Trust CarFax 100%? Possible odometer rollback

[illmatic]

I wouldn't worry about it, and I'll tell you why.

First, it's hard to roll back a digital odometer, and a general run of the mill person seling a car is not going to do this.

The reason carfax is putting up this alert is because every time a car is registered or title is changed, you have to report the mileage. A lot of times, the person is sitting in the dmv and doesn't know the mileage so they guess, or they put it down wrong, or it gets mistranscribed or something and then maybe it's too high.

Later when something else gets done to the car, the mileage gets put down correctly and it looks like it was rolled back to carfax.

That's what happened, I wouldn't worry about it. I have bought and sold a few cars in my day so I know about this.

If you like the car and the mechanic says it runs good I would not let this alert stop you from buying it.

I would certainly address this issue though with the guy selling the car and see what kind of story he gives. If he seems straightforward I would still use this question mark to get a discount on the car but realize it's still probably accurate mileage on the odometer.

Carfax is kind of a scam in general, but it is good to let you know basically for one thing, which is whether the car has ever been in a major accident or flood-damaged where it could have frame damage that is being hidden with cosmetic repairs. That's basically all it is good for.

later,
illmatic