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Need help explaining history of a used car? Strange situation

sheananigans8sheananigans8 Member Posts: 2
edited February 2015 in Mitsubishi
So the situation...I found a 2014 Mitsubishi Outlander with 6k miles on it at Carmax. It was a good deal for a good car but then I looked up the history on their computers: It had been sold at auction by the manufacturer on December 29, 2014 with 10 miles on the odometer. But now on Feb 19, it has 6k miles on it.

The car does not show any previous owners so I can only assume it was sold to Carmax at the auction in Dec.

So my questions are: Why was this car sold at auction by the manufacturer? Is there anything I should be cautious about when purchasing?

And how did it get so many miles in just 1.5 months?

Thank you, I appreciate any response.

Answers

  • steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
    edited February 2015
    That's a lot of miles for six weeks but not an impossible number. Could be that there was a typo when it went to auction. Usually a dealer takes cars to auctions so maybe this was driven by a Mitsu executive and then the car went to auction and the mileage got messed up. Or the employee took a long road trip.

    Can you fnd decipher the manufacturing date? On a Mitsubushi VIN, the 10th character should represent the year of manufacture and the 11th character represents the month. Or look at the tire information placard on the door jamb. The date of manufacturer should be listed there too.
  • Mr_ShiftrightMr_Shiftright Member Posts: 64,481
    What history did you look up? Was it CARFAX?
  • isellhondasisellhondas Member Posts: 20,342
    The numbers CARFAX uses for odometer readings are often incorrect.

    Mitsubishi has a very weak dealer network in the U.S. to the point very few exist. It's possible the manufacturer had to resort to taking some cars to auction when a dealership closed.

    Carfax isn't foolproof. Not even close.
  • jayriderjayrider Member Posts: 3,602
    Does the car have the full factory warranty ?
  • houdini1houdini1 Member Posts: 8,327
    Have you tried just asking Carmax what the history is?

    2013 LX 570 2016 LS 460

  • boomchekboomchek Member Posts: 5,516
    Yes very possible it was a dealership that shut down and Mitsubishi took back unpaid inventory and auctioned it off. Mileage could be due to the fact that car was driven across a few states, used as a loaner car for another dealer, or that the 10 miles might not have been correctly entered into the system.

    2016 Audi A7 3.0T S Line, 2021 Subaru WRX

  • steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
    edited February 2015
    I like the unpaid inventory analysis.
  • sheananigans8sheananigans8 Member Posts: 2
    Thank you for all the help. I clarified it with Carmax. It turns out the 10 miles was when the car was registered with the DMV in the beginning of it's life. The car was driven by an exec at Mitsubishi then sold at auction with the 6k miles (cannot be sold as new with more than 3k miles). So this is actually a pretty sweet deal.
  • isellhondasisellhondas Member Posts: 20,342
    edited February 2015
    Just know you may have trouble finding a dealer to do any warranty work.

    Resale is lousy too but if you plan to keep it a long time that won't be a big deal.

    These aren't bad cars. Mitsubishi just never thrived here in the U.S.

  • steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
    edited February 2015
    Hard to say - Mitsu didn't pull up stakes like Suzuki did (in spite of the 0-0-0 financing fiasco) and they have new product coming down the pipeline. Their sister companies have deep pockets, and they have lots of years of experience worldwide building cars. The company sure had a spotty reputation with the coverups in the '00s. They were warned again a couple of years ago about recall issues. (Reuters)

    The Mitsu/Kia dealer here has a good amount of inventory and a lot of drive-by traffic. An Outlander caught my eye last week while I was looking at a Soul.

    Mitsubishi's Future Plans Include Hybrids, Major Model Overhaul
  • isellhondasisellhondas Member Posts: 20,342
    Oh, they are HUGE in other countries!

    Heck, they brought the Zero to WW2!

    My BIL has an Outlander that's about three years old and he loves it.

    I would imagine a great deal could be found on one a couple years old.
  • steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
    You're right though, dealers are scarce so it'd be nice to have one close by for those times your indy mechanic is stumped or doesn't have the right factory tool.
  • boomchekboomchek Member Posts: 5,516

    Just know you may have trouble finding a dealer to do any warranty work.

    Resale is lousy too but if you plan to keep it a long time that won't be a big deal.

    These aren't bad cars. Mitsubishi just never thrived here in the U.S.

    Nor did it in Canada. I remember few years ago in 2013 I believe one of the Mitsu dealers was advertising a brand new Galant, 2011 model, that's been sitting on their lot for 2 years. :o

    2016 Audi A7 3.0T S Line, 2021 Subaru WRX

  • isellhondasisellhondas Member Posts: 20,342
    At the last Seattle Car Show, they didn't even make an appearance.

    I wouldn't be at all surprised if they pulled out of the U.S.
  • boomchekboomchek Member Posts: 5,516
    They were here in Vancouver at last year's auto show.

    We actually had a repo'd 2014 Mitsubishi Mirage on our previous lot. Only had 2000kms on it or somthing ridiculously low like that. Original owner bought it $0 down and never made a payment and it got taken away after 3 months. We got it from the bank and sold it for about $6k less than a new one was and the new buyer was happy because he practically got a brand new car with 10 year warranty at substantial savings

    2016 Audi A7 3.0T S Line, 2021 Subaru WRX

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