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A Million Miles, Fifteen Years And A Honda Accord

By Kurt Ernst
Kurt Ernst Kurt Ernst
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4 4,277 views Jun 16, 2011

Million Mile Joe and his 1990 Honda Accord. Image: Honda

Million Mile Joe and his 1990 Honda Accord. Image: Honda

 

The average American driver racks up 13,476 miles per year on their odometer. That makes “Million-Mile” Joe, of Norway, Maine, well above average; Joe has accumulated nearly one million miles on his 1990 Honda Accord over the last fifteen years.  That works out to be nearly 4,700 miles of driving per month, meaning that Joe drives as much in a season as the average American drives in a year. 


A former automotive service technician turned insurance claims adjuster, Joe is meticulous about his car's maintenance, and keeps detailed records of all services performed. He’s got notebooks full of data, and Honda reports that he’s taken nearly 700 pictures of his odometer to document the mileage.  If nothing changes, Joe is on schedule to cross the one-million-mile mark this September, and Honda will be documenting his progress on their Facebook page.

Ironically, Joe bought his Accord as a six-year-old used car in 1996 with 74,000 miles on it. His obsession with keeping records didn’t start until he crossed the 300,000 mile mark, but it’s safe to assume that Joe followed the car’s maintenance schedule religiously even if he didn’t document it. As remarkable as Joe’s achievement is, it really highlights the fact that manufacturers publish recommended maintenance schedules for a reason; stick to them, and you may have a million mile car in your own garage.

 

[YouTube, via Honda]


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Comments (4)

  1. Cfthelin avatar Cfthelin Posted: 6/17/2011 10:20am PDT

    Good man. He must have washed that vehicle often to keep it looking that good. His town is a long way from the ocean and I suspect that Maine stopped using salt against icy road a long time ago.
     
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  2. USAFANG67 avatar Matt Mann Posted: 12/29/2011 8:12pm PST

    My hat is off to him.
    I could not make the 80000 mark on my 2004 Accord before I had to have the transmission overhauled.
    "They don't build 'em like they use to now do they Honda"
     
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  3. fb_100002604715024 avatar Nicholas Rocco Posted: 7/17/2012 1:12pm PDT

    As a loyal Honda owner, the thing I find amazing is not that he drove the car a million miles, but that he did so in the harsh climate of Maine. His driving 50,000 to 70,000 miles a year suggests that many of those miles were on the open highway, which I'm sure helped. I thought I had done well with my 1984 Honda CRX, which has 449,000 miles (original engine and transmission), but the body is completely rusted and frame coming apart due to New Jersey winter driving conditions for the first decade I had the car. I would have had to spend an enormous amount of time cleaning and maintaining it to have made closer to a million miles, which is what this guy did. But this certainly proves that it's possible, at least with older Hondas.
     
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  4. Ernst avatar Kurt Ernst Posted: 7/18/2012 2:58am PDT

    @Nicholas, I really wonder if such achievements will be possible in the future, as cars grow more complex and computer-dependent. Even if it's theoretically possible, it may not be financially realistic.
     
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