I'm looking to buy an 03 with 22k but it has cracks on the drivers

[boostz32]

side seat is this normal with such low mileage? Not major cracks but 2 small ones. I did a carfax and it seems to be accurate avg 4k per year

 

[eXcali]

Could you explain a little further?

Also don't take carfax for written law. I've used it a couple of times before and it only listed mileage at title changes. So if it were a 1 or 2 owner vehicle the records on mileage could be pretty slim.

As for the cracks, do you mean the leather is splitting/cracking? If so this could happen in a couple of years if the leather isn't properly conditioned and cleaned regularly.

My biggest concern with a vehicle with such low mileage would be what's wrong with it that it was driven so little. When vehicles show less than 1/2 the average mileage for such a large length of time it should throw up some pretty bright "Caution" signs. Right now your talking right around 3,100 miles per year as the vehicle would have been built in mid 2002-Jan 2003.

 

[boostz32]

yes the leather is splitting on the round corner. It is from a mazda dealer and the mileage seemed to be pretty consistant with yearly updates of mileage. I don't think the guy reset it every year but I could be wrong it appears to be in really good shape except for the seat split. If I bring to Ford do you think they can verify it. I know alot of people use the train in my area so I have seen some with 30k and 40k.

Could you explain a little further?

Also don't take carfax for written law. I've used it a couple of times before and it only listed mileage at title changes. So if it were a 1 or 2 owner vehicle the records on mileage could be pretty slim.

As for the cracks, do you mean the leather is splitting/cracking? If so this could happen in a couple of years if the leather isn't properly conditioned and cleaned regularly.

My biggest concern with a vehicle with such low mileage would be what's wrong with it that it was driven so little. When vehicles show less than 1/2 the average mileage for such a large length of time it should throw up some pretty bright "Caution" signs. Right now your talking right around 3,100 miles per year as the vehicle would have been built in mid 2002-Jan 2003.

 

[jackstraw78]

If it was a private/personal owned vehicle, I would call the previous owner. Most, not all, dealers can give you a copy of the title or the name of the previous owner. They can't give you a phone number though. That you would have to look up online or in a phone book. Good luck!

 

[Robsbrd99]

If you can get the Vin to a ford dealer, they can do whats called a Oaisis report on it. This will show what was done to it if it came in for warranty work.

 

[alexk]

I would think that might be normal. Even though there is such low mileage the leather can end up cracking from those really cold winters. Are there any pics of the seat on the dealers site?

 

[bisjoe]

If it's on the corner nearest the front and door, it's quite possible that the driver was heavy, got in and sat hard which will wear that corner a lot faster. Combine that with sitting 6 years and I wouldn't worry about it as far as a mileage trick.
With that few miles there are other things you can look at too, it should still have the original hoses, belts, exhaust system, spark plugs and maybe even brakes.

 

[jrford]

yes regretfully i have those same cracks in my leather, driver seat just on the corner. Thing i noticed is i don't use the step but just climb over it, puts a lot of stress on that corner.

 

[FordLover]

I don't have steps and I notice that the side of my seat (the vinyl part) is cracking. Leather is still in really good shape though

Mine is a 2002 with ~40K miles, and it's garaged. I put few miles on it because it's a second vehicle, and so we use it for road trips, and to pull the trailer, and when we need to move something big (like a TV or whatever).

 

[thepotroast]

I would have an OASIS report pulled for it. There are some members here who can do it for you, but do not openly advertise. PM me and I can FWD the info to them for you....

The OASIS report is the Ford internal database which shows any service performed at a dealership, as well as the complete build for the vehicle. Because the truck has very low mileage, my guess is the previous owner(s) likely had the truck serviced at the dealership if it needed it. The OASIS report will show this, not to mention mileage.

If you are buying the truck from a dealer, it would be pretty hard to believe that the dealer is pulling a fast one on you with the mileage....they likely did their research before buying the vehicle from auction or a trade in, and advertising it with that low mileage without verifying it. If not, there is an easy lawsuit...and in this day and age with the dealers, I doubt they would want that.

With that said, the interior cracking is likely because the truck sat outside with the windows up in the heat, the interior was not cared for properly, and thus...it looks older inside than it should. I have an '03 and my interior is mint....because it was cared for by myself and also the previous owner, I also have 130k miles and you wouldn't know it by looking at the inside.

If you're buying this from a MAZDA dealer they will not be able to help you with the OASIS report, it has to come from a ford dealership....and Ford doesn't just hand them out to anyone who walks into their service dept....you have to have a connection for it.

 

[gruss01]

That "cracking" is fairly normal. my old car had leather and that part of the drivers seat looked cracked even though i was constantly conditioning it to avoid the cracks. They weren't actually cracks just 'broken in' Our '03 only has 13k on it bought it last year with 9k from my dad who retired and just didnt drive it, sat in the garage, and my wife kinda putts around in it and averages about 4k a year. That kind of mileage service records would be great to have since even though there arent many miles they were prolly not highway miles, but @ 23k other than some possible dry-rotted hoses there really shouldnt be many issues.

 

[boostz32]

Well before buying it I had the car checked out buy the Ford service department and FOund out it came back as a TMU "True mileage unknown" so I got back my deposit and moved on. Clean carfax report also with yearly mileage logs?????? Are the digital dash easy for people to reset? I'm super paranoid now