Altering The Mileage

Happy Am I

New Member
Jurisdiction
Illinois
Two years ago I purchased a used vehicle from a dealership with 22,178 miles on it. I recently went to trade the vehicle in for a newer vehicle at a different dealership as the dealership that I bought the vehicle from has since gone out of business. When the carfax was pulled, something I neglected to request from the original dealership, I was told the actual mileage of the vehicle when I bought it was 155,746. Understandably the dealership refused to take my vehicle as trade because the millage had been altered. The title I received when I bought the vehicle and all paperwork associated with the sale stated that the vehicle had 22,178 miles. I have tried multiple times through email and phone to get into contact with the owner of the dealership that I bought the vehicle from but I have received no response from him. I am not even sure that the phone number I have is still his; there is no recorded message and the mailbox is full. I have also reached out to the DMV, the local police department, and the department of justice but I have received very little help from those departments.

If anyone on here could give me any advice as to the steps I could take to resolve this issue I would appreciate it very much. I am beginning to think that there is very little that I can do about this.
 
I am beginning to think that there is very little that I can do about this.


Your spidy senses appear to be working well.

If you think you've been the victim of odometer fraud, you must contact your local law enforcement agency. For large scale investigations, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Office of Odometer Fraud Investigation can provide assistance. You may help an investigation by reporting a suspicious VIN to the NHTSA Office of Odometer Fraud Investigation at (202) 366-4761.

The NHTSA Office of Odometer Fraud Investigation may help you with general inquiries about odometers and may be able to help you to determine if other legal or law enforcement authorities need to be contacted. Contacting your state motor vehicle department can also help you as each state law, on handling odometer fraud, will vary.


Odometer Fraud | DMV.ORG
 
Please remember that CarFax is a private company that simply compiles information that is given to them. If they are given incorrect information, then the information they provide will be incorrect.

In other words, CarFax may be wrong.
 
In other words, CarFax may be wrong.

Yes, they can be and they aren't easy to correct an error. My 2006 Corvette with ~70K miles recently had new tires installed. The shop that did it along with the normal maintenance reported ~90k miles to Carfax. Even working with the management of the shop to correct it has taken months to correct several.
 
Yes, they can be and they aren't easy to correct an error. My 2006 Corvette with ~70K miles recently had new tires installed. The shop that did it along with the normal maintenance reported ~90k miles to Carfax. Even working with the management of the shop to correct it has taken months to correct several.

When you bought the tires did your invoice show 90,000 miles? If yes, you could have had that fixed right then.

I had a similar issue with an emissions testing station several years ago. My 9 year old truck had only 50,000 miles on it. I make it a habit to check the paperwork before I drive out and the mileage was shown as 150,000. I had the record corrected right then and avoided any potential Carfax error that would have cost me thousands when I sold the truck a few years later with only 58,000 miles on it.
 
The odometer said 22,178. It's a 2017 and bought it in 2019.
Do you have a copy of the Carfax report? If not, then get one. You will likely be able to see if there was a steady progression or a sudden leap.
 
When you bought the tires did your invoice show 90,000 miles? If yes, you could have had that fixed right then.

I had a similar issue with an emissions testing station several years ago. My 9 year old truck had only 50,000 miles on it. I make it a habit to check the paperwork before I drive out and the mileage was shown as 150,000. I had the record corrected right then and avoided any potential Carfax error that would have cost me thousands when I sold the truck a few years later with only 58,000 miles on it.

It did but I had no reason to look at it. I didn't even think about it until a little over a month later when I got my quarterly Carfax report.
 
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