? about a car with an incorrect odometer

[badluck]

Say a car is worth $10,000, according to Kelly Blue Book. How much value would that car lose if on the title it is stated that the Odometer is INCORRECT? The mileage is consistent for a car that has only been drive 3 years (55,000 miles on odometer), but for some reason the title reads - incorrect odometer...

I am not considering buying a car like this, but just need this bit of information if anybody has a good answer for me. It's to help out a buddy of mine deal with some crap he is going through with a dealer.

 

[iamwiz82]

it coudl have been rolled back, or it could be something small like a change in tire size without changing the speedo gear(or computer)

 

[badluck]

Yeah, but what I need to know is how much will the vehicle depreciate as a result of this....... thanks

I know I might not get an exact answer, but has anybody gone through this b4??

 

[StageLeft]

Could be the odometer/speedometer just don't work at all either.

How much could it lose? Well if it's worth $10k with 55k miles what's the most it could reasonably have? 100k miles probably so plug that in and that's what it's worth - or less since at least then you'd know and in this case the car will never have a correct reading so that will affect its value.

 

[GasX]

In my mind this car loses ALL value. I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole. Broken odometers are an indiction of someone trying to get away with something. that could be a transimission about to fail or just the extra 100,000 miles put on the car after the odometer broke.

The only things that should make you walk away faster than "Broken Odometer" are "Theft Recovery" and "Salvage Title"

 

[Wingznut]

Most likely the reason for the "incorrect odometer" reading, is because it was replaced and not correctly set up (maybe a junkyard unit?).

So, check into why it was replaced... Could've been because of a major wreck.

But pretty much they only way you are going to know it's value, is to do what Skoorb suggested.

 

[badluck]

Well, here is the deal.....this car had one previous owner, a 60yr. old lady.

This owner sold it to a dealership....and swears she never signed anything saying the odometer is incorrect. My friend buys it and gets the title in the mail....as a surprise to him, the title states the odometer IS incorrect. (he was never told this by the dealer).

He contacts the old owner (the 60yr old lady) and she says the dealer must have changed the form, and penciled in the part about the Odometer being incorrect. It looks like the car dealership did this on purpose to de-value the car. He got a good deal on it and thinks the dealer purposely did this to make the car less valuable since he got a great price on it.

That's why I needed to know how much value the car will lose as a result of their lie.


Thanks for your help guys!!

 

[dman]

It it really TMU or just the visable odometer is off? If the odometer was replaced and not set correctly, then there might be a reading on the door for when it was changed and what the old value was--then you just have to do the math.

Some vehicles have a second odometer, one you can "see" and one that is only accessable via a computer. It's possible to fudge either one (illegal as well) but they might be able to get a more accurate reading from the computer to find the true mileage such that it's NOT unknown--just incorrectly displayed.

Also, sort of interesting:

My dad had a 87 Mark VII that the alternator was going on, sitting at idol it made the car think it was going 70MPH, so at stoplights and such the car would be racking up the miles. Of course, the car was older at that point and he wasn't selling it, but, it is possible the miles are HIGHER than normal too. Not that that is the situation here.

 

[GasX]

The dealer disconnected the odometer to make the car less valuable...


rrrrrrriiiiiiggghhttttttt.........

 

[Thegonagle]

The dealership has absolutely no motivation to de-value a car in such a way.

I think someone has made a mistake, either at the dealership, or at the state DMV office. Tell your friend to bring the title in to the finance manager (the final guy he signed the papers with) and see what can be done to get the title corrected.

 

[badluck]

The dealer disconnected the odometer to make the car less valuable...

You should try reading before you comment.

I never said the odometer was disconnected. It still works fine. The title was marked "incorrect odometer" in 2 separate places. I would think that a 60yr old lady and her 55 yr. old husband would know how to read and not check that if it was not true. It's in huge, bold letters.....

A couple more thoughts for you:

If the previous owners did did check this off on the title, the dealer would have been aware of it right? Why didn't they tell my friend? The dealer never advertised the car as such. (internet, newspaper, or on the car).....Also, they gave the old owners full blue book price on the car as a trade-in on a brand new car. I'm not sure what's happening, but something is wrong.

 

[Jzero]

Originally posted by: badluck

The dealer disconnected the odometer to make the car less valuable...

You should try reading before you comment.

I think his comment was that it doesn't make any sense. Why would the dealer want to de-value the car? If anything, they would want to artificially inflate the value of it (by rolling back the odo, for instance) so that you are willing to pay more for it than it's worth.

 

[GasX]

I did read you post...

He got a good deal on it and thinks the dealer purposely did this to make the car less valuable since he got a great price on it.

It's an absurd thought even if it is your friend's and not yours

 

[badluck]

It's an absurd thought even if it is your friend's and not yours

You could be right....but somebody signed that form. I would think the owner would be aware that they were signing that because it would de-value their car (which leads me to my original question). What dealer gives full Kelly Blue Book on a car that might have wrong mileage....

I dunno

 

[Thegonagle]

Whatever the hell happened, my simple advice still stands: Take the title back to the dealer (he should call first and talk to the dude he signed out with, professional courtesy to make an appointment) and see what can be done to fix the problem.

 

[J3anyus]

Originally posted by: Mwilding
In my mind this car loses ALL value. I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole. Broken odometers are an indiction of someone trying to get away with something.

Exactly.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

I had a '91 Grand Prix that had an odometer that stopped being accurate around 203,000 miles. When I sold it a couple years later I simply said "It's got about a quarter million miles on it" and checked the box labeled "broken odometer". I think anyone that wants a car that's over 200k miles and only 10 years old wouldn't be worried about the odometer at that point. (they didn't seem to be worried). There was no fraud involved, something just stopped working right (probably a broken or pinched wire) and I didn't feel like it was important enough to bother with given the milage.

 

[Salvador]

It looks like a clerical error. Why doesn't your friend go back to the dealer and talk to the guy that sent in the title to the state? At least you'll find out if it was an error on the part of the dealer or the state.

It's hard to tell how much a car would depreciate if the title says that the odometer is incorrect. I think it would be one of those sticking points though if you ever wanted to resell the car.

Sal

 

[vi edit]

I've been in this situation as well. I bought a with a replaced odometer. The odometer was replaced by the service department of the dealership and according to the sales guy, the car had 10,000 miles more than what the odometer listed.

I took his word on it, as well as the service department, and later ran into a snafu trying to sell the car. Basically, nobody wanted to touch the thing. I was getting offers of $3,000-$5,000 less than what I *SHOULD* have gotten for the car, simply because they didn't like the fact that incorrect odometer setting showed up on the title.

I did some further investigations work on the car, and it's service history, and found out that the 10k miles was just a number that the dealership pulled out of thin air. Somebody had just penciled in 10,000 miles on a service paper and that's what they assumed the difference was. It could have been 10,000 miles. It could have been 50,000 miles. I'll never no.

Car is long behind me, and I'll never put myself in that situation again.

So, to make a long story short, it WILL affect his ability to resell the car.