looking to buy a nearly new car in the near future, there's alot of low mileage stuff out there, but when you dig into things a bit deeper, most of these cars are ex lease/ hire cars 

 

was talking to a guy I know who works in the motor trade and he recons a large amount of these cars have been clocked [ now called mileage correction   ]

https://www.motortrader.com/motor-trader-news/automotive-news/consumers-clock-cars-avoid-breaching-pcp-terms-05-12-2017

 

he's got a point I suppose,  you sign up  on a pcp/lease for say 10,000 miles per year,  do 30,000+ miles  a year, then after a visit to your friendly mileage correction guy, you  hand  the car back   with 9k miles on it,  lot cheaper than paying £xx per  mile excess charges 

Wouldn't surprise me, is it completely untraceable when they do it? I assume if someone with the knowledge looked hard enough they could see it has been clocked?

Wouldn’t surprise me either.

Know anyone with a dodgy Sky box ? Know a tradesman who’ll do jobs for cash if you’re not bothered about an invoice...? Know anyone who has added extra stuff onto a house insurance claim...?

The world is corrupt and there’s plenty of people ready to take advantage.

 

Do the car manufacturers care ? They have built a car and sold it, whether it’s to a lease company or private buyer, that’s where their interest ends apart from selling some spare parts. Whatever safeguards are in place to make mileage correction difficult to do are clearly not enough.

If this is true then another worrying aspect is that these cars are not going to be serviced properly to keep them out of the 'network' that could back up the 'correct' mileage via the electronic service history.

 

 

I was told by a main dealer that clocking of trade in cars was a common problem.  When buying a low mileage car check to see if the tyres are the original ones and have appropriate wear.  It's not 100% though due to punctures etc. Wear on the pedals is also an indicator. 

2 hours ago, ahenners said:

Wouldn't surprise me, is it completely untraceable when they do it? I assume if someone with the knowledge looked hard enough they could see it has been clocked?

he told me vag cars are one of the easiest too do and cant be traced as long as the car hasn't been into the dealership for any warranty work etc [ mileage gets recorded]

 

when you think about it, if the cars on longlife servicing, there's no need to take it into the dealership for 2 years, unless it needs work done

i'm thinking it's best to not buy these nearly new cars unless there's some evidence of the car being back to the dealership for warranty work etc as mileage will always be recorded.

 

10 hours ago, 310golfr said:

 looking to buy a nearly new car in the near future, there's alot of low mileage stuff out there, but when you dig into things a bit deeper, most of these cars are ex lease/ hire cars 

 

was talking to a guy I know who works in the motor trade and he recons a large amount of these cars have been clocked [ now called mileage correction   ]

https://www.motortrader.com/motor-trader-news/automotive-news/consumers-clock-cars-avoid-breaching-pcp-terms-05-12-2017

 

he's got a point I suppose,  you sign up  on a pcp/lease for say 10,000 miles per year,  do 30,000+ miles  a year, then after a visit to your friendly mileage correction guy, you  hand  the car back   with 9k miles on it,  lot cheaper than paying £xx per  mile excess charges 

Knew a guy a few years ago who had a Peugeot Gti on a PCP who was covering 30,000 miles a year, plugged it in somewhere reduced the mileage once for first service then did another 30,000 miles in year two. Just before he returned it did the same again. Car had actually covered 60,000 miles in 2 years had one service yet person who becomes second owner thinks it's done 20,000 miles.

10 hours ago, 310golfr said:

 you sign up  on a pcp/lease for say 10,000 miles per year,  do 30,000+ miles  a year, then after a visit to your friendly mileage correction guy, you  hand  the car back   with 9k miles on it,  lot cheaper than paying £xx per  mile excess charges 

 

To an untrained eye perhaps, but these guys aren't mugs. It's relatively easy to tell the difference between a 30k mile car and a 9k miles car. And then there's the electronics - yes you can reset the speedo, but there are many other electronic logs that'd need reset too. The evidence is there if you look for it.

36 minutes ago, shyVRS245 said:

Knew a guy a few years ago who had a Peugeot Gti on a PCP who was covering 30,000 miles a year, plugged it in somewhere reduced the mileage once for first service then did another 30,000 miles in year two. Just before he returned it did the same again. Car had actually covered 60,000 miles in 2 years had one service yet person who becomes second owner thinks it's done 20,000 miles.

that's the thing ,  a 2yr old car with 20k miles and full service history, is desirable to dealers [ and buyers too],  so most dealers will turn a blind eye to clocking.

if anything comes of it, they'll just say they bought the car in good faith 

 

 

41 minutes ago, shyVRS245 said:

Knew a guy a few years ago who had a Peugeot Gti on a PCP who was covering 30,000 miles a year, plugged it in somewhere reduced the mileage once for first service then did another 30,000 miles in year two. Just before he returned it did the same again. Car had actually covered 60,000 miles in 2 years had one service yet person who becomes second owner thinks it's done 20,000 miles.

