Odometer Rollback Recourse?

[kerrbow]

Bought a 2003 Gmc 4wd quadrasteer off of CL that supposedly had 120k miles. Was listed in College Station and ended up doing the deal. Later had a Carfax run and report says 205k miles. I see that Texas law says up to 2 yrs in jail and a fine. Guy naturally refuses to answer his cell phone or messages like before deal was done. Thinking about calling CS PD and making a report. What do you guys think? Figure they could track him down with cell phone #.

[dgilbert]

You couldn't run a carfax before you bought it, especially with that kind of mileage? It would have been hard to believe that was the true miles and being on CL.

[kerrbow]

You couldn't run a carfax before you bought it, especially with that kind of mileage? It would have been hard to believe that was the true miles and being on CL.

Coulda Shoulda but didn't.

[PYBUCK]

PD has better things to do than trackdown a scammer. They will tell you what you don't want to hear, you should have done some research yourself. You are **** out of luck. Sorry

[Kingfisher789]

Is he a Texas dealer or just an individual?

[mooney_ag]

Probably not much recourse; however I believe car fax takes those numbers based on maintenance records and inspections which check mileage. On the title it even has a record for odometer and if it's true. You should report to dmv or they may flag you come inspection time. Never heard of it but at least starts you fresh.

Could easily happen by changing instrument cluster. The computer could likely read different and needs to be flashed to correct.

[kerrbow]

Is he a Texas dealer or just an individual?

Individual I am sure.

[RifleBowPistol]

There is something to consider, if there was something wrong with the original instrument cluster, which is common on those trucks. The cluster may have been changed out.

Years ago, when I worked in dealerships, if we changed out the cluster with a new one, we had to put a tag on the inside of the door opening, indicating at what mileage the old cluster was reading when replaced. That is the only time I have seen it done. Since then, I have had to replace many instrument clusters over the years and just replaced the cluster.

My point is the guy may not be trying to make the truck seem like it has fewer miles, may just needed to have the cluster replaced. I do run into some people who are worried about replacing the cluster with another one, with lower miles, fearing that if they sell the vehicle someone may catch that the mileage dropped since the last state inspection. Most people I know of, don't worry about it, the part needed to be replaced so it got replaced, and now the mileage is not correct. But others get highly paranoid about the whole deal.

It is possible that something illegal was done, but I would not be so quick to assume such. I would look for more evidence that it was done for the purpose of increasing the value or deceiving someone, before concluding that.

[kerrbow]

There is something to consider, if there was something wrong with the original instrument cluster, which is common on those trucks. The cluster may have been changed out.

Years ago, when I worked in dealerships, if we changed out the cluster with a new one, we had to put a tag on the inside of the door opening, indicating at what mileage the old cluster was reading when replaced. That is the only time I have seen it done. Since then, I have had to replace many instrument clusters over the years and just replaced the cluster.

My point is the guy may not be trying to make the truck seem like it has fewer miles, may just needed to have the cluster replaced. I do run into some people who are worried about replacing the cluster with another one, with lower miles, fearing that if they sell the vehicle someone may catch that the mileage dropped since the last state inspection. Most people I know of, don't worry about it, the part needed to be replaced so it got replaced, and now the mileage is not correct. But others get highly paranoid about the whole deal.

It is possible that something illegal was done, but I would not be so quick to assume such. I would look for more evidence that it was done for the purpose of increasing the value or deceiving someone, before concluding that.

Good to know, thanks.

[RifleBowPistol]

I had to replace the instrument cluster in my truck, probably five years ago, because the generation of Ford I have, has a common problem with the cluster. I finally found multiple companies on Ebay that claimed to be able to fix the problem I was having with my instrument cluster. I contacted one of them. When I called the guy, and told him all of the symptoms my cluster was having, he said, there was a slim chance he could repair it. But he told me to send it to him and he would try to repair it, he was not able to repair it. So, he sent it back and did not charge me anything.

So I went for two years with my cluster wigging out, and acting crazy. It first would only do it when it was very cold outside, but then it started doing when it was only mildly cold, then it did it all the time. All of the interior lights would flash, along with all of the gages flipping out and lights on the dash on. After two years, I found a cluster that was close, but not correct for my truck. Turns out it had very close to the same mileage I was sure my truck should have, if the cluster was working correctly. That was another thing, the odometer was not working, in the old cluster.

After replacing the cluster, I now have no interior lights, then a transmission temp gage that gives a false reading, because my truck does not have an auto transmission. Then the door ajar light and air bag lights stay on constantly.

I need to try and find the correct cluster for my truck, but turns out they are very hard to find. So, I have been dealing with stupid problems for years now.

I found a lot of Ebay companies that repair a lot of years of GM truck clusters for a long list of various problems. I only found a few that would fix the Ford clusters.

I am sure most people just go to a junk yard and buy a used cluster, most people probably have no idea of all of the Ebay companies that repair clusters.

[adam_p]

Car fax isnt always right either. When I went to sell my truck carfax said it had 150k on it on my last inspection. Truck had 53k on the odometer. Lazy inspection tech just threw a number into the computer. Luckily I had just had tires put on it a couple weeks before and had record of it only having 53k on it. Sent that receipt in to carfax and they fixed it in the system.

[Pedernal]

Is it a digital display cluster?? My 2002 GMC had an issue with a broken solder connection so the display would be off but the computer is what keeps the actual count and the display just displays it… once I fixed the display which was years after it went out it had tracked the mileage while the display was out

[Take Dead Aim]

How do you know it was him? Previous owner before him could have done something. You are wasting time trying to get something done now. Unfortunately you had a window prior to purchasing to run a check. It sucks at this point but I'm just not sure what you can get is worth the effort.

[kenner27]

I don’t think this is the case, if it was registered in his name then he had it inspected. They verify this info when inspections are done. The mileage would have been posted on the title from previous owner when purchased. If the mileage showed higher on title but was lower on truck it would have to have been him correct?

How do you know it was him? Previous owner before him could have done something. You are wasting time trying to get something done now. Unfortunately you had a window prior to purchasing to run a check. It sucks at this point but I'm just not sure what you can get is worth the effort.

[bow newby]

I am in the car business and this is fairly common among older vehicles. Probably just mileage entered wrong at inspection or at service. For this age of vehicle there will be no negative impact on its value