Paperwork

It truly is amazing how the simplest things can go awry. We received the title from Mike the seller yesterday; however, he did not fill out and sign the odometer statement. When I asked him about this he said it wasn't required for cars built before model year 2000. Not quite correct as the rules in both California and Virginia state the odometer mileage reading is encouraged, but not mandatory for vehicles over 10 years old. That said, once you fail to report mileage on an older car during title transfer the car will forever be listed as "milage reporting optional," which in truth means you can never have a legally binding statement of actual odometer reading for that specific vehicle ever again. This will eventually debase the value of the car and reduce its collectability quotient.

Having reviewed the CARFAX there doesn't seem to be any discrepancy in the mileage so I'm not entirely sure why Mike chose not to fill out the mileage statement other than it was "optional" and maybe not worth the bother. Maybe it's a generational thing, lack of attention to detail or simply not realizing the long-term effect of deleting that reporting point. If it were simply any other 560SEC, which we planned to toss about for a few years and then sell off it would be one thing, but that isn't the case here. We plan on putting a bit of money into the car and keeping it for quite some time.

As a result of the above, I spent a bit of time pondering exactly what to do. In the end I FedExed the title back to Mike and requested he fill out the odometer statement. This will delay titling and insuring the car in our names and it cost me a bit of money for the overnight/Saturday service, but I think it will be worth it to have the mileage verified in the long term. Hopefully, everything will be well come Tuesday. In the meantime I think I'll enjoy the weekend with my darling wife Avril.