johnss5

Hi everyone,

I am looking to buy a 2001 GT convertible with 69K on it. The car is in NH and the owner claims it was never driven in the winter. The car runs and drives good and based on how clean and rust free the upper body and underneath are I believe he is telling the truth. My one concern is that I question the accuracy of the odometer based on how worn and torn the driver’s side seat is. I ran a CARFAX and based on the inspection reports the miles go up every year at an average of 5.5K per year. I have a hard time believing he consistently disconnected and reconnected the odometer year after year but I guess you never know. My thought is since it’s a convertible the seats just took a beating from the sun and he clearly never treated the leather. He was asking 8k for the car but I got it down to 6K because of the overall poor condition of the interior. Should I be concerned or am I just being paranoid?

Thanks

MaxxRPM

It's hard to say.................Is the owner heavy?

How is the rest of the interior? Things like carpet (on the drivers side), wear on the steering wheel, brake pedal, center console armrest, drivers door panel, etc.......

johnss5

He's a pretty big guy probably about 6.1\6.2. He also climbed telephone poles for a living so if he ever took this to work I assume he was wearing some pretty rugged cloths and possible tool belt. My father in-law has a 05 convertible vette with 2500 miles on it and his seats are already wearing. He is a big dude about 6 foot 1 280 lbs.

The carpet looks ok but I did notice the arrows on the top, windows and door lock bottoms were wearing off. The paint on the hood and trunk is a little faded so the car did probably sit in the sun quite often.

johnss5

Honestly the more I read about the damage the sun can cause to a convertibles interior (especially leather) the more I think the odometer reading is legit.

TRexGAWD

A lot of cosmetic stuff but if it is mechanically smooth then I wouldn't worry too much.. You can always take care of the looks and still be able to drive it at the same time.

johnss5

Agreed, thanks for the advice.

Docmo

Johnss5, I recently bought a 1999 Mustang convertible, with 73000 miles and the only wear indication is on the driver's seat. It is not on the whole seat, it is on the lower part of the seat, and I believe it is the way the seat is made as it comes out, and to get into the vehicle one's rear end puts pressure on that spot which is about 3" inches and it indicates wear, whereas the rest of the seats and interior of the vehicle looks brand new. No peddle wear to indicate that it has even been driven the amount of miles on the odometer. The steering wheel is perfect, not even a speck of flaw.
Possible your car has the same type of bucket seats. I don't know if you are speaking of overall wear on the whole seat, or only in the wrap section of the driver's seat.