I recently made a trip to an Infinity dealership to purchase a G35x. Smooth sailing until they checked out my 2001 Lexus IS300 and told me the odometer was not working!! I was immediately suspicious but while I was waiting for the salesman to prepare his offer with the sales manager I checked some of my paperwork on the car only to verify the odometer had not been clocking miles since October 2007 at my last car inspection (MA). To make matters worse it appears the technician rounded the mileage up 3mi. I told the dealer I would have to get a second opinion for options (Lexus dealer) before accepting a substantially less trade in value for my car.
Any suggestions or experience in similar matters?
First thing I’d do is get a CarFax report on the thing. If the odometer discrepency isn’t evident on the report, don’t budge a bit. I mean, seriously, how many miles could you have racked up on the thing in 5 months anyways? I’ll bet not enough to significantly affect the value of a Lexus, especially the trade-in value, which is already a rip-off. I really doubt that the discount they want you to give them because of this will be reflected in the price they sell it for.
If the dealer’s going to make a big stink about it, just don’t trade it in-- I’m sure you can find a private buyer who won’t care and will be happy to pay you more than they were going to pay you in the first place. Just be sure to disclose the discrepancy and check with your state DMV as to the procedure for it. In my state, you just have to check a box on the title that says “odometer discrepancy” and estimate the extent of it.
Well, you can’t blame them for being suspicious. If the shoe were on the other foot I’m sure you would be very skeptical about purchasing a car from the dealer that had this kind of problem.
Sometimes the odometers can stick a bit. Have you simply tried pushing the reset button a few times to see what happens?
Five months is a long time to go without looking at the odometer or being aware that it’s even there.
No advice at all except to reset or repair the odometer and try elsewhere.
just curious…
did you own the lexus new? or was it a used buy?