Do towed vehicles rack up miles?

[jefffoxsr]

I am looking at buying a 2012 Jeep wrangler that has 145,000 miles. It is has a manual transmission. The salesman is saying that the miles are that high because it was towed behind a motor home.

Would being towed behind a motor home rack up miles on the odometer?


Is there a way to figure out if the salesman is telling the truth? I wouldn't normally want to buy a vehicle with that many miles, but if the engine has low miles and the rest of the vehicle is clean then maybe I would buy it?

Thanks for your experience and help. I appreciate it.

Jeff Fox

[jefffoxsr]

Thank you very much for all the information. I appreciate it very much. 🙂

[mowermech]

jefffoxsr wrote:
I am looking at buying a 2012 Jeep wrangler that has 145,000 miles. It is has a manual transmission. The salesman is saying that the miles are that high because it was towed behind a motor home.

Would being towed behind a motor home rack up miles on the odometer?


Is there a way to figure out if the salesman is telling the truth? I wouldn't normally want to buy a vehicle with that many miles, but if the engine has low miles and the rest of the vehicle is clean then maybe I would buy it?

Thanks for your experience and help. I appreciate it.

Jeff Fox

The salesman either doesn't know what he is talking about, or is deliberately telling a falsehood.
The only way a modern vehicle with electric/electronic speedometer can put miles on the odometer is if the ignition is left in the RUN position while towing. That would be a really dumb thing to do, because the later model Jeeps don't have a steering lock and the switch can be in the OFF position while towing. Even if the '12 model does have the steering lock, the switch should be in the ACC position while towing, and the odometer is not energized.
Jeep, and many other manufacturers, in their infinite wisdom, removed the "OFF, not locked" position from the switches. Speaking of dumb...

[Lancslad]

Our 2003 Dodge Dakota has 165K on the odometer and an additional 120K towing.(We know the previous owner).It does not rack up towing miles and follows us without complaint!!

[packnrat]

easy answer. run away from this car.

.

[jplante4]

jefffoxsr wrote:
Is there a way to figure out if the salesman is telling the truth?

Are his lips moving?

[j-d]

We've had four toads, all manual transmission. The older ones, 88 Mitsubishi and 93 Toyota, used mechanical speedometer/odometer with the old fashioned "speedometer cable" from transmission/transaxle right to the speedometer "head" and of course logged miles. Toyota cable was easily disconnected and I often did that.
Two newer ones, 06 Toyota and 09 Nissan, are electronic and don't log miles with the key in ACC to unlock the column. I suspect that if I left the key in RUN (a bad idea for many reasons!) it probably would.

[LadyRVer]

I have had 4 toads... Saturn, Cavalier, Cobalt and Fiat. Only Cavalier was automatic. None of the 4 accumulated miles on the odometer.

Motor might not be on, but all other moving parts are still being used?

[Chuck_thehammer]

.
another USED CAR SALESMAN.. trying to make a sale.. at any LIE..

/

electric and/or electronic speedometer/odometer do not collect mileage being towed..

analog speedometer with cable drives do....

[ScottG]

That dealer is full of it.
The real truth is that cars running gear has a lot more than 145,000 miles on it if it was indeed a towed.

[Dutch_12078]

Pretty much all modern vehicles have electronic odometer/speedometer gauges, even with analog dials, that do not rack up miles when the ignition is off.

[gbopp]

This 2012 Jeep Wrangler does not accumulate miles while being towed.

[jmckelvy]

My 2000 Jeep Cherokee does not. It is an automatic so don't know if that makes a difference. A 2012 may be totally different.