Trust CarFax 100%? Possible odometer rollback

[AndyP]

In a process of buying an used car, I checked out the car several times, it runs smooth and engine sounds good. Got the engine checked by a mechanic briefly, and mechanic says engine seems to be in a solid condition.

However, I check carfax record and it suggests a possible odometer rollback. Record shows that the kilometer has dropped from 300,000KM to 100,000KM right before a previous transfer of ownership was made.

The car has an original engine, and operates well. Digital odometer shows 139,000 KM as of right now.. which seems to be a normal rate considering everything. Mechanic said car is in a good condition.

Am I to trust Carfax's record 100%, or do I take it with a grain of salt if a random mechanic gives an OK after running a variety of test? Thanks.. very confused.

[bwana devil]

i assume the price of the car is set to reflect a car w/ 140,000km.

you couldnt say you trust car fax say 80%, so there should be an 80% reduction in the consideration between the mileage of a 340k and 140k car.

it's an all or nothing deal on price and i would be willing to bet, car fax is more likely than not right in most instances. i would pass w/out much consideration.

[bobman0330]

I don't know what kilometers are, but if they're anything like miles, I wouldn't buy the car. Carfax might be wrong, but your mechanic might be wrong too. If someone went to the trouble of rolling back the odometer, they might have changed a few things cosmetically to make the engine appear newer to a quick inspection.

If you really think the car is for you, use the carfax report to haggle down the price.

Also, did you talk to your mechanic about what carfax said? He might be the best person to tell you if a rollback is a possibility.

[AndyP]

I really, really liked the car but now I have doubts.. 300,000 km+ is a scary number. I told mechanic about it, and he kinda shrugged and said he didn't know much about carfax thing, but to him the engine looks/sounded/felt like 140,000km car. That's how I felt too. I was buying it 100%, now I have doubts. He also said it's very easy to roll back odometer and there's not much you can do about it really.

I'll most likely haggle down the price and drive it to death for 3 yrs or so. What new price should I give him? We agreed on $10K at 140,000KM. Let's say car is worth $5K if it has 300,000km, what would be the right number? Also, will Toyota's engine last if it really has 300,000km?

[bwana devil]

[ QUOTE ]
I really, really liked the car but now I have doubts.. 300,000 km+ is a scary number. I told mechanic about it, and he kinda shrugged and said he didn't know much about carfax thing, but to him the engine looks/sounded/felt like 140,000km car. That's how I felt too. I was buying it 100%, now I have doubts. He also said it's very easy to roll back odometer and there's not much you can do about it really.

I'll most likely haggle down the price and drive it to death for 3 yrs or so. What new price should I give him? We agreed on $10K at 140,000KM. Let's say car is worth $5K if it has 300,000km, what would be the right number? Also, will Toyota's engine last if it really has 300,000km?

[/ QUOTE ]

if youre disregarding the carfax report why did you bother to even buy the report? this is a redflag waving in your face and youre disregarding it. a mechanic can check out a car for ten minutes and say it looks ok but what can he really tell about the car?

im not knocking any mechanics im just saying the car fax report is just one more piece in the puzzle before you buy a car and youre completely disregarding it. you usually dont have a lot to go on before you buy a used car and this would be a BIG deterrent for me.

edit again - it got rolled back at 300,000 and then another 40,000 km were added to it. (that's 211,000 potential miles on it.) i would not offer a dime for this car w/out getting it checkout MUCH more thoroughly (i actually probably wouldnt buy it at all).

[AndyP]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I really, really liked the car but now I have doubts.. 300,000 km+ is a scary number. I told mechanic about it, and he kinda shrugged and said he didn't know much about carfax thing, but to him the engine looks/sounded/felt like 140,000km car. That's how I felt too. I was buying it 100%, now I have doubts. He also said it's very easy to roll back odometer and there's not much you can do about it really.

I'll most likely haggle down the price and drive it to death for 3 yrs or so. What new price should I give him? We agreed on $10K at 140,000KM. Let's say car is worth $5K if it has 300,000km, what would be the right number? Also, will Toyota's engine last if it really has 300,000km?

[/ QUOTE ]

if youre disregarding the carfax report why did you bother to even buy the report? this is a redflag waving in your face and youre disregarding it. a mechanic can check out a car for ten minutes and say it looks ok but what can he really tell about the car?

im not knocking any mechanics im just saying the car fax report is just one more piece in the puzzle before you buy a car and youre completely disregarding it. you usually dont have a lot to go on before you buy a used car and this would be a BIG deterrent for me.

[/ QUOTE ]
I'm not disregarding it competely.. I'm taking carfax info into the consideration and adjusting the price according to it. It might be a false record, or the odometer could've been played with.. I can't tell. Jesus, I'm lost [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[AndyP]

Yes, the price was where I was getting at. I could gamble and and try to buy the car at that range, or could look elsewhere. Thanks though.. just needed a random person's thoughts.

[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

[jzpiano]

Here is my take on carfax. My dad got into 2 accidents with his car, both were reported and 3k+ worth of damage was done on both cars. Both times he repaired the damage. A year after the last accident I bought his car off of him and he bought a new car, he used carfax on the car he was buying. Because he had subscribed for the month he then ran a carfax on his car (my current car), it reported no accidents. Take that for what you want, but I don't find carfax reliable anymore because of that.

[NT!]

lol dude it's a toyota, it will run longer than you do pretty much no matter what.