Yankee911Guy

I have found a car I really like and it's a pretty desirable mid-1980's variant. Everything seems to check out fine on the car except the fact it has a branded title for a odometer issue. One service it was almost 100k miles and the next service it was less than 50k miles.

This issue was fully disclosed by the seller, and the car has changed hands twice in 12 years since the issue was reported to car fax. When the current owner bought the car the story given to him was that a speedometer issue forced a swap.

So the question is, how much will this, or should this effect the price compared to the same car without the issue and as the car ages will it effect it even less in the future considering it's more desirable then just a base 911 carrera 3.2?

sithot

What sort of records does the car have? I've seen speedometer swaps under warranty but without records it's just a story.
No records, no deal. Stories are just that; stories.
You buy it, you own it. Do you want to be the next guy who has to sell it?

oldskewel

I know that if I had a car that required an odometer replacement, I would document the he!! out of it, hoping to reduce any doubts in the future, as you are having now. I expecte most people would do the same.

And since that careful documentation is not there, it will probably be an issue for most buyers. Maybe you're not concerned with that since selling it is not a factor.

Regardless of selling, I would evaluate the car without putting any weight into the odo reading, or by trying to calculate a worst case scenario. E.g., judge true mileage based on visible wear items and the rest of the evidence. And even if you really trust the current owner's story, and he's being honest, maybe he does not know the whole story.

bradthe

IF NO DOCUMENTATION I WOULD JUST ASSUME IT HAS 250K MILES AND BUY IT ACCORDINGLY.

Spyerx

Does it actually have a branded title or does cafax just show a discrepancy?
If latter, get it fixed by submitting records to Carfax that there was a change. This is not hard to do.

GTgears

Also wondering about the "branded title". That's usually a term reserved for salvage cars. Here in Colorado they are TMU (True Mileage Unknown) and have very little impact on the value of a car. A branded title, on the other hand, is usually a 20-25% hit.

On this particular car, go by the old adage of buy the seller. Do you trust them? Does everything seem on the up and up?

A TON of cars back them got the speedos replaced because people hated the 85mph speedo they came with when new. There was availability of Euro 150mph speedos pretty much everywhere. Sometimes they would document the mileage when the change was made, but more often than not, a new or used Euro speedo was just installed with no consideration to mileage. Back then we never thought they would be collectible and people didn't think mileage would ever matter.

Yankee911Guy

I will have to find out if the actual title is so marked. I don't think I actually asked that question and just assumed it was.

At the top problem section of the carfax says Branded Title: Not Actual Mileage and the only negative thing on the carfax is the the odometer section which says:

Odometer Check DMV title problems reported. Inconsistent mileage indicated Odometer Problem.

Honestly If I am planning on rebuilding the engine anyway, and if rest of the car checks out ok, I'm not sure it should bother me. I really don't care about the resell since I am hoping to build a life long car out of it.

I am thinking a good PPI with compression and leak down test, good suspension check out, good brake check out and absence of rust it might be ok.

I will do some more research and let you all know.

ralfoto

Sounds correct to me....and as pointed out if it is a Carfax issue you can also try to clarify it and resolve it if you have previous records etc........if the car checks out I would go for it....

evilfij

In my state there are miles disclosures on titles. Not actual miles, total miles unknown, and miles exempt.

Not actual miles means that the odometer was replaced. There should be a sticker in the door jam noting the replacement. I had this with my lotus Elise. Cluster had an issue and had to be replaced. Odometer was working but was part of the cluster so it went back to 0. Total miles unknown is the odometer stopped working and someone did not keep track or decided for whatever reason they did not want to certify the miles on the title. The last is exempt. If the car is over ten years old, it is exempt from miles disclosure.

Unless it is being represented as a low miles car, none of them would bother me. The last would have basically no impact, the first not much, and even a TMU is not a big deal if you can figure out the actual miles from carfax or records. Usually these don’t carry over title to title as would a salvage or rebuilt title, but your state may vary.

Yankee911Guy

I spoke with the seller last night and the title is not branded, only shows on carfax.

I think my my next step is to see if Autocheck shows anything carfax doesn’t.

Owner also has a folder full of maintenance work, I’m hoping when I look at it that the speedo mystery is documented. Im also going to ask about any door jamb sticker as mentioned above.

The asking price is about 20-25% lower than the same car would be without the issue. I feel he is putting forth a good faith effort to represent and discount the car due to the issue.

Starbuckslova1

Seems like a good deal, why not just get a pre purchase inspection at a porsche dealer, plus if you plan on keeping it for a while no big deal

theiceman

really i dont care about future sellers or resale when i buy a car . I am buying it for me to enjoy at a price i am comfortable with. I just let all the chips fall where they may after that.