The dealer could claim he knows nothing about the rollback and that if it was rolled back, it was done before he obtained the car. Thus, it would be very difficult to prove that he actually did it (reasonable doubt exists - civil court has less stringent rules than criminal so it would be a balance of probabilities, which still doesn't seem to favour you).
I would have the car thoroughly inspected by a reputable place that you trust and have it documented. This would be well worth the $100 or so, as it gives you piece of mind as well, that you're driving a safe car. If it checks out, I would let it be and chalk it up to lessons learned. If there was something seriously wrong with the car (accidented, etc), I would go after the dealer in small claims court for selling you an accidented car with hidden defects, etc. Good luck. How big is the dealership?

 

This guy didn't listen to a thing anybody said on here. Lots of people gave solid advice. Check your tires and brake pads to see if they're original.

 

Jesus christ. For the 11 billionth time, it wasn't rolled back.

 

Yeah... I'm not going to be butthurt because you misread what I said, and come back with a rude comment, but:

Regardless of what autocheck says, carfax says it has been tampered. T

To clarify, he can either prove that the seller rolled back the odometer with the carfax, and or physical evidence. Or wrote the incorrect mileage on the title with the knowledge that it was false, or that he provided a fake carfax.

 

1) that's alot of trouble for 3,000 miles
2) What was the gain to roll back a 16,xxx mile car to 13,xxx?

Best explaination. A typo at the DMV.

 

an '04 with less than 20k mileage is EXTREMELY RARE. more like impossible. To check if it had been repainted (due to accident or whatever). Look under the hood. the edge where the hood sits on the car...look on the edge to see if u can find any paint residue...that's the place where many people makes mistake when repainting. I am a painter myself. Also...the edge where the trunk lined up with the car...check that area as well. god bless you man.

 

just read all 4 pages and all i can say is fail....

guy above me has a point check tires and brakes

 

People are missing the point of this... the OP is mad because the odometer COULD have been rolled back MULTIPLE times... not just once. He thinks there's a much larger discrepancy than 3k miles

 

+1, stupid amount.


+1, several people have either given him advice, or asked him a question to get to the bottom of this and all he cares about is harassing the seller to no end and ripping his dash apart.

 

OP why won't you describe what problems your having with the car and what exactly has convinced you that it was involved in an accident.

 

^^ I think he's just overacting a bit... I mean a lot.

 

someone could have just bought a new spedo with less miles...

 

Allow me to add my two cents worth...my dad bought a 04 Maxima off ebay from a dealership outside of Philly. We thought we were getting a great deal and instead of having the car shipped, we flew (from TN) their and drove it back. Long story short...we drove about 10 mins away and noticed the hood was shaking a bit and the car needed washer fluid. Carfax report said the car had never been in an accident but when the hood was popped there was a crack on the edge and the bottom of the washer container was blown out and a replacement headlight had been installed. I understand his pain of being ripped off. DO YOUR RESEARCH AND KNOW BEFORE YOU BUY!! If you feel the guy ripped you off, get your ducks in a row...the mileage maybe small but you want to know you bought what you paid for, and not a "good deal"

 

OP, I was in the exact position as you were was last year.

I bought a '95 SC400 with 155k on the clock. Seemed reasonable to have that kind of mileage on a car that's 15 years old. Two weeks later I was bored and ran an AutoCheck. 251k was the last year in 2008 - two years before, and god knows how much more miles could've been added. I didn't bother to ask because I knew the PO wouldn't have answered or responded to my calls anyways.

Long story short I kept the car and drove it for a few months until I got my G35. I tried to enjoy it as much as I could - I enjoyed it a lot, it was an amazing car in a rare color combo for that model. There's nothing I could do about the discrepancy, I consulted with my cousin who's an attorney and unless I could provide solid evidence the guy screwed me over, I don't have a case. Do what I did - take it as a valuable lesson and run your own report next time. People can't (and shouldn't) be trusted, especially when you're dropping thousands on a car. Oh, and used car dealers are a lot easier to sue than private sellers.

Cliffs: I bought a car that was rolled back 100k+ and lived with it.

 

Everyone who is saying that the speedometer was rolled back by 3,000 miles is an idiot. The mileage in the CarFax is from when the car was smogged, registered or something done in the DMV to make it go in the records. The owner could of driven it to 60k miles if not more and rolled it back to 13000 miles before selling the car. So no one can really know one can really know how many miles it been rolled back by.

And to the guy that bought the car. Check the tires and brakes like other people said. If you're so certain about it actually being rolled back, confront the seller and tell him your going to report him if he doesn't take it back.