I am as close to certain as I possibly can be that it was an innocent fat finger with absolutely no ill intent.
The question I'm asking boils down to, "Everything else being equal, pursue it or walk?"
A used Camaro listed at a dealer yesterday that looked potentially promising. The odometer issue came up during a couple emails last night. A photo they sent me last night to show me something I asked about also happened to show 26,793 miles on the odometer. Everything I'd seen to that point suggested 36k miles (website, ads, Carfax).
Again, I'm pretty sure the 36k was a typo, but assuming the mistake happened on the odometer declaration and/or title transfer and makes its way to everything else...how does that get fixed? Can it get fixed?
When I realized what was going on, this scenario played out in my head over the next second and a half:
- I buy the car in FL
- all the paperwork to sell/purchase/title show the higher mileage
- I bring the car for MD inspection
- inspection report includes odometer mileage (9k less than the paperwork)
- engine blows up on the way home
- tow to local Chevy dealer for warranty work
- Chevy says, "Ha ha!" in a Nelson voice, "Your odometer shows 9k miles less than when you bought it from a Chevy dealer last week. Nope! $20k for a new motor or have a nice day!"
- Get letter from MD MVA "your application for title was rejected for odometer fraud - you may reapply with 'odometer does not represent actual mileage' box checked"
- I say, "fuck this" and list car for sale
- Every buyer that visits asks me why the Carfax report flags the car for odometer fraud, listens to my story, says, "Uh-huh. let me think about" and I never hear from them again
- Carvana won't give me an offer because the mileage discrepancy
- Carmax and other dealers offer 50% of what they would otherwise...if they make offers at all
- I buy a cheap POS to drive every day and mod the fuck out of the car
Even if the mileage issue wasn't there, I knew I didn't want the car. No PDR, mileage over 18k, car sits 950 miles away, not a preferred color, and limo tint I'd need to remove. Any of those things are fine, maybe even a couple at the right price, but not all of them.
The odometer issue seemed like an interesting mental exercise, so I was interested in the thoughts of others here.
I also talked to a buddy this morning that worked at Carfax for a number of years managing dealer relationship to get his thoughts. Sounded like the dealer can fix the upfront part with Carfax pretty easily, but it would be a royal PITA for the consumer to do it.
The bigger question is which mileage figure was recorded on the forms sent to the state. The info we have suggests it's all incorrect, but that's not necessarily so. If all the info the state has/gets is correct, then that part will be fine and if the dealer fixes the initial incorrect entry with Carfax, that will be fine, too. There should not be any future issues.
If the wrong info went to the state, it gets a lot more complicated. The dealer may get the initial error fixed in Carfax, but since the state has the wrong info, that may work its way back into Carfax at a future date. That's in addition to potentially causing actual title issues, which, in turn, would also go into Carfax. Once that gets into Carfax, game over.
If it was the right car otherwise, would it be worth the chance it's fixable? Would it be worth it at a significant discount? If so, how much would it take?
Or is it just hard pass no matter what?
My buddy's implied recommendation was to run away unless the dealer can show that everything with both the state and Carfax are correct.