I am looking at this beautiful "95" benz.. I have contacted the seller and he emailed me the Vin # ,I ran it on Carfax and it did have a small fender bender that he told me about and it was taken to a very highly repuatable place which I checked out and it was the truth...now the carfax spit out a "NOT ACTUAL MILAGE" This is what is puzzleing in "99" it had 56,800 in 02 they year the warning came about, it read 80,871 then in 03, 107,000...now my question is I have seen many ebay cars reading high then low then back to high again..which a red flag does go up...but when the reading is 30,000 mies higher and the next is higher yet why in the heck would there be a "not actual milage warning"..I ask the owner he said he was not aware of it because his Benze mec told him that the car was in perfect shape and I also called the dealer he went to and spoke ot the same Mecanic he told me that everything checks out great and their might of been a possiability that the odometer went out and the one that wass put in was a little higher in milage, not lower....what say ye fellas, (if you can understand all this garbage)

I understand the garbage, and it seems like just that.

27K is one year is certainly possible. But I must ask, is Carfax good for anything?

Matt L ...what else is there...other than a .."HUNTCH"

One car I once owned was taken into a shop that reported to CARFAX for a emissions check, and the mileage was 113,000 but someone transposed the digits to 131,000 and the erroneous mileage figure was on the CARFAX forever. It was a clerical error.

So, mistakes can be made that way. Another way mileage can be checked is by looking at repair records for receipts of consecutive dates and mileage on them.

Not necessarily hanky panky. If the odometer broke and was replaced, after some time, the mileage might be incorrect.

It's illegal to "clock" the mileage, and sometimes it can be detected by a little mark (red I heard) that shows on the odometer numerals.

I wouldn't want to buy car with a clocked odometer and no service records myself. Or a phony pink either, for that matter.

But it is just one thing of many you should consider when thinking about getting the car. Rust, prior accidents, and the regular problem areas on cars like these should be taken into account before buying....

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1991 560 SEC AMG, 199k <---- 300 hp 10:1 ECE euro HV ...

1995 E 420, 170k "The Red Plum" (sold)

2015 BMW 535i xdrive awd Stage 1 DINAN, 6k, <----364 hp

1967 Mercury Cougar, 49k

2013 Jaguar XF, 20k <----340 hp Supercharged, All Wheel Drive (sold)

If the title states "True Miles Unknown" then you'll need to deduct some $$ off what the car is worth to you. Otherwise, buy the seller, buy the records, buy the vehicle condition, buy the way the car drives--and if all that's there and it's a good deal for the $$--buy the car!

I guess my point being on a 12 year old car service records and how the vehicle looks/drives are the most important variables at least to me...

-GH

It's a Benz all the older odometers have soft plastic gears that go at about 100,000 miles. As stated above the main thing on an older MB is it's condition.

Mileage does not mean much when it comes to an MB goto NADA and look up the value of an older MB and then play with milage verses price and you can plug in a million miles and get the same price as if the car only has only 100,000.

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William
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1987 420 SEL - Like a fine wine only better with age

In some states, like Texas for instance, once a car is past a certain age (10 years I believe here) it qualifies to be EXEMPT - MILEAGE UNKNOWN when title transfer occurs and is forever then that way upon transfer REGARDLESS if the original title holder can certify the mileage or not.

I think this was done to prevent shenanigans in the used car industry, but I do not see that it really helps.

Anyway - thought I'd throw in....

John in San Antonio

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John Hughes, was in Landstuhl, Germany but currently in San Antonio, TX


1978 280CE Astral Silver now 59,xxx miles and counting "Silber-Kugel"
1986 300E Black Pearl Metallic 143,xxx miles 5-spd daily driver w/ blk leather "Schwarz-Schönheit"
1989 190E 2.6 (euro) 5-spd Desert Taupe 112,xxx kms Had to leave behind in Germany!!! "Helga"
1983 300D Pastel Beige now 312,xxx + miles SOLD

OBK#24