I test drove a 2002 Cooper today. The engine stumbled a few times when cold. I assume it needs the software update I read about elsewhere here on MCO.

The owner says he's the 2nd owner, bought it with 2000 miles on it and now it has 4000. He's selling it to pay for a home remodeling project and his daughter's wedding. Sounds reasonable and the guy doesn't come across as dishonest at all.

But Carfax says he's the 3rd owner and it detected a possible case of odometer rollback. It shows it sold at auction in May 2002 with 9775 miles on it, then a title was issued to the first private owner in October with 9875 miles on it, then a corrected title was issued in December to a new owner but with 987 miles on the odometer, then a 3rd title was issued 10 days later in December to a 3rd owner but with no mileage listed.

I'm thinking the odometer issue is due to a decimal recording mistake (it had 977.5 miles on it but someone wrote it down as 9775), and it's now been corrected. But I think Carfax showing it as a potential rollback case will scare off potential buyers in the future. Does anyone know - can you get Carfax to put a better explanation in their reports to clear up things like this?