i saw a 99 outback wagon today.

for sale on a used car lot.

looked like it was in good shape so i stopped to look.

5 speed, no leaks, cranked right up, no dents, no rust, all options.

did not have time to drive today.

nice car.

dealer says odometer was just replaced.

it says 000173.

title says TMU.

dealer says $5200

i say whats your cash price.

dealer says $4700

thats when i take notice.

if i show him the money he would probably go to $4500.

comments???True mileage unknown?

please.

Does the dealer have repair receipts for the car? That will give a pretty good history of mileages over time. You can then gauge approximately where it is now. OTOH, if he has no repair/maintenance records then run, don't walk.

 

JM$0.02

 

EDIT: Also, as an American of French ancestry "odometer replaced" sounds Vichy to me...

Yeah--why was the odometer "replaced". (I assume it isn't digital.) Still, unless the car was a one owner, the title from a previous sale would list the mileage. Ask to look at the title anyway as, depending on your state I think, when a person transfers the title they are supposed to list actual mileage on the vehicle and what the odometer reads if there is a difference. (Selling a car and transfering the title with fewer miles than the previous title is supposed to get a person in big trouble.) I did replace the odometer on my El Camino years ago because I was bored with the instrument cluster and wanted to swap in some gauges from an older Monte Carlo. It was a pain getting the odometer reset to match the mileage actually on my car, so I understand why people don't do that.

 

Did the dealer replace the odometer? If so, why and what was the reading on the old one? Was the car wrecked? Occasionally, a good smack into a tree or another car will jam an odometer. Get your hands on the car's title and see what the story is on that paper.

 

If it was a one owner car, trace the previous owner and give him/her a call.

Every time the vehicle was serviced at a Subaru dealer, the mileage was entered in their computer and can probably be accessed by your local dealer. Likewise, every state transaction is in a database somewhere in most states, A carfax on the vin number will probably catch at least some points in the car's history even from out of state. If you can't find an approximation of the actual mileage, you will have to assume it's overdue for all scheduled maintenance just to be safe. Mostly timing belt, which would be normally 105,000 miles. On the plus side, they are great cars and it sounds like a good deal.

Carfax might also give you a decent idea based on rate of miles accumulated in the past and time since the last recorded mileage.

Second on the CarFax-also has a buyback guarentee if they say is good and some major problem comes up-but check all sources for info-door stickers of oil changes, look in glovebox/owners manual for reciepts, etc.

i have heard, but have not confirmed, that a dealer can get a mileage code out of the obd2 computer. maybe so, maybe not, maybe just a rumor.