TWD Pro owned 2 years. 3038 (I'm retired so lots of time to play!) no maintenance issues.

AC/DC Pro VE owned 3 months. 833 - quite a few little niggles with this: there's a spring on the playfield in front of the bell to divert the ball - it was fixed so wrong it was trapping the ball. I've so far had 4 loose connections on bulbs. Flasher lamps behind the thunder targets kept jumping out - needed a spot of super glue, one of the lamps has failed already. Line-in fuse blew (fortunately hasn't happened again). All small things with quick fixes. The playfield is dimpled but doesn't this happen to all playfileds? AC/DC is very bright with a high gloss finish so dimples are noticeable. No ghosting or real problems with the machine.

I can't see any problem buying a machine with 5 thousand plays or even 10 thousand. Provided it's held up I'd say it had passed the test of time.