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Looking at a 1990 conversion van with low miles ( 63,000 ). According to the owner ( who seems like honest dude ) He bought the vehicle from a collage, who uses it for one of the sports teams. According to the carfax, between 1990 and 2001 53,000 miles were put on it. Then between 2001 and 2010 only 7000 miles were put on it. There are no records in that period of time ... until it was purchased in 2010 .... everything seems legit after that. As it was serviced regularly. The owner claims his brother is a mechanic, and that it has been serviced regularly ... is there anyway i can make sure that the odometer has not been rolled? unfortunately, these fords only have an odometer that goes up to 99k so there is no way to tell if it has rolled over.

Thanks,

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  • I don't know if there is any way to verify that the odometer hasn't rolled, but only 7000 miles between 2001 and 2010 sounds fishy to me. Personally I wouldn't buy it unless I could get it at a price closer to the 163k evaluation.
    – rviertel
    May 26, 2016 at 18:50
  • What "regular service" can be done in 7K?, only 2 oil changes, No real way to confirm mileage other than the overall condition of the vehicle, high mileage vehicles will have very worn gas and brake pedals, rear brakes would be original at 63K also. You need a trained eye to spot signs of high mileage, no way to train you here unfortunately.
    – Moab
    May 26, 2016 at 18:51
  • If you're skeptical, just walk away. There are many clues, but its difficult to say without seeing it. One clue alone or even a combination might not be enough to tell approximate mileage.
    – user3188168
    May 26, 2016 at 18:53
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    I called the college ..... turns out it is legit, they decided to move from an owned fleet to a leased fleet during those years so they did not drive the vehicles
    – user379468
    May 26, 2016 at 20:32

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Its almost Impossible to determine the mileage of a pre digital era vehicle. There is No way you can ascertain that the odo has not been tampered with, for instance the local mechanics in our suburbs have dedicated machines that will tamper with your odo for a given price, for example to go back 15,000 miles you have to pay around $100(converting , I am not from the USA)

Refer to this question on guidelines on purchasing a used vehicle Buying a second hand vehicle

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