Odometer discrepancy- How does this happen nowadays?`

I'll try to keep this brief...my dad has been taking care of a 2007 Mercury Grand Marquis for my grandfather, who is now 97 and living in assisted living. For numerous reasons, they've now decided that the car is to be sold. When my dad took over driving the car in 2013, it was showing about 24,000 miles on the electronic odometer, and he had the car inspected (They live in NY).

When he took the car to get it appraised at one of those "we buy your car" places, they pulled the Autofax and it showed an issue with the odometer. My grandfather bought the car used in 2007- it has about 10,000 miles on it and was a previous rental car. Subsequent NY state inspections had mileage reports of 14,000 miles, then 17,000 miles in 2009.

In 2010, for whatever reason, the mileage jumped to 32,000. While grandpa was still relatively mobile and active at that point, I find it hard to believe he put 15,000 miles on a car in a single year. Inspections for 2011 and 2012 showed mileages of 35,000 and 39,000, respectively.

And, of course, now the odometer is showing about 33,000 miles (dad's put about 8,000 miles on the car since he got it). Which leaves us with two questions:

1) How did the mileage seemingly jump 15k in one year, when all other years were 3,000 to 4,000 mile increases?

2) How did the mileage "roll back" 14,000 miles between the time when grandpa got the car inspected in 2012 and when dad started driving it in 2013? The car has never been in a wreck.

Unfortunately, adding to the mystery is the fact that the dealership where grandpa bought the car is no longer in business. They are simple a repair shop now, and not even a Ford authorized one, just an independent. Dad asked there and they have no records. He also can't find records of where the car was inspected, and grandpa had a stroke and can't communicate anymore.

In reply to volvoclearinghouse:

It got effed up by the retards that inspected it the last few times. That jump in what was reported probably should have been 22,000 miles, then 25,000, and finally 29,000 miles. Fat fingered mistake, negligence, or if you happen to live in a state that taxes via milage, tax fraud.

As far as recourse to fix the issue, the DMV in NY should be able to give the correct documentation to contest the mileage.

yamaha wrote: In reply to volvoclearinghouse: It got effed up by the retards that inspected it the last few times. That jump in what was reported probably should have been 22,000 miles, then 25,000, and finally 29,000 miles. Fat fingered mistake, negligence, or if you happen to live in a state that taxes via milage, tax fraud.

I thought that at first, but the last INspection under grandpa was 39,000 miles. If they fat-fingered the first digit, that would have been 29,000. When dad took over care for the car it has 24,000 showing.

yamaha wrote: As far as recourse to fix the issue, the DMV in NY should be able to give the correct documentation to contest the mileage.

I'm not sure how. The only things on record are that my grandfather bought the car used in 2007 with 10,000 miles, got it inspected periodically and renewed his registration periodically.

The "We Buy You Car" place, incidentally, offered him 2500 for the car with its current "undocumentable" mileage.

volvoclearinghouse wrote:

yamaha wrote: In reply to volvoclearinghouse: It got effed up by the retards that inspected it the last few times. That jump in what was reported probably should have been 22,000 miles, then 25,000, and finally 29,000 miles. Fat fingered mistake, negligence, or if you happen to live in a state that taxes via milage, tax fraud.

I thought that at first, but the last INspection under grandpa was 39,000 miles. If they fat-fingered the first digit, that would have been 29,000. When dad took over care for the car it has 24,000 showing.

For some reason, this reply is not making sense to me.

In reply to yamaha:

None of this makes sense. :-) Let me clarify. By year

2007 - 10,000 miles, bought CPO by grandpa

2008 - 14,000 miles, NYS inspection

2009 - 17,000 miles, NYS inspection

2010 - 32,000 miles, NYS inspection

2011 - 35,000 miles, NYS inspection

2012 - 39,000 miles, NYS inspection - last inspection grandpa did

2013 - 24,000 miles - when dad first got behind the wheel of the car, and had it NYS inspected

2014 - 33,000 miles - present mileage

I guess I'm also curious why the mileage in 2013 didn't throw up a flag when dad got the car inspected.

Electronic glitch, I'd guess. A good scan tool can read the correct mileage from the body control module, likely. If not, just sell it with this story attached to it. The value difference between 33,000 and 49,000 is negligible, I'd think.

In reply to Streetwiseguy:

The problem is, odometer discrepancy kills the value on low mileage vehicles.

In reply to volvoclearinghouse:

Thank you for making that a bit easier to understand. There was most likely a mistake made at wherever your grandfather had it inspected. Since it doesn't even add up for there to have been an honest mistake, I'm going to go with negligence on the shop's part for this one. There is surely a way to contest odometer records.

Mistake made in 2010 and should have been 22K

In '11 and '12 it was inspected at the same place and realizing their error they covered it up hoping the actual mileage would catch up with the recorded mileage.

'13, new inspection at new place. True mileage recorded for the first time in 3 years.

Now you are up to date.

Toyman01 wrote: Mistake made in 2010 and should have been 22K In '11 and '12 it was inspected at the same place and realizing their error they covered it up hoping the actual mileage would catch up with the recorded mileage. '13, new inspection at new place. True mileage recorded for the first time in 3 years. Now you are up to date.

This. IT happens more often than you realize. I've seen Repair orders with the incorrect mileage for 3 or 4 visits (same advisor) then roll back with a new advisor. It's basically someone f'd up and they won't admit it so they keep up the lie to cover their butt. I call it CYAAAC. (Cover Your Ass At All Cost)

Yeah, this seems like the most reasonable explanation. Grandpa had it inspected always at the same shop, now dad take it to a new place. Wish we could find out where grandpa took it though for those years. No receipts, no records. AutoFax just shows "Inspection Station" and the town. Hmmm. I wonder if they have the inspection station ID #?

I've had a similar situation happen twice. The first time was when I made the place I bought my Mustang GT from replace the entire instrument cluster. It had an internal short. They swapped in a used cluster but did not swap out the electronic odometer. They also did not document the current mileage and affix a decal to the door opening stating it had been replaced (state law). I took a big hit when I traded it in due to "not actual mileage". That dealership was one of those "buy here, pay here" places. They went out of business less than a year after it opened, which was no surprise given how shady they were.

The other time, it was the DMV that fat fingered the mileage. THAT was fun trying to convince them they berkeleyed up.

Mistakes do happen, irregardless of intent.

In reply to stanger_missle:

DMV never makes a mistake. You did.