BStowers023 Posted June 11, 2012 Report Share Posted June 11, 2012 Well as some of you know I am selling my car, I had a trade offer a few days ago for a 2001 Mercedes S500 with a Lorinser package. Well I looked up the value of the car and all that and seemed like a solid trade for myself. I went and looked at the car and it was clean, no body damage, paint was good so I figured this guy was legit. Well the owner said the car had 85k and the odomoter read the same. So I was ready to make the deal since he seemed honest and up front about everything. Well like any normal person I wrote the VIN down and did a carfax, and well the carfax was showing the car had last registered 194k at a service shop in November of last year. Also the car had been in an accident in May of 2010 which he said it has never been in an accident. I called him out on it and he denied knowing any of this and said it's not true. My sister then told me her fiance said they can't roll back mileage on a Mercedes, I was curious as to if this was true? Any useful info would be greatly appreciated. Here's a pic of said Mercedes. http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/tt325/BStowers023/MercedesS500.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rustlestiltskin Posted June 11, 2012 Report Share Posted June 11, 2012 what website did this guy find your car on? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BStowers023 Posted June 11, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 11, 2012 Craigslist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyM3rC Posted June 11, 2012 Report Share Posted June 11, 2012 Where did you check the VIN? More than one place? Carfax has been wrong before, but it seems like cause for suspicion at the least. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CRed05 Posted June 11, 2012 Report Share Posted June 11, 2012 I know you can't roll back the mileage on an Audi either, but it's real easy to swap out gauge clusters that have less miles on them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buelliganx1 Posted June 11, 2012 Report Share Posted June 11, 2012 Yeah they may not be able to roll the miles back but they can probably just replace the gauge cluster. How long does this guy say he has owned it? Is it possible that he is legit but got duped himself and doesnt know any better? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cordell Posted June 11, 2012 Report Share Posted June 11, 2012 I don't know about Mercedes in particular, but if the module that stores the mileage (not always the cluster) is swapped out there will be a descrepency unless done at the dealer with a new part. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gbracing81 Posted June 11, 2012 Report Share Posted June 11, 2012 For your sake I hope Carfax is wrong. The cars looks sweet. Good luck sir. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BStowers023 Posted June 11, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 11, 2012 Yeah they may not be able to roll the miles back but they can probably just replace the gauge cluster. How long does this guy say he has owned it? Is it possible that he is legit but got duped himself and doesnt know any better? He said he's owned it for just under 2 years but said the title was registered in March so roughly 3 months ago, and I called him out on that and said he had is registered in his girlfriends name? I also saw where a broker had owned it about 2 years ago which I'm guessing he bought it from him if he's really had the car that long. He said he bought it from one of his best friends though, unless he's just a straight up liar about everything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BStowers023 Posted June 11, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 11, 2012 I don't know about Mercedes in particular, but if the module that stores the mileage (not always the cluster) is swapped out there will be a descrepency unless done at the dealer with a new part. There was two mileage notes of Mileage inconsistency's the last one being in March when he registered the vehicle. Can any dealer swap the module that stores the mileage or just a Mercedes dealer? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark1647545493 Posted June 11, 2012 Report Share Posted June 11, 2012 Carfax has been wrong before Glad I'm not the only person that realizes this.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark1647545493 Posted June 11, 2012 Report Share Posted June 11, 2012 look up the vin here https://ext.dps.state.oh.us/BMVOnlineServices.Public/TitleSearch.aspx It will tell you the Ohio history of the cars registration with miles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thorne Posted June 11, 2012 Report Share Posted June 11, 2012 I know that one of the websites I frequest has software that claims it can roll back MB/BMW I've never dled the software as I've never had a need for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iwashmycar Posted June 11, 2012 Report Share Posted June 11, 2012 Try other websites as posted above. I would think you could tell a car with 85K and with 195K... interior would usually tell. Maybe you have the vin wrong? