Legality of manufacturers warranties and vehicle values.
Discussion
Something I have always pondered over but now pass on the the PH massive for an opinion.
Both morally and if possible legally.
There is an endemic flaw in the whole of the motoring system.
Speedos generally read around 6% optimistic.
ie indicated 53 mph is only 50mph , indicated 106 mph is only 100 mph.
Motorists are being penalised for this in the following ways.
Your 10,000 mile service will be done 600 miles too early your 20,000 mile service at only 18,800 miles.
You could fall foul of terms of insurance if mileage restricted when in fact you had stayed below the set threshold.
Your car will be valued less than it should be come resale time.
etc etc and any other ways not mentioned where mileage is tied to specific regs.
discuss.
Both morally and if possible legally.
There is an endemic flaw in the whole of the motoring system.
Speedos generally read around 6% optimistic.
ie indicated 53 mph is only 50mph , indicated 106 mph is only 100 mph.
Motorists are being penalised for this in the following ways.
Your 10,000 mile service will be done 600 miles too early your 20,000 mile service at only 18,800 miles.
You could fall foul of terms of insurance if mileage restricted when in fact you had stayed below the set threshold.
Your car will be valued less than it should be come resale time.
etc etc and any other ways not mentioned where mileage is tied to specific regs.
discuss.
If they all over read the same for each model then the depreciation between similar cars is the same, but I see your point, say your cam belt fails at 70230 miles on a 70k service interval, technically the car had travel 0-5% below 70230 miles and should be covered.
Unless you have a seperate GPS which logs every trip there would be no other way of doing it.
Unless you have a seperate GPS which logs every trip there would be no other way of doing it.
Wouldn't a manufacturer simply respond that the tolerance built into speedos is calculated and incorporated into the servicing schedule? Legally i suspect there's not part of the contract which states that the speedo must be bang on either, so i don't suppose there's a case there.
Just me two pence - i've often thought the same thing. My speedo seems quite optimistic, with 85 only being 79.
Cheers,
Rob.
Just me two pence - i've often thought the same thing. My speedo seems quite optimistic, with 85 only being 79.
Cheers,
Rob.
Edited by Rob_F on Saturday 1st November 08:29
I think the odometer 'knows' the inaccuracy of the speedo.
My logic for this is the cruise control in our 182.
Set 70 on the digital display, and the speedo reads slightly over, around 74. Refer to satnav and the car is doing approximately 70.
Bit worrying in road works/average speed cams, when you set a speed on cruise or speed limiter, and the speedo needle reads slightly over!
My logic for this is the cruise control in our 182.
Set 70 on the digital display, and the speedo reads slightly over, around 74. Refer to satnav and the car is doing approximately 70.
Bit worrying in road works/average speed cams, when you set a speed on cruise or speed limiter, and the speedo needle reads slightly over!
mark69sheer said:
Something I have always pondered over but now pass on the the PH massive for an opinion.
Both morally and if possible legally.
There is an endemic flaw in the whole of the motoring system.
Speedos generally read around 6% optimistic.
ie indicated 53 mph is only 50mph , indicated 106 mph is only 100 mph.
Motorists are being penalised for this in the following ways.
Your 10,000 mile service will be done 600 miles too early your 20,000 mile service at only 18,800 miles.
You could fall foul of terms of insurance if mileage restricted when in fact you had stayed below the set threshold.
Your car will be valued less than it should be come resale time.
etc etc and any other ways not mentioned where mileage is tied to specific regs.
discuss.
Obviously, you're making the huge assumption that the odometer works off the same system as the speedometer.Both morally and if possible legally.
There is an endemic flaw in the whole of the motoring system.
Speedos generally read around 6% optimistic.
ie indicated 53 mph is only 50mph , indicated 106 mph is only 100 mph.
Motorists are being penalised for this in the following ways.
Your 10,000 mile service will be done 600 miles too early your 20,000 mile service at only 18,800 miles.
You could fall foul of terms of insurance if mileage restricted when in fact you had stayed below the set threshold.
Your car will be valued less than it should be come resale time.
etc etc and any other ways not mentioned where mileage is tied to specific regs.
discuss.
I know that the speedo must NOT underread by law, not sure if the odometer is subject to the same legislation.
Travel from A-B where A-B are an exact amount that you know and drive the car from A-B and see if the odometer is accurate.
As for comparisons etc., well you're no worse off than everyone else as they're probably all X amount off.
Manufacturers, if pressed on this issue, will simply make their service schedule narrower. i.e. cambelt due at 58,000 rather than 60,000.
Anyway, I think you're all worrying about nothing, the schedules will know doubt be measured by INDICATED mileage rather than ACTUAL.
Edited by Dracoro on Saturday 1st November 09:41
The speedo under-reads as the speedo accuracy changes as the tyre wears and the circumference of the tyre changes, they are allowed to over-read but not under-read, for obvious reasons. To maintain 100% accuracy you'd have to calibrate them very regularly, fairly impractical on a road car.
Puff Puff said:
sniff diesel said:
pgilc1 said:
Does anyone really care?
Took the words right out of my mouth.You could also calculate motorists are spending x millions a year as a group unneccessarily.
Brown and Boris said:
Isn't it just a measuremnet issue?
The odometer mile is just that. They could as well measure in 'girafe neck lengths' and insist on a service every 180,000,000 giraffe neck lengths.
Old sayoing; the golden rule is that he who has the gold, makes the rules.
The odometer mile is just that. They could as well measure in 'girafe neck lengths' and insist on a service every 180,000,000 giraffe neck lengths.
Old sayoing; the golden rule is that he who has the gold, makes the rules.
Pointless thread.
In the US, land of the lawsuit, there was a case against Honda over this a year or two ago. In that case, the models affected were gaining miles too quickly, hence hitting service intervals, lease mileage limits, end of warranties, etc too soon.
Most cars these days (especially european ones) have separate odo/trip and speedo circuits so that the former is pretty accurate, then they add 5-8% on what the speedo reads for safety margin - they're not allowed to put out any cars that have an under-reading speedo.
If your speedo is over-reading (as is normal) and the odo/trip are linked to it, then you'll rack up miles less quickly, with longer between services and longer to end of warranty. Which is the manufacturer's problem, not yours.
Most cars these days (especially european ones) have separate odo/trip and speedo circuits so that the former is pretty accurate, then they add 5-8% on what the speedo reads for safety margin - they're not allowed to put out any cars that have an under-reading speedo.
If your speedo is over-reading (as is normal) and the odo/trip are linked to it, then you'll rack up miles less quickly, with longer between services and longer to end of warranty. Which is the manufacturer's problem, not yours.
Gassing Station | General Gassing [Archive] | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff