Topic: Odometer reading at Delivery

[RocketScientist]

My Dearborn 70 B302 was sold through West Valley Motor Sales in Santa Clara, California in Dec 1970. Does anyone have an estimate on what the odometer would read on delivery? I thought I would set re-set the odometer to this reading when it is refurbished.
Brad

[J_Speegle]

Best guess would be 4-30 miles depending on what type of an order the car was. An order for inventory might have more since it didn't have a buyer waiting it likely saw a number of test drives

[KevinK]

My 84 SVO had 90 miles on it when delivered.  I was too young to make a big deal over it.  It was a special ordered car and waited 4-6 weeks for delivery.  It should have had much less miles as a special order.

I later heard the car carrier delivery guy was hot rodding it and there must have been a few more.  I believe it did sit for a week or two waiting for me to pick it up.

I think everyone expects to see 5-9 miles on a new car.  You might want to check the time from the build date and the sale date to see how long it sat on the lot.

[RocketScientist]

I didn't even think about the time it would have sat on the lot and being 'test driven' There was 3 weeks between release and being sold and so it probably sat in the car yard for a maximum of two weeks. It would have been plenty of time for the sales staff to test a performance car and put it through its paces.

Thanks for the milage inforation and it'll help lots.

[jwc66k]

I didn't even think about the time it would have sat on the lot and being 'test driven'

My special order 64 Fairlane Sports Coupe was the first 289 HP equipped car at my local Ford dealer. There was 55 miles on the odometer, and a new set of rear tires on the car when I picked it up. The service manager apologized and said he would "extend the warrantee" if I had any problems (I did - T10 popped out of 2nd). A "new" HP model always attracts dealer personnel's attention. "Test drive" are normal for those cars.
Jim

[Skyway65]

Isn't that illegal?

[J_Speegle]

Isn't that illegal?

What?

Subject or reply #

[jwc66k]

Isn't that illegal?

I assume the question was in response to my post about my 64 Fairlane. The dealer could maintain that they were "checking the operation of the vehicle". As the service manger was up front about what they did, put on two new rear tires and said he would "honor the warantee" past the 90 day/4000 miles" (it was a HP), I was fine with that. Others in my family (uncles) had bought Fords there before anyway, it was friendly.
Jim

[JKWilson]

Can't forget that not all new cars are delivered directly from the factory to the dealership that eventually sells it. If you wish to buy a car and there is nothing on the lot close enough, instead of placing an order from the factory a dealership can check inventories of other dealerships within a reasonable distance. Should they have a matching vehicle in stock a "dealer transfer" can be done. If the vehicle is close enough that driving the car from one dealership to the other is the most economical way to accomplish this then you can see several hundred miles on the odometer. If it's more economical to ship then it will retain a low mileages condition because it would be shipped via auto transporter.

[Skyway65]

What?

Subject or reply #

I didn't realize it was OK to "reset" an odometer.  Setting it back to zero, or nearly zero, is rolling back the miles--that seems like a major legal issue.

[67gtasanjose]

I didn't realize it was OK to "reset" an odometer.  Setting it back to zero, or nearly zero, is rolling back the miles--that seems like a major legal issue.

By "the letter of the law", perhaps this is true. Used car lots used to do it TO GAIN VALUE to their used car's resale value ( that and the 100,000 mile limits of the old odometers) would be for the purposes of defrauding a consumer.

Restoration takes on a different connotation, in my opinion. I m not advocating for saying it is OK, but the purpose is certainly different. Now selling a restored car with an odometer change stating the mileage as "original mileage", could cause issues once again for any would be future buyer...a slippery slope, to say the least.

You never could know who's hands our 'restored car' may end up in years from now when we are all long gone. Unscrupulous people abound.

I cannot count how many "low, original mileage" claims I see today in new owner's claims as well as various listing of cars for sale...like 20 -30% all claiming (it seems), under 70,000 miles...I find those numbers inaccurate. It was hard enough to find 10-12 year old cars under 100k in the late 70's, not to say they were not out there, only perhaps not yet for sale.

[KevinK]

Many states have a box to check off on the title form or a separate form to complete saying the odometer is an incorrect reading.  This would be the case if a new or refurbished unit was installed.

The first thing my wife asks about a used car is “how many miles?”. After about 5 years old it doesn’t matter as you need to look much closer anyway.

[cobrajet_carl]

Isn't that illegal?

Sure is.

[RocketScientist]

In my case the car is a Phoenix - stripped and abandoned and left to rot for 20 years and probably the only reason that it was saved was because of its Vin. The original milage is uknown and everything is being brought back to  'Day 1' condition. So in a case like this, the original milage becomes meaningless and I want the milage to represent it's re-birth.

However, in any other case I also agree with everyone that changing the odometer is illegal and should not be considered.

[Bob Gaines]

By "the letter of the law", perhaps this is true. Used car lots used to do it TO GAIN VALUE to their used car's resale value ( that and the 100,000 mile limits of the old odometers) would be for the purposes of defrauding a consumer.

Restoration takes on a different connotation, in my opinion. I m not advocating for saying it is OK, but the purpose is certainly different. Now selling a restored car with an odometer change stating the mileage as "original mileage", could cause issues once again for any would be future buyer...a slippery slope, to say the least.

You never could know who's hands our 'restored car' may end up in years from now when we are all long gone. Unscrupulous people abound.

I cannot count how many "low, original mileage" claims I see today in new owner's claims as well as various listing of cars for sale...like 20 -30% all claiming (it seems), under 70,000 miles...I find those numbers inaccurate. It was hard enough to find 10-12 year old cars under 100k in the late 70's, not to say they were not out there, only perhaps not yet for sale.

+1 . i don't think it is much of a issue given I haven't heard of the issue being enforced as it pertains to restored collector cars.