Is there any good way to spot an odometer rollback car. I purchased one car on e-bay sight unseen and it turned out OK, but we need another and since some of these cars are a distance away, I won't be able to check them out until I get there. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Marty Wolfson

93 244 155K, 90 244 211K

The best one I've heard of, was when I was reading a report in the paper here about an investigation into mileage doctoring. They had one case they call "the moon and back car" because that's how many miles had been taken off it.
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Drive it like you hate it

I would agree that the best thing is not to pay a premium. Usually condition can be assessed regardless of miles indicated. Carfax may help, but they are not always true. I found this out when I ran one of my own cars(bought new)and they showed 'odometer discrepancy'. Only after threatening them with legal action,did they correct their mistake-and never did tell me where the info came from. As always, caveat emptor-let the buyer beware. Besides, I'd rather buy a car with miles that's been cared for than a low milage,neglected one.

It is too easy to roll the gears for the 240 odometer. For anyone who does odometer gear repairs it is a 30 min. project. Even an idiot who fraudulently sells "low mileage cars" could figure it out, eventually. Carfax and visual inspection are needed, but carfax alone is not always correct either. I can think of one local car on Ebay that had "no evidence of altered miles" or whatever term they use, but a persistent amatuer detective got on the case, called a dealer and determined there was fraud involved (service records). That was quite a story as she disrupted auction deals and dogged the seller until he returned the car to the wholesaler he bought it from.

Full service records are probably a good thing. No service records means that you'll have to do all possible services anyway, just like with a car with a dishonestly altered odometer.

Title searches like Carfax or Autocheck can detect some suspicious odometer history, but cars with fewer title events (e.g. few changes in ownership and no annual or biannual state inspections) are less likely to be detectable. Also, errors in VIN recording could result in title records for one car being scattered across more than one VIN.

Probably best to just not pay a premium for low mileage. In addition to the rollback risk, low mileage could also mean city driving, or lots of cold start short trips.

You better believe it, I think a better indication of wear, would be to suplement the odometer with a counter on the ignition switch to tell you how many times the car has been started up. That would be a better idication of engine wear, since most of it is in the first few minutes starting cold.
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Drive it like you hate it

Subscribe to Carfax for a short period of time and run the VIN of the cars you are interested in. May uncover other important info this way.

Good luck,

Dan