Keith’s Blog: Have I Been Scammed?

This story is a little complicated, so buckle your seatbelt and get ready for a ride.

It’s now easier than ever to look up the history of your car.

While the wealth of knowledge makes your life simpler, there are still fraudsters out there. Before I bought my 1991 Alfa S4 Spider, I never did a Google search on the VIN. Nor did I did I ask for a picture of the front and back of the title.

I bought the car on Feb 3, 2022. The listing on eBay stated that it had 16,000 original miles and was “like new.”

Part of the reason I bought it without research was the low mileage. Also, the seller was an SCM subscriber. I didn’t bother to do a VIN look-up. An old joke around here is, “Who would screw me? After all I’m the SCM Publisher and have the power of the pen!”

And the answer is, anybody who can.

The friend who picked up the car for me in Palm Springs said it looked like a true 16,000-mile car. No wear to the seats or top, perfect paint, etc. The only thing not working was the A/C (“it just needs a recharge” said the shop $2,500 and a new compressor later.)

It wasn’t until I was registering the car that I noted the VIN on the car I bought (ZARBB42N1M6006871) was different than the VIN in the eBay ad (ZARBB32N8M6010751). Thankfully the title I’d been given had my Alfa’s correct VIN, not the eBay version.

Still, I used a VIN verification program called Bumper and bought a 7-day pass for $5.

I looked up my VIN (the one on the car), and SURPRISE!

The car showed seven previous owners, and sales at mileages of 67,740 to 71,245 when it sold for $3,500 in Columbus, OH. I paid around $15,000 for the car and thought I got a deal.

It also showed a sale in Virginia for $13,000 with mileage of 71,469.

Then, the sale in February 2022 on eBay with 84,469 miles. Hmmm. That was my purchase, but not the right miles.

The oldest sale it shows is in January 2015 from Brambleton Imports in Virginia, with a reported 16,836 miles.

I vaguely recall doing a VIN Google search right after I bought the car. I found a “for sale” listing on the Alfa Bulletin Board (now disappeared) that listed a higher mileage and a variety of repairs. These included a dash cap replacement, which I then verified had been done. Why didn’t I put up a red flag? Frankly, I just didn’t care.

I’ve very much enjoyed driving the car, and it now shows a very believable 26,000 miles. Since I don’t intend on selling it in the near future, let’s just leave well enough alone. Worst case, it ends up having been stolen and the insurance company takes it away from me. Which would be irritating, especially after I just spent $1,900 on a new top.

But in the end, it’s just an Alfa S4 Spider with the dreaded automatic. We are not talking about a million-dollar Ferrari.

Clearly at some point there has been a VIN and title mix-up. Just as clearly, something odd has gone on with the speedometer.

Of course, when I do eventually put the car up for sale, I’ll have a hard time explaining two odometer readings, one of 26,000 miles and another of 84,469.

I’ll leave it to you SCM sleuths to tell me what you think is really going on here.

I look forward to reading your conclusions below. And as a bonus, we’ll send an SCM hat to the most likely solver of the puzzle.

Read my previous blog posts here.

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