Imported Car Mileage Discrepancy

[Thunderbug]

Hi all, apologies in advance if this is in the wrong section.

The situation:

Purchased a R33 Skyline with 78000 km on the clock. A week or so after got it home noticed a mileage issue, with the service documentation showing the following :-

1997 - 10675km
1999 - 45332km
2000 - 49721 km
2001 - 55867km
2003 - 11271km
2005 - 22188km
2007 - 33476km
2009 - 44838km
2009 - 46303km
2011 - 53680km
2013 - 57459km
2015 - 64262km
2016 - 69301km

Obviously there appears to be a discrepancy here with 2001/2003 figures.

I questioned the dealer on this and he said

"It is genuine the confusion is because of wrong info on the speedometer change they've multiplied the displayed read by 10 on those first few checks".

He said he would send the docs back to Japan to have the mileage corrected in the books. (i made scans of all documentation before sending it back with date, time and identify stamps). I have received the documentation back today there are several pages missing and the new mileages provided are as follows :

1997 - 1057
1999 - 4523
2000 - 4962
2001 - 5576
2003 - 11271
same as above from here onward

I have used a Japanese odometer check service and have received the auction documentation which also highlights the 78,000km as being not genuine.

When i questioned the dealer he said that people dont drive very far in Japan hence the really low initial miles for the first few years. So with this background I have several questions

1) What are the chances the mileage was multiplied by 10, is this even a thing that can happen?

2) Am i within reasonable grounds to return the car due it being advertised with incorrect mileage?

3) I am not an expert on this and was wondering what more knowledgeable peoples opinions are on this matter and whether i should trust the mileage or seek to return the car.

Thanks in advanced for any help. If you require any more info on this please ask and i will provide if i can as i really want to get this matter resolved as soon and as amicably as possible.

[Axeboy]

For me it looks like the clocks were switched to aftermarket from 1997 to 2003 and then the original clocks put back in, maybe before selling.

Its hugely common on Skylines in particular, but whether thats an issue is more up to you. It happens loads with Skylines, there are a number of different cluster options and they change them often.

[Thunderbug]

Hi, thanks for the reply. Yeah i came to same conclusion that the mileage was due to clocks being changed although as the current clocks are aftermarket (sorry should have mentioned that), it seems as though the car was on stock clocks until some time in between 01 and 03 which is why the mileage would have reset to 0 and then the 11k is what was done between switching the aftermarket clocks and the service. Although with both scenarios the car has done more miles than advertised 78,000km.

the car was advertised with the 78,000km but when if u add it up on the favourable side for the car it has done 125,000km. It was priced at the top end of R33 money for the car due to the low miles and I was not told about the discrepancy by the dealer.

I just want to make sure the consensus is that the car has done more miles than advertised. I dont believe that the new figures provided are authentic, they don't make sense when looking at the mileage, so i think i can discount them, i'm not sure why the seller has tried a fast one like this however.

[Axeboy]

Id say you have a fair reason to return the car yes, if its been sold on the mileage and you have spent that money on a lower mileage example then by all means, go for it.

I agree with you, the second set of info just looks suspicious and doesnt make much sense.

In saying that, if you are happy with the car and really do want it, it may be worth just speaking with them and coming up with some agreement.