I would think being in lake havasu, and the low miles, tells me they probably are older/retired (low miles because they don't drive it to work). Third owner could have been a snowbird, but I would guess wanted a non-rusted out vehicle since they put on average mileage. They may have hit 100k miles, and thought that it needed to be traded in to not worry about maintenance (which is why the missing oil changes is bothersome). They may have not put anything into it, and let it go 40K miles without changing the oil (which is slim). Do you know if this area has inspections? Could they have done their own maintenance and got an inspection done at the dealer, and just needed wipers to pass??? (just throwing it out there)….
A dealer could have taken it in on trade. The terms are slightly flexible, but its basically 100-120K miles 10-12 years old that a vehicle is eligible for financing. Buy here/pay here places can take it a little farther. Most of that place has inventory looks like its just within the range, and they have all makes. If they did buy it at a dealer auction, they probably got it for half of what they are asking.
As for calling the dealership in the Carfax , yeah: I was looking at a vehicle locally, and the Carfax shows you did some work on it at one point, (on the PA dealer, but it says just the wiper blades). I was hoping you could tell me about the vehicle …… I'm not sure if they can or will tell you, not sure if they would have what it sold for, what if any work was done to it, but it won't hurt to ask... I would just realize they know you're clearly not getting any work done through them (when you call). Just have the vin and dates handy, be polite, know what you want to ask, and know they are always busy.
