Then I suggest you print off the MOT history and/or get an HPI check done on your car and take it up with the seller if there's any discrepancy; I know the previous owners and I have sincere doubts about the milage on it so you should check it out.

Sounds like an interesting tale, do tell us more

Nothing really to tell, friend's parent sold the car on mega-milage after a lot of motorway commuting, friend happened to see the advert on Autotrader, rang up to "inquire" about the car but it had sold. So I'm just hoping it's not to anyone on here

No beating about the bush, they were fraudulently claiming less miles ? Doesn't have to get sold for something to get done about that, inform trading standards pronto. Less sharks to rip people off the better.

Shrug, I'm saying nothing concrete because I can't be arsed with the usual forum "witch hunt" complaints. But yes, I believe the seller had fraudulently removed several thousand miles from the car, so if the new owner is on here they should spend a few quid and check (or just get the MOT history pulled up from the Government website).

It wasn't my car so I don't have any proof for Trading Standards, the previous owners know about the advert so if they choose to do something it's up to them. I just thought I'd put something on here to urge the new owner to look into it and to do something about it if things don't add up (which I'm pretty sure they won't).

This sort of thing will go on and on until they make the punishment suit the crime, minimum £1000 fine etc

The number of times I dealt with complaints of this nature defies belief.

Interesting, but you should report it if you are concerned. Not just warn us, there's a poor person out there (potentially) and it might even put them off Skoda's for life if they didn't know what had happened. :(

I thought it was legal to wind the clocks back if you tell the potential buyer. Obviously you would have to inform DVLA or the like?

Dont 100% quote me on that tho!

Report what though? It seems a typical layby seller. Photos in a place with no identifying features, no name or location, just a mobile phone number. The best person to report it would be the new owner, as they can point out where they picked the car up from at least. All I know is I've seen a link to what I believe to be a fraudulent Auto Trader advert so I figured I'd put a post up about it just in case the new owner does happen to read it.

Most cars have quite a paper trail with mileage on anyway so even with a £4.00 HPI check, it should show up.

Or even free checks that have been mentiond such as the mot history check which now lists the previous 3 years mileage on the left of the mot certificuite

I thought it was legal to wind the clocks back if you tell the potential buyer. Obviously you would have to inform DVLA or the like?

Dont 100% quote me on that tho!

Well, if they check it out and there's a difference then that's up to them. Personally I wouldn't be happy even if the seller told me about it, because if someone's gone to the effort of clocking a car then can you really trust anything they say about it?

Can't they go to measures to hide this though, so it can be less easy to spot. I was thinking maybe they transfer to private plates (or if they care too even clone the car to another plate).

They are basically already criminals by clocking if they are lying about the miles, so who knows how low these people will stoop?

 

I guess this reinforces the benefits of buying 2nd hand from a recommended dealer then and for the number of "2nd hand" car buyers who seem to have so much to complain about, no wonder!

Makes me even wonder if grumpy 2nd hand buyers bought their cars from Skoda from new (like I have for the only 2 cars I've ever bought from new) whether the experience would have been more favourable ? I know the answer to that

Bradford - that's all I need to know.

Hpi checks are as only good as the info passed on.

I think this is the one i looked at, it had no history what so ever , and to top it off he had to come meat me with the car not the other way round. he was asking £2.750 somewhere round that.

I think this is the one i looked at, it had no history what so ever , and to top it off he had to come meat me with the car not the other way round. he was asking £2.750 somewhere round that.

Hopefully you steered clear!?

NEVER buy a car from Bradford...

... or Birmingham

so this car was your mates?

 

they then sold it on with more miles than it was advertised for in the auto trader add by someone else?

 

mmmm

 

only reason to clock a car would be if you go another engine with less mile on it and had documented proof of its miles, all would be documented in the car file which by the sound of it this car didn't have.

 

clocked and no history, even £2k is too much for it with 125k on the clock

 

hope the new buyer sees this

Hopefully you steered clear!?

yes i ended up getting a other one from mitsubishi dealer.

so this car was your mates?

 

they then sold it on with more miles than it was advertised for in the auto trader add by someone else?

 

mmmm

 

only reason to clock a car would be if you go another engine with less mile on it and had documented proof of its miles, all would be documented in the car file which by the sound of it this car didn't have.

 

clocked and no history, even £2k is too much for it with 125k on the clock

 

hope the new buyer sees this

 

Belonged to a friends dad, who used it for years as a motorway high-miler, sold it earlier this year (although I've no idea who to, it's from Nottingham so I doubt they sold it to anyone in Bradford directly). Said friend happened to see the AutoTrader advert yesterday and linked it on Facebook at 125k miles even though it was over that when it was sold.

 

I'm not getting into whether or not there's definitely something dodgy going on, I just thought I'd start the thread suggesting that if you've bought a car of this description recently, then spend a few quid and a little bit of time checking it out. If the history all checks out, maybe there's been a mistake somewhere, if it doesn't then the new buyer can decide whether they want to do anything about it but at least they'll know the true history. As you say, it may have had an engine change, but given the circumstances I personally think it's more likely to be a dodgy seller/dealer (anonymous ad, poster above saying they had a look at the car but the car had to be brought to them so no one knows where the seller is trading out of, etc), it all sounds a bit dubious.