How do buyers mitigate mileage correction?
Discussion
I’m in the hunt for a diesel estate, and I’m constantly seeing signs of cars being “corrected”, one I’ve seen today was for sale in Jul 22 with 80+ thousand miles, now it’s for sale for £5k more with the clock now showing under 20k miles.
The first giveaway was the front bumper which looks like it had followed a gritter for its first 3 years of life, the second giveaway was total car check which looks to confirm my concerns.
How do we as buyers mitigate this risk? Garages don’t seem too bothered to hide it these days.
The first giveaway was the front bumper which looks like it had followed a gritter for its first 3 years of life, the second giveaway was total car check which looks to confirm my concerns.
How do we as buyers mitigate this risk? Garages don’t seem too bothered to hide it these days.
Presumably this is a car that was 'corrected' before its first MoT test? Since electronic records with public access started in 2006 ish, it's obvious otherwise.
It HAS been done though, and a cursory check reveals it. It can be as genuine as a failed odometer or instrument cluster. AFAIUT, it's not illegal, since it is considered an indicator. But any dealer (or private seller for that matter) selling a car stating it as genuine when they know it isn't, is breaking the law.
Similarly, accident damage / repair should be admitted, but only if they 'know' about it.
It HAS been done though, and a cursory check reveals it. It can be as genuine as a failed odometer or instrument cluster. AFAIUT, it's not illegal, since it is considered an indicator. But any dealer (or private seller for that matter) selling a car stating it as genuine when they know it isn't, is breaking the law.
Similarly, accident damage / repair should be admitted, but only if they 'know' about it.fflump said:
Online MoT history and historical service invoices (not just stamps) will show up most discrepancies.
Sadly this is not the case. Most corrections are small but regular e.g taking 10k off before the annual service and MOT. In reality only main dealers can read ECU data but most won’t want to get involved so claim they can’t.1) Look at the condition of the car - interior contact points, front end paint as stated
2) Tyres - if they have a recent date stamp all round but are worn, then how many miles has it really done since the last MoT?
I bought a 12 year old car on 25k miles. It was
- noticeably 'newer' feeling inside than other examples
- had a documented one owner history, and said owner had a credible story to tell about why he hadn't driven it much
if I was going to buy a car that had unusually low mileage for the year, I'd want to see both of the above to give me confidence it was genuine.
At a certain point though, if the car seems in good condition with good recent service history, you just accept the stated mileage as a number and assume that it'll carry the same value when you come to sell.
A few of the You Tube channels I watch have been advertising a car checking service called Car Vertical, from what I've seen it shows you the cars mileage on a graph across it's life and also reports if a car has been crashed, written off and repaired, apparently with photos.
No idea if it's actually any good or the cost but like I said I've seen it pushed (with a discount code) on Drive Tribe, Car Throttle, Matt Armstrong, etc but does seem cover a lot of the bases.
No idea if it's actually any good or the cost but like I said I've seen it pushed (with a discount code) on Drive Tribe, Car Throttle, Matt Armstrong, etc but does seem cover a lot of the bases.
Looking at 1-1.5 year old Ioniq EVs and this is minefield isn't it.
https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/tips-advice/88547/mi...
https://forum.cardealermagazine.co.uk/topic/9520-m...
Particularly when you are looking at 1-3 year old cars which might have had a mileage blocker or just been wound back before service.
Can check if not a minicab but the if 6% of cars are still clocked it amazes me that it is that acceptable to steal from the lease companies to this extent. Warranty is presumably altogether void which in an EV in particular doesn't half reduce the value.
Carly looks like a good shout, will have a look at it.
https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/tips-advice/88547/mi...
https://forum.cardealermagazine.co.uk/topic/9520-m...
Particularly when you are looking at 1-3 year old cars which might have had a mileage blocker or just been wound back before service.
Can check if not a minicab but the if 6% of cars are still clocked it amazes me that it is that acceptable to steal from the lease companies to this extent. Warranty is presumably altogether void which in an EV in particular doesn't half reduce the value.
