CarFax weirdness

[Matticus91]

Anyone have any thoughts on the pic attached here? I'm looking at a 2013 135i with 1 owner reported but the carfax starts at 38k...

[champignon]

Originally Posted by Matticus91

Anyone have any thoughts on the pic attached here? I'm looking at a 2013 135i with 1 owner reported but the carfax starts at 38k...

I have seen that exact scenario once before. It was with a several year old 128i being sold on a somewhat shady looking 2nd hand car lot in San Diego. The salesperson, whom I encountered with his bare feet propped up on his desk, knew little about the car. I test drove it and also rummaged through the glovebox, where I found a warranty booklet like you used to find supplied with US cars 20 years ago, with listings of service items to be done at each service and a place for the service dept. to stamp and initial that the servicings had been done and at what mileages/kilometrages.

Turned out, the car had been owned by a US Citizen serviceman on a military base (Navy, I think) in Spain. All the service done had been done over there until the car was brought back to the states with the serviceman when he returned stateside. There were 1 or 2 service records from a dealer in San Diego, and then apparently the car was sold.

Carfax does not track cars outside of N. America, as far as I know. So, it is very likely that the car was purchased overseas and them imported into the US, perhaps by the original owner. Carfax would pick up the car at the point of importation and registration, and state the mileage first recorded in a location that would report it to them, such as a state car title dept., registration, service dept., etc. A less obvious version of the above would be if someone bought a BMW on European Delivery, them imported it to N. America after putting a few thousand kms on it. That is true of the Carfax record of my 1M, which starts out in Canada being registered with 4662 km on it, a couple of months after the European Delivery was taken. I believe the car was driven for several weeks in Europe, then it took a month or so to transport it back to Canada. This can lead to some confusion as to the remaining duration of warranty, because one would perhaps assume that the warranty started with "Registration Issued or Renewed, First Owner Reported," when in fact the warranty would start when the car was picked up in Europe, not when its existence was first noted in N. America.

It is my understanding that overseas US servicemen can purchased US spec vehicles while over there, and then import them into the US with relatively little hassle to them.

[Matticus91]

Originally Posted by champignon

I have seen that exact scenario once before. It was with a several year old 128i being sold on a somewhat shady looking 2nd hand car lot in San Diego. The salesperson, whom I encountered with his bare feet propped up on his desk, knew little about the car. I test drove it and also rummaged through the glovebox, where I found a warranty booklet like you used to find supplied with US cars 20 years ago, with listings of service items to be done at each service and a place for the service dept. to stamp and initial that the servicings had been done and at what mileages/kilometrages.

Turned out, the car had been owned by a US Citizen serviceman on a military base (Navy, I think) in Spain. All the service done had been done over there until the car was brought back to the states with the serviceman when he returned stateside. There were 1 or 2 service records from a dealer in San Diego, and then apparently the car was sold.

Carfax does not track cars outside of N. America, as far as I know. So, it is very likely that the car was purchased overseas and them imported into the US, perhaps by the original owner. Carfax would pick up the car at the point of importation and registration, and state the mileage first recorded in a location that would report it to them, such as a state car title dept., registration, service dept., etc. A less obvious version of the above would be if someone bought a BMW on European Delivery, them imported it to N. America after putting a few thousand kms on it. That is true of the Carfax record of my 1M, which starts out in Canada being registered with 4662 km on it, a couple of months after the European Delivery was taken. I believe the car was driven for several weeks in Europe, then it took a month or so to transport it back to Canada. This can lead to some confusion as to the remaining duration of warranty, because one would perhaps assume that the warranty started with "Registration Issued or Renewed, First Owner Reported," when in fact the warranty would start when the car was picked up in Europe, not when its existence was first noted in N. America.

It is my understanding that overseas US servicemen can purchased US spec vehicles while over there, and then import them into the US with relatively little hassle to them.

Ah very interesting that makes total sense... Thanks!