I won't bury the lead: I need opinions on whether an odometer rollback should be a disqualifier for a 100-series purchase I'm considering.
Current situation: I recently purchased an '02 LX470 that was the best/cleanest I could find in my budget (<$20k). FL car until 2023. It's this car (though I wasn't the one who made the purchase on BaT, I'm the next owner down the line). Mechanically good except needs brakes & most bushings up front redone. It's had timing belt and new AHC globes done 3,000 miles ago so the really expensive stuff is sorted (knock on wood).
The potential deal: I really wanted a '06-'07 but they didn't exist where I am for the price/condition I wanted. I've now found an '06 LX470 ~5 hours from me that looks super clean outside, inside, and underneath (from the photos - haven't traveled to see the car in person yet). The only issue is that at the time the car transferred from the first owner to the 2nd owner in 2017 (private sale) the odometer unexplainably dropped by 21,000 miles. Current owner insists he bought the truck with 156,500 on it and says that because he was buying it from a wealthy individual who split time in CT/FL (I believe it - car has extensive service records in wealthy areas of both CT and FL) and the car was immaculate when viewed in person, he didn't question/check the vehicle history and only found out after.
The carfax is very clean except for that mileage discrepancy - every oil change is on there showing mileage progression in 3-5k increments from '06 up to 177,000mi '17, and then same thing again for the new owner showing steady service increments from 156,500mi in '17 to 169,500mi today. So computed "real" mileage is 190,000mi, no big deal for these cars.
What I can't get over is why the original owner might have rolled the odometer back 21,000mi before selling to the new owner, or why the new owner would do the same and lie about it to me. Most logical explanation I can think of is that there was some sort of service done to the car where a used part was installed that resulted in inheriting the mileage of the donor (ECU? other driveline components?) but I am not really comfortable spending the $16,500 he's asking until I pinpoint a good explanation.
On the other hand... since 2017 he's put 13,000 miles on the car with the service records to back it up, so if it was something sketchy he's certainly bought into the ruse for a long time. I just can't decide if this is a deal breaker on an otherwise really clean 100-series, or whether I just adjust my offering price for the grief factor of a car with a carfax blemish and bite the bullet. Oh and perhaps an important detail on the topic of grief factor: I would have to sell the '02 for $13-$15k to make this work - I don't have the cash to own both at once so there's a bit of a dance I'd have to do there.
Opinions please! (on both the purchase, and what might be the cause of the mileage discrepancy).
Current situation: I recently purchased an '02 LX470 that was the best/cleanest I could find in my budget (<$20k). FL car until 2023. It's this car (though I wasn't the one who made the purchase on BaT, I'm the next owner down the line). Mechanically good except needs brakes & most bushings up front redone. It's had timing belt and new AHC globes done 3,000 miles ago so the really expensive stuff is sorted (knock on wood).
The potential deal: I really wanted a '06-'07 but they didn't exist where I am for the price/condition I wanted. I've now found an '06 LX470 ~5 hours from me that looks super clean outside, inside, and underneath (from the photos - haven't traveled to see the car in person yet). The only issue is that at the time the car transferred from the first owner to the 2nd owner in 2017 (private sale) the odometer unexplainably dropped by 21,000 miles. Current owner insists he bought the truck with 156,500 on it and says that because he was buying it from a wealthy individual who split time in CT/FL (I believe it - car has extensive service records in wealthy areas of both CT and FL) and the car was immaculate when viewed in person, he didn't question/check the vehicle history and only found out after.
The carfax is very clean except for that mileage discrepancy - every oil change is on there showing mileage progression in 3-5k increments from '06 up to 177,000mi '17, and then same thing again for the new owner showing steady service increments from 156,500mi in '17 to 169,500mi today. So computed "real" mileage is 190,000mi, no big deal for these cars.
What I can't get over is why the original owner might have rolled the odometer back 21,000mi before selling to the new owner, or why the new owner would do the same and lie about it to me. Most logical explanation I can think of is that there was some sort of service done to the car where a used part was installed that resulted in inheriting the mileage of the donor (ECU? other driveline components?) but I am not really comfortable spending the $16,500 he's asking until I pinpoint a good explanation.
On the other hand... since 2017 he's put 13,000 miles on the car with the service records to back it up, so if it was something sketchy he's certainly bought into the ruse for a long time. I just can't decide if this is a deal breaker on an otherwise really clean 100-series, or whether I just adjust my offering price for the grief factor of a car with a carfax blemish and bite the bullet. Oh and perhaps an important detail on the topic of grief factor: I would have to sell the '02 for $13-$15k to make this work - I don't have the cash to own both at once so there's a bit of a dance I'd have to do there.
Opinions please! (on both the purchase, and what might be the cause of the mileage discrepancy).
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