About Caboose

Caboose is an independent car site with one rule: we only list cars that last. A model appears here only when it meets or beats the average vehicle's odds of reaching 250,000 miles, because a car with a real shot at 250,000 will pass 200,000 on the way. Today that is 52 models. We track 2,024 live used listings across 12 makes and 51 models — every one of them priced below its expected market value — and show you the VIN, mileage, specs and dealer up front, before you click anything. We are not a dealer, we never take a cut of your purchase, and we never charge you.

Where the longevity ranking comes from

The ranking is the iSeeCars Longest Lasting Cars Study, published September 15, 2026, which analysed more than 395 million vehicles to find the share of each model still on the road at 250,000 miles or more. The average across all vehicles is 5.4%. The top of the table, the Toyota Sequoia, manages 42.3%. The full list is on the ranking page. The figure describes a model's record, not any single car, and a record earned by older generations does not guarantee the newest one.

Where the listings come from

Every car on this site is a real, live listing pulled from CarGurus' public search data, priced below the expected market value for its year, model, trim and mileage. The catalog is re-pulled from scratch on every deployment, so what you see is current inventory, not a stale list. Cars sell; if a listing is gone by the time you click, each page also links to similar cars still on the market.

What we throw out

A cheap price is often a symptom rather than an offer, so a listing has to clear a hard screen before it appears here at all. We drop it outright when:

• It is more than 30% under market. On a normal dealer lot that is a branded, salvage, flood or damage history the price guide has not caught — not a bargain nobody noticed.
• It has over 150,000 miles, or has averaged over 30,000 miles a year — fleet and rental duty, with the wear that comes with it.
• The odometer does not make sense for the car's age.
• It is not a consumer vehicle — incomplete commercial chassis cabs and the like.
• It has no VIN, no photos or no usable price.

That screen currently removes 11,779 listings from the raw feed. We would rather show you fewer cars than pad the page with ones we would not send a friend to look at.

Known problem model years

Price is not the only thing that makes a used car a bad buy. We keep a table of 31 widely reported defect patterns — CVTs that fail early, engines that burn oil or seize, transmissions that shudder, electrical systems that strand people — each tied to specific makes, models, model-year ranges and, where the fault belongs to one engine, specific engines. It is built from NHTSA recalls and complaints, manufacturer service bulletins and owner reporting that is consistent enough to be a pattern rather than an anecdote.

282 of the 2,024 cars listed right now match at least one. We do not hide those cars, because a matching model year is not a verdict on the individual vehicle — plenty were fixed under warranty or recall, and a documented repair can make one of them the better buy. What we do is score them lower, and put the pattern on the page: what commonly goes wrong, what to check on the test drive, and which service record to ask the seller for. If a car's model year carries nothing, we say that too.

Cost per remaining mile

Every used car on Caboose also shows what it costs for each mile it has left before 200,000: the asking price divided by 200,000 minus the odometer reading. A $12,000 car with 150,000 miles has 50,000 miles of runway, so it costs $0.24 a mile; a $30,000 car with 20,000 miles has 180,000 miles left and costs about $0.17. It is a way to compare an old truck and a nearly new sedan on the same scale. It ignores fuel, insurance and repairs, and a model with a strong record often goes well past 200,000, so read it as a yardstick rather than a promise.

How the Caboose rating is calculated

The 10-point score next to each car is a transparent formula, not an editorial opinion. It starts at 6.9 and moves on six factors:

• Longevity record — up to +1.2 for the models most likely to reach 250,000 miles.
• Price versus market — up to +1.0, and deliberately capped, so a suspiciously deep discount cannot buy its way to the top of the page.
• Mileage for its age — under 8,000 miles a year helps; over 20,000 costs half a point.
• Time on the market — freshly listed cars score slightly higher; cars sitting over 120 days score lower.
• Certified pre-owned, franchise dealer and NHTSA 5-star safety — a small bump for each.
• Known problem model year — up to −2.5, and the factor that moves a car furthest.

One thing the formula still does not include, and we would rather say so plainly: total cost of ownership. Insurance, depreciation, parts and labour rates differ enormously between a Camry and a 7 Series at the same price, and none of it is in a listing. Average discount on the site right now is $1,492 below market — but a below-market price is a reason to look closer, never a reason to skip the inspection.

What we do not do

We do not inspect these cars, drive them, or verify anything the dealer says about them. Our known-issue table describes model years, not the individual car in front of you — only a VIN history report and an independent pre-purchase inspection can tell you about that one. And dealers cannot pay to appear here or to rank higher: there are no sponsored listings.

How the site makes money

Some links on this site — vehicle history reports, price research tools, tires, parts and accessories — are affiliate links, and we may earn a commission if you buy through them, at no extra cost to you. Caboose earns a referral fee when you buy through a manufacturer link: the “Shop new” buttons open the maker's own site and the “Compare inventory” buttons open Edmunds, and either may pay us for the visit. Affiliate links are marked as partner links wherever they appear. Commissions have no influence on which cars are listed or how they are scored: selection is purely longevity record and price versus market value, and the rating is the formula above. See our Privacy Policy for how affiliate tracking works.

Contact

Questions, corrections or a listing that looks wrong? Email info@island.direct — we would rather hear about a mistake than leave it up. To suggest a car, use the Submit a Car form.

Caboose is operated by Island Global Company. Listing data and photos are provided by CarGurus; vehicle history reports by CARFAX.