TimButterfield

Other than for nefarious reasons, why might a vehicle history report run in Russia differ from the report run with CARFAX? It's a 2010 ML350 for sale in Russia. The VIN from the windshield and driver's door panel match. VIN decodes from Elia's carinfo.kiev.ua and lastvin.com show correct vehicle descriptions. But, they also show half a dozen or so item/part code descriptions for things like 494 U.S. VERSION, 359 TELEAID USA, 705L UNITED STATES (USA), 7XXL NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA, U71 DVD PLAYER WITH REGIONAL CODE 1, USA, etc. The door sticker said it was made in Alabama, but wouldn't vehicles destined for Europe/Russia have parts that are not USA specific? It was enough to cause me to check CARFAX. The CARFAX report shows a lease when new from 2010, returning to the dealer in 2013 with 99K+ miles (160K+ km), before being sold at auction and exported to Finland. The Russia vehicle report says single owner bought new in 2013 with the expected additional entries for registration/updates. It fits within the claimed 120,000 km in the ad. It also fits the timeline of the CARFAX report. The owner said it was purchased new from an official MB dealer and all service was done there. Vehicle wear doesn't look like 280,000 km, though the imitation leather may wear better than the real thing. But, it doesn't seem as if both reports can be right.

How can this disparity be explained? Was there a reset somehow or might there be some other reason for the history differences for the same VIN?

Thanks for any info/insights.

Zahmed1094

You are writing about disparities over countries. I had filled out purchase agreement, bought a vehicle from Vroom (a #016 Audi TT) with 45+k mikes. The Carfax showed the same mileage, the last record of service a year ago. I was waiting for the car to be delivered. I went online and found that Auto Check had 65,500+ Mikes on the same car. Vroom could not understand the discrepancy either. They have it on sale again with 45k miles on their website. I got refunded because I wouldn’t buy a car without such discrepancies.