Car dealer unable to give true mileage on a repo?

[Jugernot]

Looking for a car with better gas mileage and came across a Subaru Forester in the paper for $7995, which is a bit below Edmunds estimates value.

I called the dealer and asked about mileage to which he replied "Well, this was a repo that we bought at a auto auction and we can't guarentee the mileage. It says 71k, but since the bank was in another state, they could lay their eyes on the odometer and sold it as a mileage unknown."

Does that make sense?

 

[MiataNC]

Generally once a car is registered as "true mileage unknown" it has to be sold that way, and a dealer has to disclose it.

It is a pretty common scenario for a car to get repo'd then auctioned and transfered to another state. It might also be a flood victim, or have any other number of undisclosed issues. In addition most people who let a car get repo'd know well in advance what is coming. Which means they abuse and neglect the car long before the bank takes it back.

An out of state repo'd car with "unknown mileage" should be priced well below average. Buyer beware.

 

[Pacfanweb]

Is it a digital speedo? If so, then unless it's been disconnected at some point, the mileage should be accurate. I wouldn't sweat it.

 

[alkemyst]

The thing with mileage is unless someone is certifying they didn't disconnect or replace the odometer, whatever is 'showing' is worthless.

That said a compression check and test drive/mechanical look over show tell you what you need. If it was an auction car this would be impossible.