Finding the mileage on a car

[Robmarriott]

I need some pointers on how to find the mileage on car which has been sat for a while. It doesn't show on the DVLA MOT history, nor does it show mileage on Vcheck or HPI.

There are no clocks with the car either but there is some paperwork with old MOTs.

Before anyone says anything, there's good reason for all this and it's not at all suspicious.

Can I email the DVLA and ask them somehow to check old records, or do I just have to guess what mileage to set replacement clocks to?

[sherman]

Is it a new enough car to have an ECU. I would assume a decent garage/ mobile mechanic with a laptop could get that info from the ECU.

[Robmarriott]

There is an ECU but not a modern system which would record any info like that unfortunately.

[sherman]

Phone the DVLA and see what their ideas are. Also look back over all the pics you must have taken of the car before it got disassembled. you might get lucky with a view of the dials

[smokey mow]

If I was looking to buy a car that had sat for so long it wasn’t on the MoT database I would work on the assumption that the engine needs a full rebuild regardless of how many miles it may have done before it was laid up.

[Robmarriott]

That’ll be part of the process, yes.

[Robmarriott]

Update for anyone who either cares or searches in the future;

The DVSA have no record of mileages for anything pre 2006, when the database went electronic. If a car doesn’t show on the online database, there’s a very high likelihood that they can’t help.

In my case, the car has been off the road that long and so I just have to sort of guess, I think. Or start at zero? Who knows.