 

Perhaps if the 2nd owner bought the car privately but anyone in the trade would have their suspicions. Wear and tear alone would give the game away.

8 minutes ago, Scot5 said:

 

Perhaps if the 2nd owner bought the car privately but anyone in the trade would have their suspicions. Wear and tear alone would give the game away.

dealers only interested in profit

when they buy a car from you , they get you to sign a form saying mileage is correct, so covers there @rse

 

as I said, 20k miles car sell for more than 60k,   sadly it's all about the    £££££ to dealers

 

17 minutes ago, 310golfr said:

so most dealers will turn a blind eye to clocking. If anything comes of it, they'll just say they bought the car in good faith 

 

All the signs of clocking will be there, so even Arthur Daley has no excuse, especially when they sell the car saying it's undergone a 32 point (or whatever) inspection prior to sale.

 

By far the biggest problem is the authorities turning a blind eye. Seem to remember reading about this - it's something like no dealer has been prosecuted in the past 5 years (may be longer) for selling a car with incorrect mileage. It's a bit like mobile phone usage in cars - the law talks a good game, we've just had a reminder today of the penalties (up to £200 and 6 points) it's just that few people are ever prosecuted.

Edited 23 June, 20187 yr by Guest

Our last two lease cars were returned with 5600 and 12250 miles on.

 

The will have been sold through a BCA auction as ex VW-lease at Leicester.

 

Remember there are a lot of PCH deals about now and the majority are 8000 or 10000 mile limits. Some as low as 5000 mile a year.

 

Not all low mileage ex-lease cars are clocked.

 

Lee

2 minutes ago, logiclee said:

Our last two lease cars were returned with 5600 and 12250 miles on.

 

The will have been sold through a BCA auction as ex VW-lease at Leicester.

 

Remember there are a lot of PCH deals about now and the majority are 8000 or 10000 mile limits. Some as low as 5000 mile a year.

 

Not all low mileage ex-lease cars are clocked.

 

Lee

I agree that not all ex lease cars are clocked but sadly a lot are 

years ago you used to see a lot of high mileage 1 yr old cars say with 30,000 miles +

nowadays nearly all 1 year old cars seem to be low mileage under 15k or so

 

I wonder why this is

2 hours ago, logiclee said:

Our last two lease cars were returned with 5600 and 12250 miles on.

 

The will have been sold through a BCA auction as ex VW-lease at Leicester.

 

Remember there are a lot of PCH deals about now and the majority are 8000 or 10000 mile limits. Some as low as 5000 mile a year.

 

Not all low mileage ex-lease cars are clocked.

 

Lee

Agree. Mine went back with 25k miles on and it's condition and service record was consistent with that. 

 

If anyone sees a car for sale that claims to have done low miles, but the badly worn steering wheel, crappy budget tyres, stone chip covered bonnet and misshapen seat bolsters say otherwise then steer well clear.

Edited 23 June, 20187 yr by Czechers

2 hours ago, Czechers said:

Agree. Mine went back with 25k miles on and it's condition and service record was consistent with that. 

 

If anyone sees a car for sale that claims to have done low miles, but the badly worn steering wheel, crappy budget tyres, stone chip covered bonnet and misshapen seat bolsters say otherwise then steer well clear.

I doubt there'd be much difference between a steering wheel with 25k miles and one with 10k miles  and the water based paint used nowadays is soft, so chips at any mileage.

 

1 hour ago, 310golfr said:

I doubt there'd be much difference between a steering wheel with 25k miles and one with 10k miles  and the water based paint used nowadays is soft, so chips at any mileage.

 

I didn’t say there would be much difference between 10k and 25k.

 

But if a car has a badly worn steering wheel, crappy budget tyres, stone chips all over the the bonnet and misshapen seat bolsters, then all these things together aren't consistent with a low mileage car.

Mine is a lease car, a superb, and is due to go back in the next few weeks, just over 2 years old done 43k but is still on the original tyres, not marks or curbed alloys, just a few stone chip no wear on seats, pedals or steering wheel, so looking at those items does not guarantee low miles. In fact I had a vectra a few years ago the had done 130k but looking at the condition of it didn't look like it had done more than 30k. Modern cars take wear really well but it is a problem when buying as condition does not always correspond to the mileage.

Correct they don't guarantee low mileage, but they would be an indication of high mileage. 

 

New cars do wear pretty well these days, but not to the extent that a car that's been used as a minicab for two or three years will be in the same or better condition than my or any other 'straight' low mileage ex-lease car. 

