Yeah, sometimes they arent dilligent.
I believe on Dateline or something similar, they had a story about some kidnapping rapist.
The 2nd woman went to the place, gave a detailed description of the car including make and model. They didnt catch him till 3-4 women later because...
She was off by one year on the make and model, and apparently they didnt think to look up the records of any other year.
I mean look like if someone said say the 1975 model, you would 1973-77 just in case. At least 74-76? Oy.