Clocking widespread

Author
Discussion

GuinnessMK

Original Poster:

1,608 posts

223 months

Friday 3rd December 2010
quotequote all
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11897982

700,000 vehicles got to their MOT last year with fewer miles on the clock than when last presented, but the govt are happy that the current system is working? WTF!


Dog Star

16,158 posts

169 months

Friday 3rd December 2010
quotequote all
I am utterly convinced that most cars sold through independent dealers (and I'll bet more than a few through main dealers) are clocked. I'm often amused when I see really low mileage stuff like Audis - almost always a company purchase so why low miles. Once stuff gets onto its third or fourth owner I think it's inevitable.

It's why I'm usually happy to buy stuff that's average/high mileage and base my decision on condition. In reality I bet the mileage is the same as the "low mileage" stuff.

singlecoil

33,806 posts

247 months

Friday 3rd December 2010
quotequote all
When buying a car I always figure that, ift here's no service history stretching back to when it was new, then it's been clocked unless it's showing at least 15K a year. So basically ignore the mileage showing on the car, look at the paperwork, carefully.

WeirdNeville

5,969 posts

216 months

Friday 3rd December 2010
quotequote all
GuinnessMK said:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11897982

700,000 vehicles got to their MOT last year with fewer miles on the clock than when last presented, but the govt are happy that the current system is working? WTF!
How many of those will be "mis-keying" by the MOT tester on the computer I wonder? Just miss out a digit and the car suddenly loses 100,000 miles. I've seen some shocking typos/spelling mistakes/mis-keying on the new computerised MOT certificates.

rb51

92 posts

185 months

Friday 3rd December 2010
quotequote all
9 out of ten VAG cars and most BMW s over here have had a hair cut at some point but most don't care as long as car is in good nick and driving well, parts are cheap as chips compared to jap and Korean parts anyway most of the time

Compo_Simmonite

391 posts

188 months

Friday 3rd December 2010
quotequote all
My step brother used to work part time for a car dealer. EVERY car got some miles removed. One Escort diesel got 25,000 removed and then was bought by another dealer as stock. When sold their customer promptly had a serious engine fault so second dealer threatened first with reporting them for clocking. Step brother said go ahead as the vehicle had another 25,000 less than when first sold to second. That means between them 50,000 miles was removed ! This wasn't unsual.

Paul H

V8mate

45,899 posts

190 months

Friday 3rd December 2010
quotequote all
£5,500

Just think how quickly you could earn that investment back?!

Snails

915 posts

167 months

Friday 3rd December 2010
quotequote all
When I HPI'd my car a mileage discrepency came up. It had 4500 odd miles one year and 520000 the next. I bought the car at 63000. My guess, somebody with fat fingers accidently missed a 0 one year and added a 0 the next.

Edited by Snails on Friday 3rd December 09:34

Efbe

9,251 posts

167 months

Friday 3rd December 2010
quotequote all
judge from the condition of the car, not the mileage then.

its very very very easy to tell the difference between an 80,000 mile car and a 160,000 mile car, no matter what they have done to try and hide it.

paoloh

8,617 posts

205 months

Friday 3rd December 2010
quotequote all
Efbe said:
judge from the condition of the car, not the mileage then.

its very very very easy to tell the difference between an 80,000 mile car and a 160,000 mile car, no matter what they have done to try and hide it.
No it isn't.

It would depend a lot on the use the car has had.

a 160k motorway muncher will be in better nick that a 40k town car.

Efbe

9,251 posts

167 months

Friday 3rd December 2010
quotequote all
paoloh said:
Efbe said:
judge from the condition of the car, not the mileage then.

its very very very easy to tell the difference between an 80,000 mile car and a 160,000 mile car, no matter what they have done to try and hide it.
No it isn't.

It would depend a lot on the use the car has had.

a 160k motorway muncher will be in better nick that a 40k town car.
yes, it is.

smile

paoloh

8,617 posts

205 months

Friday 3rd December 2010
quotequote all
Efbe said:
paoloh said:
Efbe said:
judge from the condition of the car, not the mileage then.

its very very very easy to tell the difference between an 80,000 mile car and a 160,000 mile car, no matter what they have done to try and hide it.
No it isn't.

It would depend a lot on the use the car has had.

a 160k motorway muncher will be in better nick that a 40k town car.
yes, it is.

smile
Thanks for the wonderful insight.

Please tell us your secrets?

Fats25

6,260 posts

230 months

Friday 3rd December 2010
quotequote all
WeirdNeville said:
GuinnessMK said:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11897982

700,000 vehicles got to their MOT last year with fewer miles on the clock than when last presented, but the govt are happy that the current system is working? WTF!
How many of those will be "mis-keying" by the MOT tester on the computer I wonder? Just miss out a digit and the car suddenly loses 100,000 miles. I've seen some shocking typos/spelling mistakes/mis-keying on the new computerised MOT certificates.
I think you are right. I had an old Peugeot, cheap and cheerful and I never paid much attention to. It had a couple of MOT's whilst I had it. When I came to sell it, it had 1st year MOT of (all approx)60,000 miles, Year 2 of 50,000 miles and the actual miles on the clock of 55,000. It was not even a fat finger issue. Just a cock up.