 

This is all i'm saying. 

On 23/06/2018 at 01:37, 310golfr said:

 looking to buy a nearly new car in the near future, there's alot of low mileage stuff out there, but when you dig into things a bit deeper, most of these cars are ex lease/ hire cars 

 

was talking to a guy I know who works in the motor trade and he recons a large amount of these cars have been clocked [ now called mileage correction   ]

https://www.motortrader.com/motor-trader-news/automotive-news/consumers-clock-cars-avoid-breaching-pcp-terms-05-12-2017

 

he's got a point I suppose,  you sign up  on a pcp/lease for say 10,000 miles per year,  do 30,000+ miles  a year, then after a visit to your friendly mileage correction guy, you  hand  the car back   with 9k miles on it,  lot cheaper than paying £xx per  mile excess charges 

 

My line manager took out a PCP on a Nissan Qashqai doing 6,000 miles per year (because his workplace was within walking distance so Mon-Fri he wouldn't need to use it).

 

Within a month, he'd been made redundant but managed to get another job immediately......with a 112 mile round trip commute every day.

 

I know he was massively, massively, massively over 18,000 miles whe his three years were up......I also know he had "someone" do something to the digital odometer so that when he handed it back it was marginally just under the allowed mileage.

 

I didn't ask any further questions.  For one thing, the vehicle had been serviced at a Nissan franchised dealer so the true mileage must have been recorded somewhere within Nissan's systems?

 

But pity the poor guy wh ended up buying a Qashqai with 18k on the clock which had actually done closer to 75k!!

There was a thread on here a few months back with someone who'd bought a low mileage used Octavia that started to have DPF problems.

When he investigated himself, it had been clocked & there were obvious Skoda & MOT service records that showed the real mileage of the car.

Needless to say the dealer "didnt know anything about it" about obviously hadnt bothered to check.

 

I guess they just hope that any problems dont come back in the first year or if they do that the new owner doesnt realise its been clocked.

It all depends on the individual car and the circumstances. I bought my Octy with a legit 70k miles 18 months ago, the car was 3 years and 3 months old and was used from new on a VWFS lease. NMR check was clear, all warranty work came back with logical mileage and the car looked about right for a car with 70k on it. Had the clock read 30 or 35k miles I would have known instantly it was clocked. I love my Octy, I really do but I am slightly disappointed with how well it’s wearing it’s miles. My previous Audi, Volvo and Mercedes all had higher miles than the Octy does now and all wore it better. At 70k my car had visible wear to the steering wheel, pedals, door pulls, handbrake lever, gearknob and paintwork that a 35k mile car just wouldn’t have, and you wouldn’t have to be an expert to notice. Now at 4 years and 10 months old with 111,000 miles on the clock the wear and tear is worse and if I tried to tell you this car had 45-50k on it you would laugh at me. VAG cars are some of the easiest cars to clock but if you really look at cars closely when buying, you have a good chance of spotting it. Of course, some people do a better job of clocking cars than others, some cars will wear the mileage better (my Volvo C30 for example had 136,000 miles on it when I sold it and that car really could have passed for a 50k miler, it was mint). Not all nearly new cars are low miles bargains, some are listed honestly with the miles they have, some are on short leases with minimal mileage and actually do the mileage they are leased for. It’s a bit more tricky to tell if a car has been clocked when it’s young as a typical 10k of daily driving by people who treat cars as boxes on wheels to get around can look like 40k of well looked after motoring. I always look for the higher mileage cars. They are more likely to have a truthful mileage figure!

There was a guy posted on here sometime last year (I think) as his 70K mile Octavia TD was showing signs of DPF failure.  He had a company "forensically" examine the ECU and it transpired it had actually done over 150K, tracing previous owners it transpired it was owned by a cab company and they sold it with 150K miles, between there and the garage he'd bought it from the mileage was adjusted.

 

From what I can remember, when you interrogate the ECU logs there are markers that point out mileage has been changed.

I looked at a octy vrs pre f/l 230 in meteor grey at a local skoda dealer, it look nice and i almost bought it, however i got a friend to check on the skoda portal just to see if it had any warranty work , and it had new hubs fitted along with wheel, it was also showing 31k yet on car it was 20k, this was also ex lease and only about 2mths ago 

There will always be people willing to "adjust" the speedometer of a car, particularly when there is a lot at stake financially in the price difference in retailing a low mileage car versus a high mileage one. My last car, was a Yeti L & K on lease, it went back well within the allowed 16,000 miles, so whoever bought that particular car is safe enough, but with only one service required over two years, it would have been pretty easy to clock a car on that sort of deal and do a lot more mileage.