odometer readout

[irideburton]

I'm looking a getting a car but when I check it out on Carfax, it comes up as having an inconsistent odometer reading. I thought it was impossible to spin odometers back these days.

The car is a 1995 2 dr integra. The carfax entry is below -

Odometer reading reported
INCONSISTENT ODOMETER READING
Odometer reported as 171,999 kilometers

(odometer currently reads 189K)

Since carfax reports miles and kilometers, I was thinking that perhaps its a conversion error. The difference in kilometers is 189K to 300K+ so its worth knowing what is going on.

Thoughts?

Thanks.

[Eleanor]

did you think to ask carfax or the current owner about it?

[irideburton]

yes. saw the car last night, carfax'd it after that. thought i'd do some research before asking the owner today. i may be cynical, but i find it hard to believe that the seller would say 'oh yeah, i rolled back the odometer'.

[BlackFyre]

Maybe he replaced the cluster with one from a different car? Seems a lot more likely than "rolling back" the odometer.

[cyrusli]

yeah, most likely replaced the cluster if not the engine and the cluster together.

[bobby_lu]

Originally posted by BlackFyre
Maybe he replaced the cluster with one from a different car? Seems a lot more likely than "rolling back" the odometer.

Why give the guy the credit....if hes legit he would proper documentation

[arian_ma]

Originally posted by bobby_lu


Why give the guy the credit....if hes legit he would proper documentation
I get really confused when people say this. What is "proper documentation"? Like when you get your oil changed or something? I mean what if you change your own oil? If someone asked me to show them proper documentation for my car's mileage I'd stare at the blankly with a slightly scared look on my face until they got so uncomfortable that they'd say something else to break the tension.

[TYMSMNY]

Carfax reports the number last known (basically last service date). 17,000km isn't much.

[bobby_lu]

Originally posted by arian_ma

I get really confused when people say this. What is "proper documentation"? Like when you get your oil changed or something? I mean what if you change your own oil? If someone asked me to show them proper documentation for my car's mileage I'd stare at the blankly with a slightly scared look on my face until they got so uncomfortable that they'd say something else to break the tension.

I mean if there was a legit reason for the discrepancy, like an engine swap, or cluster swap then a record of km (what it showed VS. what it had etc). I wasnt really talking about simple oil changes or anything.

[arian_ma]

^^Gotcha

[adam c]

carfax is saying the odometer reading is 171k but the odometer in the car reads 189k... so you're saying he rolled it forward?

or maybe he just drove it 18k between having the last report done on the car and what you are seeing with your eyes..


hmmmmmmm??

[Supa Dexta]

Yeah I don't understand what he means either.. 189 to 300 k what???. You don't have to report it every year, so it could go 5 or 10 yr before they get an update, if you report it when new at 5kms, then 10 yrs later you report 200k kms, thats all you see. (change in owner ship, registered in another province.. etc is when millage usually gets reported, but doesn't have to here in alb)

[irideburton]

carfax has records of the mileage increasing up to 300K in 2004. then the next record of mileage is 177K in 2006. It now reads 189K. Obviously normal driving can put on mileage from the record to record as the mileage seems only to be reported with change of owners.

The inconsistent mileage is the drop from 300K to 177K.

hopefully that clearly explains the situation.

in any case, i decided not to buy the car. not only for the odometer questions (although the motor swap seems plausible).