Question: Odometer readings, Miles vs Kilo

[clydeyb]

Hi everyone,
I am on a quest to find the "right" C5 as I have sold my C4. Maybe someone can help me here. I am looking at a 1999 with 110,000 miles on it now. I ran a Carfax and the last recorded mileage was sometime last year at 164,000 which would translate to 104,000 miles (if the 164,000 was kilometers). I was told Carfax is wrong, the car now has 110,000 miles on it. My question is, could the 164,000 reading have inadvertantly been a Kilometers reading? Does the odometer switch from miles to kilometers and the inspection station made a mistake when reading and recording the mileage? If this is the case would I have an issue when regeristing this vehicle? Any info would help.
Thanks

 

[Toms007]

I think that is entirely possible. It's too much of a coincidence that the mileage is so close to what it should have been...if the guy actually drove the car. I hit that button and it kind of freaked me out at first.

 

[clydeyb]

I think that is entirely possible. It's too much of a coincidence that the mileage is so close to what it should have been...if the guy actually drove the car. I hit that button and it kind of freaked me out at first.

So, the odometer is selectable, miles or kilometers? And you are saying when the inspection station mechanic scrolled thru selectable modes he could of selected kilometers instead of miles?

 

[clydeyb]

So, the odometer is selectable, miles or kilometers? And you are saying when the inspection station mechanic scrolled thru selectable modes he could of selected kilometers instead of miles?

Never mind, I searched around the forum and found the online owners manual and found it is possible to get odometer read outs in miles or kilometers. Thanks!

 

[Toms007]

clyde, that exactly what I am thinking...

 

[leftyvette]

It could easily happen since the switch from miles to kilos is one button push!! When I bought my C5 I about freaked on the drive home. I looked down and was doing like 80mph (actually Kpm) on a side street!

 

[Toms007]

It could easily happen since the switch from miles to kilos is one button push!! When I bought my C5 I about freaked on the drive home. I looked down and was doing like 80mph (actually Kpm) on a side street!

Yea, that's what happened to me, I apparently hit the switch inadvertently. But I figured it out pretty quick.

 

[SleekStreak]

I bought a '99 roadster from a dealer four years ago that had been the subject of a dispute between the previous owner and the dealership, related to this topic.

It seems the car was originally sold new in Canada, and was subsequently 'imported' when the owner moved to the US. The original owner then traded the car in (at the dealership where I ultimately bought it) where it was purchased by a local lady. After two years, the lady decided to sell the car privately. When a potential buyer ran a CarFax® report on it, however, the mileage on the report was more than what the odometer currently indicated, so the potential buyer backed out of the deal, claiming odometer tampering. The lady owner then went to my State's Attorney General's office claiming fraud, ultimately getting all of her money back from the dealer. The dealer then resumed possession of the car, which became an albatross that they just wanted to dump (after putting on new tires, new brakes, tune-up, cooling system flush, etc.). So to get rid of it quick, they sold it to me for a song, making me sign a document that I would waive any odometer fraud claim against them in the future. The cause of all this? The CarFax® report indicated a mileage (which was in km, the 'native' units for a Canadian car) that was more than what the car currently displayed (the instrument cluster was set to display English units - miles - normal for a vehicle in the US). I don't know if the CarFax people ever sorted this type of thing out since then, but I got a smokin' deal on a car with only 38,000 miles (61155 km) on it!

 

[c5y2k]

I switch mine to km when the wife drives it to keep her speed down.

 

[killain]

Hi everyone,
I am on a quest to find the "right" C5 as I have sold my C4. Maybe someone can help me here. I am looking at a 1999 with 110,000 miles on it now. I ran a Carfax and the last recorded mileage was sometime last year at 164,000 which would translate to 104,000 miles (if the 164,000 was kilometers). I was told Carfax is wrong, the car now has 110,000 miles on it. My question is, could the 164,000 reading have inadvertantly been a Kilometers reading? Does the odometer switch from miles to kilometers and the inspection station made a mistake when reading and recording the mileage? If this is the case would I have an issue when regeristing this vehicle? Any info would help.
Thanks

I just bought a New York car and did a carfax on it, And it should show you all the prior milages at the state inspection times. Do they seem like the same milage that your looking at? It's very easy to set the DIC to Kilos rather than miles and a inspection tech isn't going to suspect it isn't miles from kilos, but the carfax should show numbers that are close to what you have. You can also see if you can have your chevy dealership run a 'Service History' report on the car for you. Then you'd see if it was done, and what dates and if it is in miles or kilos !

 

[Ryan536]

I know it's a little off topic but here is an article about Carfax. I wouldn't rely on what Carfax reports. It's still buyer beware out there.

Carfax doesn't always offer all the facts: Marketplace investigation