How low can you go?

When it comes to used vehicle mileage, the lower the better for Noah and Dylan Mashburn, whose father Robert, started Mashburn Motors in 1989, which is now located in St. Clair, Michigan.

Like other dealerships, finding inventory with low mileage was always a challenge. So a few years ago, just for kicks, Noah and Dylan started a social media page for car enthusiasts focused on ultra-low-mileage vehicles and the result is something huge. The origin of this project was born out of the Mashburn brothers work at the family dealership.

Mashburn Motors has traditionally looked for low-mileage vehicles to sell to the average consumer. Noah said the dealership sells between 20 and 30 per month.

The brothers would typically dig through various auto classifieds and websites looking for solid low-mileage vehicles, which is “always a pain in the (butt)”

Noah said his brother Dylan started in dealership first, buying cars for their father. Both Dylan and Noah always were interested in find low-mileage oddball stuff. “My dad’s really meticulous, he only likes really clean stuff,” Noah said. Noah said Dylan noticed there were a lot of sites created for niche cars, such as sites for cars with extremely high miles, for example. But the two sons were stuck on the idea of finding extreme low-mileage cars, which prompted the social media project, and soon, the website.

Mike Laskowski, who helps with the online project, said the pair wanted to a place for everyone to come and find just low-mileage vehicles, “which we all agree are the best ones.” Laskowski, who grew up in the city where Mashburn Motors was originally located, didn’t know the family, but bought a Dodge Viper that he learned had been previously owned by Dylan Mashburn. After getting to know each other, Laskowski said the brothers asked him, a retired financial advisor, to help them with the Facebook page and he got involved.

The original social media project– Low Miles No Miles – developed over two years ago, was mostly a place for enthusiasts to go to share stories about their low-mileage cars, now using both Facebook and Instagram. Noah said the “Low Miles No Miles” moniker was something that came to him quickly, since he and his brother always focused on those units.

“That’s what we buy and what we like to buy,” Mashburn said. “On our social media pages, we look at cars with no more than 1,500 miles per year and don’t allow anything (newer) than 2022.” While it was great just to hear about unique cars and the stories behind them, it also offered some opportunity to pick up vehicles for resale.

About 80% of those on the social media sites are sellers, Laskowski said. The platform has yielded some rare finds. “For us, we’ve bought a 2004 Mach 1 with 60 miles – stuff in the wrapper almost,” Noah said. “Sub-10,000- mile older stuff.

The dealership also recently sold a 1991 GMC Syclone with 2,400 miles on it. The dealership also had a 2017 ZO6 with 3,000 miles. Owners post from as far away as Poland, Laskowski said. “Every day is like a car show,” Laskowski said.Buying one of these rare vehicles at the right price to sell at a profit might seem like a challenge, but Mashburn said their rarity is a feature. “It’s something you might find where there’s not another one, so someone might be willing to pay whatever for it,” he said.

Through 175,000 members on Facebook and Instagram, the brothers have posted 50,000 cars over the first two years Laskowski said.

Noah never expected it to take off like it did. Mashburn said the free social media platform they had created brought in so many dealers and buyers/sellers; they wanted something separate for their own business. Working with Laskowski, they are developing a separate website – lowmilesnomiles.com – scheduled to go online in May 15. “The whole idea behind it is to create a marketplace of only low-mileage vehicles,” Laskowski said. “We’ve been developing the website for about four to five months.”

The upcoming website will limit listing cars to less than 1,800 miles per year, with nothing newer than 2023.

“We want to corner the low-mileage market,” Mashburn said.