had no end of issues, caused in my opinion by being used for lots of very short stop-start and irregular journeys. My old 300Tdi disco with nearly 200k on it ran like a Swiss watch!
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This ^^

my 400k mile 110 ran perfectly (until the fire) and I am currently in the process of rebuilding it. When I am finished it will have a lightly rebuilt low but unknown mileage engine, new wiring looms throughout, the galv chassis and bulkhead it already had and the rebuilt gearboxes and axles it already had but it will still be showing 400k + miles on the clock. I regularly get jokes about it being triggers broom and which part of it exactly has done the 400k it is claiming but that is the same for most old land rovers. Condition and service history/proof of work and parts/recipts/invoices is what determines the value of an older defender for any one buying it. However for a dealer it is different it is mileage and how shiny it is that matters as they will be trying to sell it to a far wider audience than just the groups of land rover owners that know what they are doing. My local second hand garage had one come in about 5 years ago that I went to look at (arriving in my 110), they kept trying to sell me on the fact it had central locking and a/c and were very confused and weary when the first thing I did was crawl underneath it to look at the chassis.
 
dag019 said:
This ^^

my 400k mile 110 ran perfectly (until the fire) and I am currently in the process of rebuilding it. When I am finished it will have a lightly rebuilt low but unknown mileage engine, new wiring looms throughout, the galv chassis and bulkhead it already had and the rebuilt gearboxes and axles it already had but it will still be showing 400k + miles on the clock. I regularly get jokes about it being triggers broom and which part of it exactly has done the 400k it is claiming but that is the same for most old land rovers. Condition and service history/proof of work and parts/recipts/invoices is what determines the value of an older defender for any one buying it. However for a dealer it is different it is mileage and how shiny it is that matters as they will be trying to sell it to a far wider audience than just the groups of land rover owners that know what they are doing. My local second hand garage had one come in about 5 years ago that I went to look at (arriving in my 110), they kept trying to sell me on the fact it had central locking and a/c and were very confused and weary when the first thing I did was crawl underneath it to look at the chassis.
Click to expand...

I had a very similar experience buying mine. The dealer wanted to get me to drive it straight away, but I wanted to look underneath. Seemed to puzzle him at first, but I think it earned me some respect too.

If you can keep the rust at bay and stop the alloy turning to powder, the TD5 seems to be quite a long lived entity. The newest are around 16 years old. There are several threads on here where people have shown pictures of their engine overhauls, and even in high mileage units there are still cross hatched honing marks on the cylinders and the bearing shells are not showing the copper, so I think the prospects are fairly good. The TD5 can be kept going by means of an occasional order from LR Direct or Paddocks (or maybe Turner Engineering when the engine finally gives up) whereas there's so much new fangled junk on the new ones that wouldn't be possible.
 
Just to update this.

l took the dealers offer of £18,500 back in November after failing to sell it on Ebay at £20,000

Surprisingly they've still not sold it, it's up at £21,995 with a full warranty which has to be worth £2,000 on a Defender of that age.

However there's a lovely looking 2005 110XS on Ebay with 62,000 miles and that's been on sale for weeks, was £22,000 now £21,000

Wonder if the market has settled, with the current financial crisis and increasing LEZ's all over the place.
 
lightning said:
Just to update this.

l took the dealers offer of £18,500 back in November after failing to sell it on Ebay at £20,000

Surprisingly they've still not sold it, it's up at £21,995 with a full warranty which has to be worth £2,000 on a Defender of that age.

However there's a lovely looking 2005 110XS on Ebay with 62,000 miles and that's been on sale for weeks, was £22,000 now £21,000

Wonder if the market has settled, with the current financial crisis and increasing LEZ's all over the place.
Click to expand...

Looks like you got out just in time.
 
I've noticed countless Landies come up for sale round here recently, more than I've ever seen and a real mix and it doesn't look like they're selling.
 
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