Carly looks like a good shout, will have a look at it.
Don't buy diesel estates! Or any other cars that tend to get used to do high mileages (ex-taxi/private hire, company cars, etc) so yeah things like hybrids too
Buy cars with a lot of miles already on them.
Otherwise, there's the more obvious stuff like checking MOT history, avoiding cars from Northern Ireland, using VCheck.
I wonder if you can pull up mileage info from the ECU using an OBD reader that will link to your iphone?
Buy cars with a lot of miles already on them.
Otherwise, there's the more obvious stuff like checking MOT history, avoiding cars from Northern Ireland, using VCheck.
I wonder if you can pull up mileage info from the ECU using an OBD reader that will link to your iphone?
I suspect a lot of cars now are lease cars and have a mileage blocker as they are on 5000 mile a year leases. Literally the only way you are going to know is by the condition of the car, and even then that can be hard to tell. Would you be able to tell that a three year old BMW had actually done 50K miles instead of the 15K on the clocks?
Years ago my friend bought a 3 year old A4 1.9 diesel with under 15K miles on the clock. I am certain it had been clocked as by 80K miles lots of things were going wrong with it.
My ex wife bought an old E46 3 series with 100K on the clock. I had one with similar mileage and hers felt like a baggy pile of crap compared to mine. Once I connected it to my laptop and used INPA the true mileage was 170K miles which made complete sense.
I would imagine there is a very high chance of anything remotely prestige being clocked, especially if it is a diesel. I am sure there was a story on here years ago of someone looking for a VW Tiguan who had a friend who worked at a dealer. Out of 10 cars he checked, 8 out them had been clocked.
As for supercars, pretty much a certainty. They will be clocked every year before the MOT.
Years ago my friend bought a 3 year old A4 1.9 diesel with under 15K miles on the clock. I am certain it had been clocked as by 80K miles lots of things were going wrong with it.
My ex wife bought an old E46 3 series with 100K on the clock. I had one with similar mileage and hers felt like a baggy pile of crap compared to mine. Once I connected it to my laptop and used INPA the true mileage was 170K miles which made complete sense.
I would imagine there is a very high chance of anything remotely prestige being clocked, especially if it is a diesel. I am sure there was a story on here years ago of someone looking for a VW Tiguan who had a friend who worked at a dealer. Out of 10 cars he checked, 8 out them had been clocked.
As for supercars, pretty much a certainty. They will be clocked every year before the MOT.
Mx5 went up for sale today locally, new shape car with 11k miles.
I’d have my doubts.
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I’d have my doubts.
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irish boy said:
Mx5 went up for sale today locally, new shape car with 11k miles.
I’d have my doubts.
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Probably from the female drivers high heeled shoe I’d have my doubts.
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irish boy said:
Mx5 went up for sale today locally, new shape car with 11k miles.
I’d have my doubts.
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I bought new, genuine mats for my car and after 45K miles the bit where your heel sits is completely flat, but not worn through. Even with high heels I struggle to believe that has done 11K.I’d have my doubts.
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karl922 said:
I’ll probably move onto the next car then, on closer inspection even the steering wheel is super shiny which is another giveaway.
This is the check that got me worried, not sure if it was a mistake or something.
Shiny steering wheel isn't necessarily a giveaway, my sweat can make a brand new steering wheel shiny in 10k miles for some reasonThis is the check that got me worried, not sure if it was a mistake or something.
MOT history, checking wear on the seats, steering wheel, pedals and commonly touched surfaces can all be indicators. The old American cars that get "revived" on youTube are often judged by these characteristics since the odometer only reaches 99999 before it resets. Check for stone chips on the front too. Unless they religiously drive behind lorries on rally stages then that can be a telling factor. I suppose you could even check the tyres too. If they're all mismatched in terms of date then it could be that it's been driving all over the place and picking up punctures. Clutching at straws on that, though.
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