Verifying the TRUE mileage of a TR

[subtlt]

What are the best indicators of the TRUE mileage of a TR?

It seems that there are a lot of these cars showing up with amazingly low mileage, but things in their pictures lead me to believe they're much higher! Since mileage is a big part of setting price, understanding what to look for to confirm the mileage would be helpful.

I bought a GN with 40K miles on the clock. Beautiful interior, body, etc. Drives tight, immaculate engine, hood pad (original), etc. Original exhaust system. Started to go through the spring cleaning process and little stuff is making me think that it might be higher mileage than it shows. Not by 100K or anything, but maybe? What would you look for to corroborate the mileage? I looked at:

Tires - not original, and they are 70% worn.
The under hood pad - shouldn't be very dirty for a low mile car (but have to verify it hasn't been replaced)
The way it sits on the suspension
Rear end service - looked good, no stuff in the bottom.
Trans service - not quite as good, 3/16" piles of dust on the magnet - obviously never serviced.
Aftermarket shocks - might have been replaced early by original enthusiast owner, or originals wore out and needed R&R?
Timing set - when I do this as a preventative measure this winter, this should (may?) help verify the mileage

Stuff like that.
The caveat is that a well maintained higher mile car may be a much better car overall than a neglected low mile car. That aside, what do you experts out there look for? I'm going to compile the responses and add them to the "buying a TR" page on the gnttype.org site.

Thanks!

 

[TClassic]

A LOT of TR'd had the odometer UN-PLUGGED under the hood behind the Powermaster! Look at this, and the Trans Connection VERY Carefully, also the Brake Pedal rubber pad, door hinges, ect.!!

 

[Snorman]

IMO, this is a risk with any car, not just a TR.
There are numerous tell-tale signs that you can use. Worn pedals, seats, steering wheels, etc., etc. may give a good indication, but not always.
I felt confident that my car was an original mileage car because I had maintenance records and it was the original owner.
S.

 

[blackbuick87]

Look at things like control arm bushings, tie rod ends, body bushings, etc. Things that take a long time to wear out. Also rust under the doors and in the wheel wells can mean it was driven year round.

 

[TClassic]

Next car show your at, take a look at how many TR's have the underhood odom. cable Un-Plugged, you might be surprised, I know I WAS!!!!

 

[turbojitsu85]

Just curious, how do you unplug that wire?

 

[matt87]

i too have seen tr's with low miles that look like they were played with. my car has 76k it is tight and very nice. i bought it with 69k miles and it already had many mods but the tranny and engine were stock. the former owner had documentation of the mileage. very important. i still had to rebuild the motor and tranny bu it was well worth it. i'd rather have a higher mileage car that has been gone through than a low mileage stocker that everythings gonna need replacing.

 

[killerb]

i just got a 13,000 mile gn,and the things i looked at were the pedals,under the doors,the color of the dash and other plastic parts.when not used the color is lighter.also checked the spare,underneath the car to see how the motor and trans. look.is there oil all over the place?and while your there check to see if the car is numbers matching.to me in the future the value of the car will weigh heavilly on that.check for the vin on the motor and the trans.higher mile cars are more likely to have the motor or trans replaced in my opinion.

 

[Swt_86]

70% wear on the 2nd set of tires would be about right for a 40,000 mile car. I have never gotten more than 30,000 on a set of tires - first ones were replaced at something like 24,000. This was on a daily driven family car that wasn't pushed real hard Of course, you would not know if it was the second or third or whatever set. Front brake pads can be a good indicator. At 40,000 you should still definately be looking at the original factory pads.

 

[Dan Thompson]

Do a CarFax against the VIN.

 

[subtlt]

Great stuff!

Lots of good tips here - keep em coming!

FWIW, I don't put much faith in the Carfax thing, but it is another datapoint.

 

[GNSCOTT]

If the car has been through emissions,or had dealer service, a car fax report will show the milage eachwas performed at. It could have still had the odometer unplugged, but a car fax will remove the obvious, and alot of people will do it for you for free

 

[DCVING 6]

Seats!!!

Check out how firm the seats are. I was a little leary when I was checking out my car. Drivers seat was very firm, so I knew there hadn't been too much driving time on it.

Lucky for me, the guy had all of his emmisons tags that stated mileage.

 

[salvageV6]

My tires and first set of brake pads were done at 18K miles.

My seat was done a month after I bought the car. First hot summer day the foam sank like a French battleship.

Firmed back up in the winter I must say.

If you can find an honest owner, preferably the original one, with records, you will be doing good.

Definately check the motor and tranny for the proper VIN numbers.

 

[TurboDave]

Originally posted by GNSCOTT
If the car has been through emissions,or had dealer service, a car fax report will show the milage eachwas performed at. It could have still had the odometer unplugged, but a car fax will remove the obvious, and alot of people will do it for you for free

I was wondering when somebody would drag out Carfax.

Let me tell you, I think Carfax is just as useless as a guess.
Tell you why. I, just for fun ran a carfax on my 86.

A little history lesson; I'm the original owner. Bought it in Aug86 in Virginia Beach, VA. The car lived there till 1989, then moved to San Diego, CA. and lived there until the spring of this year.

The carfax on my car sent up a big red flag about odometer tampering.
Wanna know why?

Because the morons that did the smog checks sometime back in the early/mid 90's looked at the odometer and wrote exactly what they saw, and didn't bother to ask if it was over 100,000 or not, so the mileage went from 110,000 on one report down to 30,000 on the next report

And the error was self perpetuating

That and the fact they also showed two failed smog checks in a city about 75 miles north of LA that me or the car have never been to.

NO, you can keep Carfax. I'll never trust them again.

 

[YGETV8]

Dave,

Shame on you! Running a Carfax is just as reliable as having a credit bureau pulled... and I've NEVER had the wrong information come up on those! Good thing neither one is used for anything important...

 

[salvageV6]

I think Carfax is worth looking at and so is your Credit Report.

Having lotsa grains of salt around is a good thing too.

I couldn't get a new car loan when buying my WE4 with NO debt, because of my report.

It stated I stopped paying my student loans. Well they were right about that one for sure. I stopped paying on them because they were paid off in FULL 8 years early.

Morons.

Only a minor detail they omitted in the report.

Got that straightened out pronto and got my loan and paid that one off early too.

I hate debt.

 

[GNSCOTT]

If the carfax report shows an emissions report at 50, 60, 70k,etc...its a good indication. Of course things happen and people screw up, but carfax can show some of the obvious.

 

[SPOOLN]

Used Cars

Why do people say that there car has documented miles?
How do you get your miles documented ? Who is the documentor? I bought an 86 GN from a private owner with documented miles/ ownership, you know the line of BS. Anyways to make a long story short, the previous owner had been using the car to scam the Insurance Co. Things like keying it up, collecting the claim and having his body shop buds inflate the estimate. Anyways him and his undesireables stole the car back from me and got caught. I did not reclaim the 86 and bought a way much nicer 87 GN car from an older man who had two turbo cars. 5 years later i went back and bought the 87 t from the older man. Read into the ower when purchasing a used car.

 

[TClassic2]

Just for ****s & giggles I checked every car at Kirbans Show
yesterday (Great show by the way, check the Thread) and out of about
30 cars (All TR's) **3** cables were laying by the wayside. I asked one
guy "Whats with Odom. un-plugged??"
"Who says thats the Odom, that's just a cable from my Powermaster that I had a problem with that I unplugged."

"Yea. O.K.!"

By the way that particular car had 17,000mi.!!"
Hmmm...........