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I'm looking at a vehicle that has a last recorded mileage in 2012 of 56K. Car had regularly increasing mileage reports at service intervals up to that point. After 2012 there are recorded service events and state inspections, but no mileage on the Carfax. What's even stranger is that the selling dealer is now saying the cluster is not working and they are in the process of changing it out. They further say the speedo reads 156K. It's all very weird and is generating concern on my part that there may be something shady going on.
I can't go to the dealer right now as I am not close by at present, but I plan to visit this weekend.
I'd like to get thoughts on why there would be no recorded mileage from 2012. Perhaps the instrument cluster was completely dead during inspection? Oregon only care about emissions, that's all the inspection covers.
Further I understand that cluster changes that materially impact the displayed mileage should be recorded by a sticker on the door frame. No such sticker exists apparently.
Of course it's possible that the car sat around for 5 years, but that wouldn't explain the lack of recorded mileage at inspections.
Firsthand experience with why you shouldn't trust Carfax.
I was attempting to sell a vehicle I've owned since 2003. A buyer pulled the carfax and asked me why it showed a different "story" of the vehicle than I was reporting. It showed the vehicle being sold several times since 2003. In fact, each time I registered the vehicle in a new state, it recorded as a "sale". At none of those instances was the mileage reported.
Thankfully I keep detailed records (er, might be borderline hoarding) and was able to show registrations every year back to the very first. But the point I'm trying to make is that Carfax is only as good as the information that's put into the system. And the DMV/inspection workers usually don't care... there May also be a glitch between how the records are imported into the Carfax database.
Bottom line, use it as a very small piece of the toolbox by which you judge a vehicle. I'd place a lot more faith in a Pre-Purchase Inspection than Carfax.
Firsthand experience with why you shouldn't trust Carfax.
I was attempting to sell a vehicle I've owned since 2003. A buyer pulled the carfax and asked me why it showed a different "story" of the vehicle than I was reporting. It showed the vehicle being sold several times since 2003. In fact, each time I registered the vehicle in a new state, it recorded as a "sale". At none of those instances was the mileage reported.
I can second that. Carfax can be inaccurate and misleading.
I bought a car in 1997 that I still own. I've taken the plates off and reregistered it a few times over the years as it sat, and got driven. Each time this happened, it was recorded as a sale. So while I'm technically the 2nd owner of the car, carfax will report it as 5-6 owners. Lovely. At least this one I can prove out as I hold a 1997 dated title in hand.
I also have a mileage discrepancy because during one of my inspections, the shop owner just rounded the mileage, up, to a round number. This number just happened to be bigger than the amount of miles I put on my car each year. I didn't catch this in time. I know this one technically isn't Carfax's fault.
I'm looking at a vehicle that has a last recorded mileage in 2012 of 56K. Car had regularly increasing mileage reports at service intervals up to that point. After 2012 there are recorded service events and state inspections, but no mileage on the Carfax. What's even stranger is that the selling dealer is now saying the cluster is not working and they are in the process of changing it out. They further say the speedo reads 156K. It's all very weird and is generating concern on my part that there may be something shady going on.
I can't go to the dealer right now as I am not close by at present, but I plan to visit this weekend.
I'd like to get thoughts on why there would be no recorded mileage from 2012. Perhaps the instrument cluster was completely dead during inspection? Oregon only care about emissions, that's all the inspection covers.
Perhaps if the vehicle was registered in another state during that interval, another state that has no yearly inspections? Some say Carfax reports registrations in another state, but maybe that's in some states but not others.
The registration renewals and inspections all show Oregon so I don't believe the car was elsewhere. I'm going to pass on the car as the dealer is waay to shady. I got a call from one of their sales guys, who said, "I was asked to call you by the boss, but I know nothing about the car and it is in a different location with the dash in pieces.". Wow!
The registration renewals and inspections all show Oregon so I don't believe the car was elsewhere. I'm going to pass on the car as the dealer is waay to shady. I got a call from one of their sales guys, who said, "I was asked to call you by the boss, but I know nothing about the car and it is in a different location with the dash in pieces.". Wow!
What's the big deal about a car with 156k miles needing a dash repair? You didn't mention brand, but GM cars have been known to have issues with stepper-motors in the cluster to the extent that there are guys on eBay offering a repair service & Amazon has the parts in stock. At 150,000+ miles, you shouldn't be spending big money for the car anyway. The dash & cluster pop out in a few minutes on most cars- sometimes without even using tools, so it's not like this is a major repair. I'd be a lot more concerned about collision damage.
What's the big deal about a car with 156k miles needing a dash repair? You didn't mention brand, but GM cars have been known to have issues with stepper-motors in the cluster to the extent that there are guys on eBay offering a repair service & Amazon has the parts in stock. At 150,000+ miles, you shouldn't be spending big money for the car anyway. The dash & cluster pop out in a few minutes on most cars- sometimes without even using tools, so it's not like this is a major repair. I'd be a lot more concerned about collision damage.
It was more the intermediate blank period for the last 5 years, where the car did at least another 100k over the last reported mileage, and now there is 'somthing wrong' with the speedo cluster. Anyways not to worry, I have discounted that car from my shortlist.
i've heard that many of the later model vehicles record mileage in other components so that even if the speedo is not working, there is still another indicator of mileage.
This coming from a fellow who sought out the best russian car hacker in Brooklyn NY to roll back the miles in his infiniti because they had to ensure that there were 3 hacks to perform instead of just the speedo. The motivation being so he wouldn't have to pay overage miles on his lease.
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At least this one I can prove out as I hold a 1997 dated title in hand. 
