Mileage Discrepancy

[PM140]

Hi all,

Just seeking a bit of advice.

I'm looking to buy a car in the next couple of days (circa 20k)

For my own benefit, I ran a RAC Car History report and it showed a mileage discrepancy:



The mileage reported by the DVLA is the MOT and matches what I have seen for that (1st MOT at 3 years old).

I'm guessing the others were recorded at services/visits to the garage??

To compare, I ran a AA Vehicle report and that reported no mileage discrepancy.

Is it safe to ignore the RAC one ?

Regards,
Ian

[Wagonwheel555]

How much paperwork does the car have?

Presumably it’s a 2018 car?

I just sold a 2018 Mini and had the following

First service
Brake fluid change at 3 years
First MOT

All paperwork was there and clearly showed the mileage so this car should have similar

[fflump]

PM140 said:

Hi all,

Just seeking a bit of advice.

I'm looking to buy a car in the next couple of days (circa 20k)

For my own benefit, I ran a RAC Car History report and it showed a mileage discrepancy:

The mileage reported by the DVLA is the MOT and matches what I have seen for that (1st MOT at 3 years old).

I'm guessing the others were recorded at services/visits to the garage??

To compare, I ran a AA Vehicle report and that reported no mileage discrepancy.

Is it safe to ignore the RAC one ?

Regards,
Ian

In your position I would run a check direct with HPI who operate the national mileage register. Both AA and RAC should be getting their data from there. You will then get the proper picture and (more importantly) the seller will be able to supply HPI with documentary evidence to clear up the discrepancy if there is one. This is a pretty efficient process.

[PM140]

Correct, 2018

Yes, all the paperwork is present and correct (MOT, Oil Service and brake fluid change).

The only discrepancy is what the RAC report shows. The RAC helpline has closed now, so I can't phone them to check what their source is.

I also ran a check through totalcarcheck.co.uk recommended by AutoExpress and that came back with no issues.

Based on 2 checks reporting now issues, it feels OK to proceed.

[PM140]

HPIcheck.com came back with:

"No mileage discrepancy is currently indicated by the National Mileage Register (NMR)."

Interestingly the HPI car checker looks almost identical to the AA version.

Starting to feel a bit more confident now.

[barryrs]

I’m not entirely sure I would be happy just yet as the RMI mileage is supplied by franchised dealers during servicing.

Are you buying from a franchised dealer that can provide a print out of the service history?

[Thebaggers]

Bear in mind that this will cause you no end of problems at time of sale.

[PM140]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

The car is from an independent dealership, with no links to the manufacturer.

From what I recall of the paperwork there was evidence to support the 9120 entry with an oil service. But nothing to support the middle two entries.

The resale issue was in the back of my mind.

If I hadn't gone to the RAC site first I would never have spotted this as the other sites are not reporting it...

[barryrs]

Might be worth a call to your local franchised dealer and ask if the service department are able to confirm?

[Thebaggers]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Same. 99% of buyers will use a check. All of them will pull this discrepancy, the 99p ones will raise a red flag and you don't have an explanation for it to the dealership or the private buyer in a few years time. Actually, even the free MOT history check will flag this. Unless it is a car you intend to keep until it rots away, leave it.

[PM140]

Spoke to the franchised dealer this morning, who I'm looking to take up a 2 year extended warranty with and they printed out the service log..

16/03/2021 Brake Fluid Change 13,794
08/10/2020 Oil Change Service 12,827
08/10/2020 Interval Inspection 12,827
29/10/2019 Oil Change Service 9,120

So the anomaly I'm left with is...

18/02/2020 ??? 18,564

There is no paperwork to support what happened in Feb 2020. I imagine this will be impossible to track down without speaking to the original owner.

Very frustrating as it's been difficult to find a car in current conditions and this one ticked all the boxes.

Regards,
Ian

[L_G]

PM140 said:

Spoke to the franchised dealer this morning, who I'm looking to take up a 2 year extended warranty with and they printed out the service log..

16/03/2021 Brake Fluid Change 13,794
08/10/2020 Oil Change Service 12,827
08/10/2020 Interval Inspection 12,827
29/10/2019 Oil Change Service 9,120

So the anomaly I'm left with is...

18/02/2020 ??? 18,564

There is no paperwork to support what happened in Feb 2020. I imagine this will be impossible to track down without speaking to the original owner.

Very frustrating as it's been difficult to find a car in current conditions and this one ticked all the boxes.

Regards,
Ian

Possibly the number is in kilometres?

Using the conversion factor from km to miles gives a number consistent with the October 2019 and October 2020 entries

[ScoobyChris]

L_G said:

Possibly the number is in kilometres?

Using the conversion factor from km to miles gives a number consistent with the October 2019 and October 2020 entries

Yep was thinking this - 11535 miles so would sit nicely between the two, although I'd expect that to tie up with some paperwork from a garage visit?

Chris

[PM140]

Thanks L_G, 11,535 miles would look normal.

Still would be a mystery on what happened, but starting to build a picture..

[PM140]

Been looking around to see if there are any other options.

The closest match I can find is a similar car (on a 20 plate) at a franchised dealer, which would mean throwing in another 3.5k...

I don't really need a newer car and it would be nice not to spend more.

This car was meant to be a 2-3 year proposition until more hybrids came on the market.

[fflump]

How about asking the dealer to sort the problem and you'll buy the car?

[RazerSauber]

I'd say that 18564 is meant to be 10564 and been misread. The dates go from 29/10/2019 to 18/02/2020 so 1400 miles over 4 months? Seems about right given the rest of the mileages. If the mileage readout has one of these displays



then misreading the middle part could be easily done if they just glance and/or the sun catches is incorrectly.

[Dave.]

Hpi website said:

Where does the National Mileage Register receive their mileages from?

Manufacturers
Dealer Groups
Owners
DVLA
BVRLA - British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association
HPI Check

Did it change owners around the time of the discrepancy, or maybe a plate change?

As mentioned above, it’s probably a miskey or mile/km error.

I very much doubt someone did 9000 miles in 4 month, and sod all before and after. Not impossible obviously, but very unlikely.

It wasn’t a rental was it?

[PM140]

Thanks for the updates.

Car has had 1 owner during it's first 3 years and all the service history stacks up.

Could have been a plate change, but I'm not aware.

I spoke to the RAC and they said they would look into as they agreed it looked strange.

Edited by PM140 on Wednesday 7th July 13:26

[Dannythemusicman]

To the OP, you might satisfy yourself that this car is ok. Ask yourself how many buyers will go to the same lengths when you come to sell. I appreciate there might be good reasons why this might be the car for you but personally I would walk away.