milage, faked easily?

Friend is looking at a Tacoma with suspiciously low miles. Haven't seen truck, any way to tell miles are as advertised? If it's in good shape, can you get into the computer and verify somehow?

 

What year and how many miles. Miles can be rolled back if you know the right people

 

I don't see how you could with modern digital clusters, and sum-checks in the ECU. First off the cluster would have to be reprogrammed with the new mileage, then the ECU would have to get not just reprogrammed, but totally reflashed because the mileage is stored in non-volatile memory, meaning you would have to be able to get directly into code. According to diagnostic information that I have, if the mileage in the ECU and mileage in the cluster do not agree by more than something like 10%, then a code is set and the check engine light comes on.

Would be nice to know the mileage and the year. Perhaps a Carfax history check would be in order?

 

I got a used Yaris and a new Tacoma on the same day... mainly because I'm not retarded and knew I'd get poor mileage out of my truck. Had both for 3 months, I've put 1000 miles on my Tacoma and about 4000 miles on the Yaris. I only drive the Taco on the weekends. This is my scenario, but since OP has provided an useless amount of information for us ... I can't really compare it to what's going on here.

 

Many states require a state inspection and require the mileage to be recorded at each inspection You can check with the state inspection dept. and compare the mileage with the odometer reading. Also any service that has been done will show the mileage. Check with the service provider as well.

 

If you make an account on www.toyotaowners.com and enter the VIN itll tell you the mileage on it last time it was serviced... thats the best thing i can think to check.

 

Thanks. I have a friend that I've driven in my truck, and he wants one. I know next to nothing about the truck, he says it's a 2010 with 30 k miles if I remember right. Not working with him today. Just feeling the waters. Thanks for all info. I'll get more info on truck and post more details.

 

Thats not really THAT low. I wouldn't be suspicious. The truck could have easily been their second vehicle. I have a beater Mazda (for my 50 mile work commute), a motorcycle, and my Tacoma. In the summer when its nice I always take the bike or the Mazda. The truck gets driven once or twice a week around town.

 

I don't think 30k miles is suspiciously low on a 4 year old truck.

 

It's easy to do on a Ferrari.


Don't think it's easy on a Tacoma.

 

To answer your question....yes it is very easy. Give me five minutes under your hood and your Taco would gain no additional mileage and no one including Toyota would know (two people I know did this on leased Tacos). I also know people who have paid to have their mileage turned back. That said check for wear marks that lead you to think it has more miles (pedals/seats/wear items etc).

Everyone should do this when buying used regardless of the mileage and if everyone knew how easy it was to turn off the ODO they would do so. I won't get into how it's done, but when I was shown my mind was blown at the simplicity of it.

 

I mainly ride my Harley to work during the week. I had a 2001 Dakota Quad cab V8 that I only put about 60k miles on it in 9 years so it is possible

 

I have a 2010 that I purchased new in Aug 2009 so it is 5 years old now. I have just over 52k on the odo so if they drive less than me, which isn't much, that is not suspicious mileage to me. Especially if it was purchased at the end of the model year, as opposed to the beginning like mine was.

 

Put it on blocks and run it in reverse right?

 

I bought my first taco 2001 sr5 access cab with 44xxx miles on it. Ran great and looked new. It was used by the previous owner as his 2nd vehicle for Home Depot runs ect.
My current taco is a 2006 sr5 with 78xxx. I bought it with 64xxx on the clock. Still Looks good too!

Btw I bought the 2001 last summer (2013), Sold it back to toyota due to bad frame.
Bought the 2006 last September after the 2001 was sold.

 

I just turned 50,000 on my 07

 

I only put 1,500 miles on mine in two years...

 

At this time I only expect to put about 8,000 miles on my 2014.
It is my daily driver, I am at 9 1/2 months old and just have over 6,000 on it.

 

In texas, every vehicle has to get inspected every year. The inspection writes down your milage. Now, if you wantto check run ccarfax, it will give you the last milage on the truck when it was inspected. Then by going off that last milage shown, you can compare it to what you see on the cluster. If it's lower than car fax report. Then it was turned back. Or replaced

 

Look for the tell tale signs of use. Worn pedals, interior fabric condition, door sill plastic, etc.

Back when I was shopping around for my tacoma, I found a dealer that had one with 60K on the odo. The dealers site offered a free carfax report. The report showed it was in for service 45 days prior to sale. The mileage at the time of service was 34K. Somehow it gained 26K miles in 45 days. That's over 600 miles of driving per day.