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BStowers023 Posted June 11, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 11, 2012 look up the vin here https://ext.dps.state.oh.us/BMVOnlineServices.Public/TitleSearch.aspx It will tell you the Ohio history of the cars registration with miles. Cool thanks, I just did that and it's showing 85k but also says "non-actual" and under the vehicle history it's saying it was registered with 188k miles in march. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1fast5gp Posted June 11, 2012 Report Share Posted June 11, 2012 Sounds shady as hell, I would stay far far away. He probably swapped out the module or reprogrammed it himself and trying to sell it/trade it as such a low mileage car. He also could have gotten ripped off and now just trying to pass it off to someone else. That trade has red flags all over it. Since a broker owned it about 2 years ago and it was in an accident about 2 years ago, that ususally mean that the car was bought at an auction after the accident. Who knows what they are trying to hide. Also, why would you transfer the title to a g/f right before you are selling the car? That doesn't make any sense at all. The guy is trying to play a fast one on you, just stay away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeitgeist57 Posted June 11, 2012 Report Share Posted June 11, 2012 FWIW, older Mercedes hold up really well. I've seen 150k+mile S-classes where the interiors (even the drivers seat) look better than a 75kmi Hyundai. SO...not out of the realm of possibility to have a clean (rebuilt?) MB with 195k that looks like 85k miles... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erica Posted June 11, 2012 Report Share Posted June 11, 2012 Well as some of you know I am selling my car, I had a trade offer a few days ago for a 2001 Mercedes S500 with a Lorinser package. Well I looked up the value of the car and all that and seemed like a solid trade for myself. I went and looked at the car and it was clean, no body damage, paint was good so I figured this guy was legit. Well the owner said the car had 85k and the odomoter read the same. So I was ready to make the deal since he seemed honest and up front about everything. Well like any normal person I wrote the VIN down and did a carfax, and well the carfax was showing the car had last registered 194k at a service shop in November of last year. Also the car had been in an accident in May of 2010 which he said it has never been in an accident. I called him out on it and he denied knowing any of this and said it's not true. My sister then told me her fiance said they can't roll back mileage on a Mercedes, I was curious as to if this was true? Any useful info would be greatly appreciated. Here's a pic of said Mercedes. http://i624.photobucket.com/albums/tt325/BStowers023/MercedesS500.jpg Did you just call mercedes? I think I talked to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ForeverMaker Posted June 11, 2012 Report Share Posted June 11, 2012 "Hi, thank you for calling Mercedes." "Am I being scammed?" "Yes." "Ok, thanks. Bye." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cordell Posted June 11, 2012 Report Share Posted June 11, 2012 Did you just call mercedes? I think I talked to you. Thats awesome. Like others have stated it sounds too good to be true. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forrest Gump 9 Posted June 11, 2012 Report Share Posted June 11, 2012 With the right equipments, you can reprogram the miles on the speedometer. That car is nice, but I would stay away from that. The abc suspension is known to go bad on them, and it's couple thousands. As far as older Mercedes are reliable, yes they are pre 1996. MB from 1996-2002 are scary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BStowers023 Posted June 11, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 11, 2012 Did you just call mercedes? I think I talked to you. Yes lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark1647545493 Posted June 11, 2012 Report Share Posted June 11, 2012 Glad you was able to avoid a bad trade. Love your Trans am BTW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark1647545493 Posted June 11, 2012 Report Share Posted June 11, 2012 Also, why would you transfer the title to a g/f right before you are selling the car? That doesn't make any sense at all. Maybe to hide how much he paid for the car or who owned the car before him that's printed on the title. Little did he know about the BMV's little vin search tool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1fast5gp Posted June 11, 2012 Report Share Posted June 11, 2012 Maybe to hide how much he paid for the car or who owned the car before him that's printed on the title. Little did he know about the BMV's little vin search tool. That's what I figured, another good reason to stay the fuck away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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