Found this on the DMV site:

Exceeds Mechanical Limits—the odometer has reached the highest number mechanically available and has started renumbering at 1. (In other words, the odometer has "rolled over.")

That's doesn's seem possible, that would mean it has over a million miles on it??

 

That must be a glitch then, because the report doesn't say "Exceeds Mechanical Limits" on the two entries after that.

 

It could be that the state or area DMV generalizes all mileage discrepancies as "exceeds mechanical limits." It's also really strange that the car sold for $6,000 less than a year ago and has been relisted for nearly half that...

 

...gee, like maybe someone found out something bad about the car shortly after buying it?

 

Good detective work guys. So this guy bought the car for $6,000 less than a year ago.

Now he decides to sell it for a huge loss? Something must have happen, we are missing information. I'm gonna talk to him tomorrow and try to get to the bottom of this.

 

That's a conversation that would be more helpful to you in person, eye to eye. It's a lot easier for someone to lie over the phone, if he is hiding something. That car, with only 65k miles, at that price, is dirt cheap. And yeah, as mentioned, it's strange that the tranny went out already. Possibly the odometer had been "broken" for a long while?

 

^^very true, but he's in Connecticut and I'm in NY so I'm prob not gonna be able to go there till Saturday. Perhaps i'll go down there and take it for a test drive and talk to the seller. If I like what I see/hear I might just take a chance on the car. Assuming it's not sold by Saturday...

 

Be very thorough because there's a lot that those history reports miss. My car has an Autocheck score of 50 with "0 accidents" but I found out that it was involved in 2 fender benders after digging through the glove box. Just make sure everything checks out and nothing seems unusual.

Pop the hood and examine everything before he starts it up. Stuff like oil in the radiator, lots of condensation in the filler neck, and cracked vacuum lines. Then check the oil level and color with the dipstick when it's on and listen for piston slap (cold start knocking noise). Make sure the car can sit at idle without overheating. It should yo-yo between 210 and 230 if the tune is stock while still. Then take it for a lengthy drive and look for stuff like play in the rear (nasty clunk from the rear) and a rich tune from any DTC (lots of popping from the exhaust on deceleration once it reaches operating temp or 180*F, would suggest that the seller cleared the trouble codes before you arrived, that it needs a tune, and the gas mileage will be crap).

A friend of mine decided to jump the gun on a 1st gen Impreza RS without telling me. I tried to convince him to get something more powerful and optioned for the money (it was $4,900 with 135,000 miles, automatic trans, < 170hp) but he wouldn't listen. I offered to look over the car to make sure it was mechanically sound but by that time he already bought the thing. It overheated 3 times on the way home because the head gasket was blown and the seller tried to cover it up.

 

Good advice, will do. I've seen condensation on the cap of the filler neck before, why is that bad? And you said check oil level when the car is on, won't that mess up the reading?

 

Er, I meant check the oil level and color before turning the engine on and then pull the dipstick a second time after it's been on. The pump will mix up whatever is in the crankcase and change shade slightly if anything was settled at the bottom (like antifreeze).

Condensation in the filler neck could tell you a few different things... Car hasn't reached operating temperature recently, T-stat temperature has been lowered, old oil, or a head gasket issue if it's drenched after running.