Re: verifying miles (kinda long)

["STEVEN P. ADAMS" <adams1@webspan.net>]

Ignore this if it's a second time- I got an error message the first time
so don't know if it went out.
DF Wrote: 
> Date: Wed, 16 Apr 1997 09:11:58 -0400 (EDT)
> From: DFAUTOHAUS@aol.com
> Subject: Re: verifying miles
> 
> So
> 
> If some low life clocks a car or changes the speedo, he's not going to tell anyone is he? So how does carfax know this unless its done by the dealer and logged into the mgf's computer in which case the is some idea of the true miles? Even then there is now way of knowing for sure how far the car went with a broken odo/speedo. Hence even these cars should be sold tmu (true mileage unknown).
> Please let me know your thoughts
> 
> Thanks
> DF
Here are my thoughts through my experience.
Sometime back in 1991, I purchased my 1988 90Q from a "reputable"
Monmouth County, N.J. dealer.  Awesome car with about 16,000 miles
showing on the odometer.  It was believable as from the immaculate looks
of the car.  The killer was a hole worn into the driver's floor mat just
below the acceleration pedal.  When this was brought to the salesman's
attention, he didn't have an answer.  A trip to the manager and then to
the maintenance records showed the speedo had broken with approx. 30,000
miles on it.  Well, this changed things, with some talking we got a deal
we couldn't pass up.  Still being naive, when we took the title, a
mileage figure around 46,000 miles was listed.  Fine with us, but we
later found that it was not exactly the right thing to do.  Sometime in
1994, I went to trade it in on a new car.  When I was discussing the
mileage situation with the dealer, he stated that whenever a speedo
breaks like this, it should become a TMU car-you still never know how
long a person drives before having it fixed and retrospectively there
was a hole in the d*mn floor mat.  Of course that devalues the car, so I
didn't trade it in.
     Now in 1997, I couldn't be happier that I didn't trade it in.  It
is the best car I've ever owned by far and although I do more reading
than contributing, I've found there's a lot of great people on the list
willing to help each other.  I have 144,000 miles on the odometer and
add at least 30,000 miles to it-the Miles Are Truely Unknown.

Steve Adams
Long Beach Island, N.J.
Happy Audi Owner