Thats the way i see it,

I dont know about american cars, but european cars the engines usually out
live the rest of the vehicle,

over here the body rusts away and that's the main cause of it being
scrapped,

But if you keep on top of the rust, at about 100k miles you'll prolly have
replaced a few suspension components anyway,

Theres loads of rubber bushes on the suspension joints, and when the car's
towed the suspension is still moving, so the bushes will be wearing as is
the car was driven,
the ball joints are moving, CV joints doing their job and thus wearing,
shockers being pounded up and down, springs flexing, the steering rack is
being turned every time you take a corner, and not from the steering wheel
as it expects, but from the wheels being forced to follow the way the body
is dragged but the A frame mounting points,

the gear box is being driven, ok as said it's not under torque, but it's
still rotating all the bearings and gears,

So althought hte engine isnt actually running, the vehicle is still going
through the motions of being driven down the road,
And the car is a lot closer to the tow vehicle than would normaly be if it
were driven (well tailgaters excepted) so all the road spray, salt and muck
is being blasted into the front of the car, and it's not just the bonnet
(hood) and front panel that gets that muck, all the under side components
will be getting a nice dosing of corrosive muck.

A couple of months ago my dad bought a new car, he got exactly the same
model as his last one as he liked it so much, his old car was 3 years old,
and he'd done 80k miles in it,
but when he exchanged the old for the new car, he was amazed at how much
tigheter everything felt, suspension was tighter, steering more precise, no
rattles from wearing components on the drive line etc,

so whilst a car may show 30k miles on the odo, if it's been towed another
50k, then the engine may run like a 30k mile engine, but the car will drive
like a 80k mile car, and you've got to expect that you'll be doing repairs
to the vehicle that you'd expect of an 80k miler,

that's what the english court case was about, they bought a car with an
indicated low mileage, and thus paid top dollar for it, and expected it to
last a fair while before needing any major work, and hence werent pleased
when they got a big bill for lots of work needed to bring the vehicle back
upto a safe condition.

no idea if the origional owners had it serviced on the time scedule, but
from the sounds of it they just went on the 'it's due a service at xxk
miles, and it's not done that yet, so we wont service it untill then even
tho it's now 2 years old and never been looked at'

Let's see.  The differential(s) are turning but little torques
applied.  If equipped with CV joints, they are still flexing and at
least a portion of their life is flex related. And if the transmission
is not designed for towing, those towed miles are very hard miles.
Not many vehicles are designed for towing, including some manual
transmissions.

Me I'd prefer to know total miles and an explanation of service those
miles represent.

Mickey

A long time friend of my mothers bought a brand new 1970 Ford maverick
in 1970. It was sold after her death in 1985 with less than 20k miles
on it. All oil changes and other mainteance was done as required. I
know it was done because I did it. This car was practically new except
for some very minor rust on the rear quarter panels. Since I knew the
service record and the original owner, I bid and won at the auction to
sell her property.

I drove it approx. 3K miles and discovered damn near all the seals were
leaking. Tranny seals, axle seals, rear main and etc. All teh bearings
were fine, just all the seals were bad. Labor was the same but parts
were cheap.

So, my point is: Service records, low mileage adn etc. don't mean a
damn thing.

On any used car, buyer beware.

Hank