I know I never "clocked it" and it took a bit of explaining when I came to sell it. Fortunately the girl I sold it too, had her mechanic boyfriend check it over, and he knew these MOT mileage cock ups happen.

POORCARDEALER

8,527 posts

242 months

Friday 3rd December 2010
quotequote all
[quote=Dog Star]I am utterly convinced that most cars sold through independent dealers (and I'll bet more than a few through main dealers) are clocked. I'm often amused when I see really low mileage stuff like Audis - almost always a company purchase so why low miles. Once stuff gets onto its third or fourth owner I think it's inevitable.



I am sure most DECENT independent dealers do not sell clocked cars.


The biggest clockers of cars are private individuals clocking them before their first MOT or between MOT's.

paoloh

8,617 posts

205 months

Friday 3rd December 2010
quotequote all
POORCARDEALER said:
Dog Star said:
I am utterly convinced that most cars sold through independent dealers (and I'll bet more than a few through main dealers) are clocked. I'm often amused when I see really low mileage stuff like Audis - almost always a company purchase so why low miles. Once stuff gets onto its third or fourth owner I think it's inevitable.



I am sure most DECENT independent dealers do not sell clocked cars.


The biggest clockers of cars are private individuals clocking them before their first MOT or between MOT's.
How dare you come on here talking sense.

Efbe

9,251 posts

167 months

Friday 3rd December 2010
quotequote all
paoloh said:
Efbe said:
paoloh said:
Efbe said:
judge from the condition of the car, not the mileage then.

its very very very easy to tell the difference between an 80,000 mile car and a 160,000 mile car, no matter what they have done to try and hide it.
No it isn't.

It would depend a lot on the use the car has had.

a 160k motorway muncher will be in better nick that a 40k town car.
yes, it is.

smile
Thanks for the wonderful insight.

Please tell us your secrets?
lol, i know. i worked hard at that one.

I can't be bothered listing everything to check. just suffice to say:

wear on engine changes its sound, feel etc... there are plenty os things under the bonnet that wear and are hard to replace.

in car is the easiest to tell. check anything plastic/cloth/leather that would have been worn down if someone was using it a lot.
such as: steering wheel, gear knob, indicators, common used buttons, seat, especially at right hand side, drivers door sill, drivers door handle, fading of colour on dash, and cloth interior/lining from sun exposure.

OFC these parts can be replaced. but then the colour is likely to be slightly different, and often its obvious.different.
Also it would cost more than the dealer would save to change all of these.

paoloh

8,617 posts

205 months

Friday 3rd December 2010
quotequote all
Efbe said:
paoloh said:
Efbe said:
paoloh said:
Efbe said:
judge from the condition of the car, not the mileage then.

its very very very easy to tell the difference between an 80,000 mile car and a 160,000 mile car, no matter what they have done to try and hide it.
No it isn't.

It would depend a lot on the use the car has had.

a 160k motorway muncher will be in better nick that a 40k town car.
yes, it is.

smile
Thanks for the wonderful insight.

Please tell us your secrets?
lol, i know. i worked hard at that one.

I can't be bothered listing everything to check. just suffice to say:

wear on engine changes its sound, feel etc... there are plenty os things under the bonnet that wear and are hard to replace.

in car is the easiest to tell. check anything plastic/cloth/leather that would have been worn down if someone was using it a lot.
such as: steering wheel, gear knob, indicators, common used buttons, seat, especially at right hand side, drivers door sill, drivers door handle, fading of colour on dash, and cloth interior/lining from sun exposure.

OFC these parts can be replaced. but then the colour is likely to be slightly different, and often its obvious.different.
Also it would cost more than the dealer would save to change all of these.
I stand by my original statement.

k-ink

9,070 posts

180 months

Friday 3rd December 2010
quotequote all
V8mate said:
£5,500

Just think how quickly you could earn that investment back?!
How can it now be legal to sell clocking technology. It's disgusting!

paoloh

8,617 posts

205 months

Friday 3rd December 2010
quotequote all
k-ink said:
V8mate said:
£5,500

Just think how quickly you could earn that investment back?!
How can it now be legal to sell clocking technology. It's disgusting!
Because it can be used to correct the mileage on a new set of clocks. That is legal.

Dog Star

16,158 posts

169 months

Friday 3rd December 2010
quotequote all
POORCARDEALER said:
I am sure most DECENT independent dealers do not sell clocked cars.


The biggest clockers of cars are private individuals clocking them before their first MOT or between MOT's.
Well I think you're either just plain naive or wrong!
I know quite a lot of people in the trade in my area - main dealer and family business; I don't want to go into it on here (if you see what I mean) but I know what goes on. It's absolutely epedemic. All seem to need the digital dashboard repairs chap a lot. They must be pretty unreliable.

Maybe you ought to join the club - then you won't be "poor"cardealer? frown

Edited after checking how much my profile shows....

Edited by Dog Star on Friday 3rd December 09:58