Odometer between Carfax and real life different?

Shadowfire

We're looking at trading in our car toward a new one. Our car has 112,000 miles on it right now, but the dealer pulled the Carfax report on it, and that report says when it was sold to the previous dealer it had over 100k miles already. When we purchased there was around 60k miles on it.

So.. am I looking at a mistaken Carfax report? Did the dealer roll back the odometer? How do I handle this?

Skull2185

I think your only hope is to have some sort of original documentation from when you purchased the car that has the mileage on it. Or maybe dated oil change invoices with the mileage on them, but if you're like me, you don't save those... Or if you're not like me, you change your own oil.

Shadowfire

Alright, I have the Carfax report in front of me now, so I'm going to expand a bit on what I'm seeing. In December 2007, there was an oil change done at 8k miles. I'll list the rest out here:

• December 2008 - 107,452 - Two tires mounted and balanced, emissions check
• February 2009 - 108,358 - Steering/suspension check
• October 2009 - 115,705 - Transmission cooler line replaced, fluid leak checked.
• January 2010 - 117,120 - Service, emissions check
• February 2011 - 133,511 - Emissions
• March 2011 - 134,931 - Rear struts and cartridges replaced, steering/suspension check
• September 2011 - 140,473 - Power steering pump and pulley replaced
• October 2011 - 141,201 - Sway bar bushings replaced
• May 2012 - 145,326 - Emissions
• May 2012 - 51,000 - NH Inspection, Grafton County - MILEAGE INCONSISTENCY

We purchased the car with 51,265 miles on the odometer. It's weird to me that there would be 100k miles in the first year, but that is not unheard of with someone driving a lot. The person who previously owned the vehicle was a medical professional of some kind, and my inlaws could put 100k miles on a car in a year as visiting nurses. Also, if the mileage was just being misreported and the 51k that we bought it with was accurate, those repairs up above are kind of unusual for a low mileage car. Transmission lines, struts, and power steering pump before 50k is doubtful.

The place where all of those mileage entries with high miles were entered is the same place we bring our vehicle, so I'm planning on visiting them and seeing if they can provide any insight. What else should we do? The car's value (what there was) is completely ruined by this information, of course, but should we be going to carfax? Our dealer? Does that all depend on what the mechanic tells us?

Daenris

http://www.carfax.com/blog/rolled-back-odometer/
They have links to the individual state contacts there. I would call up the appropriate office and ask them what needs to be done.
And here: http://www.carfax.com/blog/odometer-fraud/ they suggest contacting a lawyer. If you bought it at a dealer, you'd presumably be talking to them (after getting a lawyer), and I assume it would be up to them to chase down the person who traded in the car but IANAL, so who knows.

mRahmani

I've seen high mileage before, but 100k miles in a year is insane. That car would have to have traveled nearly 300 miles a day, every day. I'm inclined to think the 8k reported mileage in Dec 07 was a typo of some sort (80k miles, maybe?). What year/type of vehicle is it?

Unfortunately, with so many other entries consistently showing 100k miles and climbing, it's almost certain that the vehicle's miles were rolled back. If you got a Carfax report before purchasing the vehicle, and it didn't include this information, you might have a case with them. If not, I think your only option would be to speak with an attorney about the possibility of recovering damages from whoever sold you the car.

Shadowfire

It's a 2007 Saab. The carfax report lists when it was imported and sold, which wasn't that much earlier than that first service.

And yeah, I was thinking the same about those consistent reports.

Djeet

Did you buy private party or from a dealer? That odometer was rolled back, and the only way I see you recouping anything is if you go trade it in to the dealer that F'd you the 1st time. It will likely be an unpleasant experience.

mRahmani

Steve Lehto at Jalopnik has written a number of great articles about various legal aspects of auto ownership, and has a pretty good one on fraudulent odometers. The Federal statute of limitations is 2 years, but the state level rulings vary. I would definitely talk to an attorney and see what legal options you can chase.

bowen

It almost looks like there's an extraneous 1xx,xxx value to those numbers.

If you look it kind of grows sequentially until right before the 50k it's in the 45ks. But yeah there's no way that car is having that much work done to it sub 50k. Someone ripped you off. Or the VIN is wrong.

tinwhiskers

The Vin number on the report matches the car by type right? It is an 07 Saab vin?

Does the Vin match out for the rest of the car. IDK what the location for all of them are on a Saab, but I would check those.

Make sure its not something simple like someone replacing a dinged door or what not.

bowen

There should be one on the engine for Saabs. I think it's a real possibility that you or they didn't have the right VIN.

Shadowfire

Alright so, we've done more research and found the problem. That maintenance was for our old car. The timetable matches up, the mileage looks about right... It looks like our mechanic was reporting both cars together. If I look even earlier, I can see an emissions check before the Saab was imported, which lol no.

So now I'm 99% certain that there was no roll back, just a clerical error. I guess I'm going to contact carfax directly and see what needs to be done to correct the issue.