NeverAgain187

I bought a 99 silverado 1500 LS 4WD Z71 5.3L from an 88 yr old man a few houses over from where my wife and i just moved into from another state a year ago. He just put the for sale sign on it in his driveway like an hour before i saw it passing by from doing some car shopping. 73k miles on the odometer. Clean. I gave it a NO BS harsh test drive on pavement and was impressed. it drove like 73k miles on it and his asking price backed that up. The old man breathing with an oxygen tank said this truck was his secondary vehicle he only used for pulling his boat that he no longer had and so no longer needed this truck. Then a neighbor came walkn up and was looking to buy it on the spot right now. I explained that i was in the middle of doing just that. No time for carfax so I talked him down to fair blue book and paid him. Not once did i even consider that there was anything wrong with its title. Nor did he mention a word about it either. Plus i had no plans of ever selling it at that time and got a little caught up and missed the WA20020816NOT ACTUAL on the title. We both signed off on it and i drove it home. Uh, 3 houses up the street. Ive owned it a year now and put a lot of time, money and new parts turning it from an old truck to super healthy born again hard only to find out that it has a not actual branding on its title! I couldnt believe i missed that when i bought it. Because i never would have if i had seen that. So now im stuck with this damn thing that i have to sell because we are moving again, that is in amazing condition that im not sure has any resale value?! Its mileage is exempt on its title but its also branded since 2016 and i dont know why? I dont know how i can prove to any would be buyer that the miles are original other than its service records which all show consistant mileage leading up to its current reading. Ugh, what a mess? Anybody got any advice on how i can get a couple grand over max blue book like i was about to before i learned about this branding?

Irish_alley

what is this "branding" you talk about, we dont have this in maryland at least not from what i remember or know

oldchevy

Is this a rebuilt title?

Doug D

Virginia has something similar. When a vehicle changes ownership the seller indicates if the vehicle mileage is accurate or not and signs the title. When the vehicle is retitled by the new owner it will have a notation of whether the mileage is accurate or not. If not, it usually has NOT ACTUAL XX,XXXX with the XX,XXX as the estimated mileage at the time of transfer. I think if the speedometer/odometer is ever repaired by a dealer or shop they are suppose to report it to the state, but I am not sure.

As long as you can show the mileage of the vehicle is reasonable accurate with service records to the prospective buyer it shouldn't impact the value very much.

What does impact the value is if the vehicle title has a "SALVAGE" title. A vehicle title marked SALVAGE has low value due to it probably being "totaled" by an insurance company due to an accident or whatever. This is usually a case where the owner or someone bought the vehicle after it had been totaled, repaired it and applied for a title/registration. Once a insurance company totals a vehicle they get marked as SALVAGE. A vehicle with a title marked SALVAGE will have a low value even if it was successfully repaired and looks good.

Hope that helps.

NeverAgain187

NO the title is clean aside from this odometer branding for not actual mileage. However what i find confusing is that since the truck is over 10 years old, the mileage is now somehow no longer relevant and is officially by law exempt on the title. This makes ZERO sense to me. I can NOT see how dismissing the mileage of any vehicle past its age of 10 years could or would be at all acceptable if it is still all intact running and original?! i mean what group of idiots made this decision and then made it law? Sorry, this whole situation is really aggravating. But to answer your question, the title is clean. I just dont know if im justified in being able to charge a high price that i know its truly worth. Or if its a case of, too damn bad, and have to take a massive loss selling it for anything i can get no matter how little and just move on in life with this embarrassing financial scar. Damn...

Doug D

If it's just a title marked NOT ACTUAL for the mileage it should not be a "massive loss" for you. It may result in a slightly lower offer, but not a massive loss if it had a salvage title.

Now if you need to sell it quickly, yes, you may have to lower the asking price a bit, but it won't be like having a vehicle with a salvage title.

NeverAgain187

Id just like to say thank you to everyone that replied. So i went and got all the service records from a local shop that i knew this truck has history with. They were able to give me 6 different service records spaced out through the years that went back to 2004. All with documented mileage that was 100% consistent through out years 2004 - 2017. Then i found more service records that the previous owner gave me and all of those documents were also consistent. Lastly, i went and talked to the 89 year old man that sold me the truck and told him about the problem im having and showed him the carfax. He looked at that and said " this is absolutely WRONG! I bought this truck BRAND NEW in 2000. I am the original owner! The mileage on the odometer on this truck is 100% TRUE! anyone who says other wise is WRONG and you have them come talk to me!" So it seems that ive got a little bone to pick with stupid CARFAX for getting bad info from the stupid DEPT OF LICENSING here in WA who also has recieved bad information as well. Somebody has got a lot of explaining to do and im NOT going to be very understanding just like how they treated me! getting this straightened out is gonna be a pain! IM SURE. But, at least now i know where i stand as far as selling it with all service records and original owner to defend all negative claims against this truck for fraudulent or NOT ACTUAL mileage crap. The first thing im gonna do is go find that neighbor who wanted to buy this truck the same day i bought it and see if he still wants it. He wont care about some BS on its title because he knows the truth.