Hello everyone,

I'm not sure where this post belongs but I recently acquired a low mileage collector grade R1.

I just received the title and the odometer reading is blank. I know odometer disclosures are not
required for vehicles older than 10 years but all of my other "old" cars have the mileage indicated
on the title. It appears someone at the DMV just got lazy and didn't take the time to input it.

Has anyone else ever seen this ? Should I investigate having it corrected ? Will this create
an issue with CARFAX / Autocheck down the road ?

 

Don't know how they do titles in CA, but in all the times I've purchased a used car from someone in-state or out of my home state, the process generally works like this:

1. Seller has a legal title issued in his state, and he signs that title over to you when you close the deal on buying the car.
2. Depending on the seller's state's title requirements, when he signs the title over to you, there is normally a place on the title document where he will have to fill in the current odometer reading, enter the date the deal closed and sometimes include the sale price. There's usually a certification on the title that all information entered on the title is correct that the seller signs up to.
3. You then take the signed-over title to your state's DMV and go thru whatever process they have to get a new title issued to you from your state. If the signed-over title from the seller's state was completed correctly (and assuming the DMV folks didn't eff it up), you'll get a new title in your name with the correct odometer miles indicated.

Personally I've never seen this, but it happened once to a friend. In his case, the new title had the wrong mileage on it, because the DMV clerk couldn't read the seller's crappy hand writing correctly - she couldn't tell his 5's from 6's! He didn't bother trying to get it corrected, since this was just a used beater car he picked up for his kid, so he wasn't worried about the car's value. In your case, since the odometer reading is blank, I'd guess the previous owner didn't fill that part out on the title document and/or you didn't catch that omission before handing it over to the DMV. Either way, this would show up as an odo inconsistency in a future Carfax report, and I'd get that fixed ASAP since that would effect a collector's car value.

 

In Missouri they are placing an * in the mileage block if the vehicle is over 10 years old. I purchased an out of state vehicle last year that was over 10 years old and even though Missouri requires either an odometer reading or an inspection verifying the mileage; the mileage was not recorded on my title.

In 2019 I also had the DMV issue a new title for my FD because I was adding a Transfer on Death name. While the original title had the mileage listed the new title does not.

With respect to Carfax, normally if the car is inspected the mileage is indicated.

 

Thanks for the feedback guys. The car was purchased through a dealer so they handled the paperwork. I do have copies of everything that was sent to the DMV and the mileage is listed on the paperwork.
Like I said, I'm pretty sure someone at the DMV just forgot to enter it.

Found an old thread from an NSX forum where the same thing happened.
Mileage missing from title

Any feedback from CA guys ?

 

This was a number of years ago, but based on the Carfax report. The previous registered mileage was 15k and my first one was 12k in CA but they could not edit the previous entry.
Carfax kicked out a warning that there was a mileage discrepancy. I forget the exact wording. Since it was only a few thousand miles and the dates were pretty close, it seemed to recognize it as probably clerical error.
There are events on the Carfax report that don't include mileage. As long as your next reported mileage is an increase from the last record, it should be fine.

 

Both my FD title show exempted on the mileage, that’s standard for DMV here if the car is 10 years or older. I entered mileage for both cars when I register them, but the clerk said it doesn’t matter it’ll still show exempted, and she entered everything into the system exactly how I wrote it on the paper. I took picture of the previous title which still has the mileage recorded, not sure how useful it is especially the car rarely move in the last 10 years lol.

 

Yeah here in Florida on 10+ year old cars it just says "ODOMETER EXEMPT" on the title in the mileage box.

May just be worth making a trip to the DMV and talk to someone there about it. I would bring the car if possible so if they needed to go to the parking lot to verify vin/odometer they can.

Dale