I Hate Milage Exempt Titles

[1990festiva]

So about 2 months ago, I bought my first Festiva, with only 84k miles on the clock. It had a mileage exempt title, but every car here does once it gets so old. Well due to the magic of State Inspection, I find that the car actually has close to 300k on it, if not more, as it had 280k this time last year. The high mileage doesn't bother me, as i am enough of a mechanic to fix or replace whatever breaks, but I really wish I knew what i was getting into Mileage wise. Just wanted to rant a little and warn others to check the mileage on the sticker to see if it matches the odometer.

[batstiva]

So, I'm assuming cluster swap? Since the Festy odometer is 6 digit? It does suck to find out the actual mileage after the fact. Did you buy the car from a dealer, or private sale? Mileage exempt title or not, rolling back mileage is illegal for a dealer to do. As is knowingly selling a car without disclosing if the mileage has been tinkered with. Is the car giving you issues?

[big_ty2003]

My odometer says my car has about 800 miles on it. Ha ha ha!

[1990festiva]

Did you buy the car from a dealer, or private sale? Mileage exempt title or not, rolling back mileage is illegal for a dealer to do. As is knowingly selling a car without disclosing if the mileage has been tinkered with. Is the car giving you issues?

It was a private sale, And he told me that the mileage was off a little, but "only by about 15k miles because the old instrument cluster broke". Turns out that was a lie, and that I'm gullible. The transmission is acting up, but i didn't see it in the test drive as it is mainly in 5th gear and i test drove it in town and never got it into 5th, but now 3rd is starting to go too.

I'm not real worried about it because I only payed $500 for the car, and if I have to pay $60 dollars for a transmission for the Pull a Part it's not a big deal. I just figured i should let some others learn from my mistake rather than make it themselves.

Since you say that rolling back the mileage is illegal, does that mean i should roll the mileage back up to what is approximately correct?

[Roboskittle]

You dont have to roll it up to what it actually has on it to drive it legally. It is illegal to sell a vehicle stating the mileage is 80k miles when it is actually 280k and the cluster was tampered with. You can sell it as is if you want but state that the actual mileage is more like 280k and the original cluster was replaced with that one.

[TominMO]

My odometer says my car has about 800 miles on it. Ha ha ha!

Holy cow, you have a 93 Festiva with only 800 milies on it?!? That's about 4 miles a month! Or 700 feet a day!