Clocked Car - How much to offer trader.

diable

Does the friend want to keep the car or get shot of it as he could give the dealer a ridiculous figure like £2500 to keep the car and his mouth shut.

bigjl

I bought a clocker once, just a cheapy estate that I needed for a bit of DIY, when i sold it i put it through the auction with the miles declared as incorrect.

A car that has done high miles in a short period of time isn't always a bad buy, I would always look at the car, if it drives well, no funny noises, then i would just get a cambelt done and carry on, in the OP situation he really need sto be asking for about £1000 back, as that is how much less a 200k would be worth, as long as it has been well maintained.

Clocking is actually easier now than it ever has been, you can get it done for £50 if you know the right bloke.

As far as trading standards go it is a difficult one to sort out, did the dealer buy it in good faith, if so why didn't the incorrect mileage show up on the HPI, even though the dealer didn't clock the car, clocking isn't actually illegal, selling the clocked car on is what is illegal.

If the new owner found out it was clocked then I can't see how the trader didn't. When the car is MOT these days they note the miles on a database, which you can check quite easily, my mate that owns an MOTstation prints out an MOT history for a score.

The clocked cars to worry about are the ones that where clocked just before the MOT or just before the annual service as there is no way to spot it from the history, only by looking at the car carefully before purchase.

benham3160

bigjl wrote: »

I bought a clocker once, just a cheapy estate that I needed for a bit of DIY, when i sold it i put it through the auction with the miles declared as incorrect.

A car that has done high miles in a short period of time isn't always a bad buy, I would always look at the car, if it drives well, no funny noises, then i would just get a cambelt done and carry on, in the OP situation he really need sto be asking for about £1000 back, as that is how much less a 200k would be worth, as long as it has been well maintained.

Clocking is actually easier now than it ever has been, you can get it done for £50 if you know the right bloke.

As far as trading standards go it is a difficult one to sort out, did the dealer buy it in good faith, if so why didn't the incorrect mileage show up on the HPI, even though the dealer didn't clock the car, clocking isn't actually illegal, selling the clocked car on is what is illegal.

If the new owner found out it was clocked then I can't see how the trader didn't. When the car is MOT these days they note the miles on a database, which you can check quite easily, my mate that owns an MOTstation prints out an MOT history for a score.

The clocked cars to worry about are the ones that where clocked just before the MOT or just before the annual service as there is no way to spot it from the history, only by looking at the car carefully before purchase.

It's not as easy as the old days, trust me I used to give the odd Escort a "haircut". Remove the front of the clocks and just flick the numbers round to where you needed them, nothing complex like all the nonsense you hear about drills, driving the vehicle in reverse with the wheels off the ground and all that nonsense.

I had to "clock" a car before I put it into auction recently, completely legitimately however.

Genuinely, I'd guess the car has a had a replacement clockset, especially if it's French/VAG where the instrument display panels have a habit of dying. My friend has an "X" plate 306 reading 18,000 as it had a new panel fitted, it's clear the car has done far more miles than that though.

Regards,
Andy

bigjl

Can't see that Andy, as it went from 114000 to 62000, though if it is a Renault Laguna 2 it is highly likely the clocks packed up, electronic clocks are a 10 minute job, much easier than taking the clocks apart, normally just a case of flipping out the clocks themselves and plugging into a laptop. I know one lad that can down load the software from your clocks, send it to his IT bod in Glasgow, who cracks the security and sends back all that is needed to trim it up.

The older VAG group cars from around 1999 could be done through the diagnostic socket under the ashtray.

Though the only time I get involved in "clocking" is as you say when a car has broken clocks and I want the new ones to match the old mileage, though I normally put a note and the reciept for the "new" clocks in the service book.

The easiest older car to clock was the late model 405, there was only a few crossheads holding the clocks in place, you could strip the binnacle in 5 minutes with practice.

mwbrown

my company transit dash stopped working about 12 months ago, and ford fitted a new dash unit (old one had about 76k on) new one was showing 0... ford just put a sticker on dash surround advising when dash unit had been changed and the mileage it was changed at...

Personally thought that they would have had to have it changed to correct reading (due to it being a lease vehicle) and the lease company sorts out services etc from the mileage...

cyclonebri1

Sounds straight to me, the last seller/dealer has been made aware of the "discerepancy"in mileage, he is offering to compensate for that.

Option1 accept a reasonable refund due to over mileage, or;

2) Reject, as you would never dream of buying a car of said mileage :money:

optimus_primera

So how long was the the time scale between getting the car and finding out it had been clocked?
Was your friend happy with the car before he found out about the issue?


Remember mileage is no indicator of condition.

Millionaire

Hi, sorry for the late reply, here goes..

It's a BMW 325i, 51

He discovered it was clocked after the purchase. They provided a HPI which was clear but it didn't have a mileage check. They also provided a VOSA printout which my friend due to concentrating on the MOT's and it seems (i don't know how) the trader missed the inaccurate mileage on it on the 3rd page.

3 previous and a current MOT was provided which all seemed to match what was showing on the clock.

The reason my friend is considering of even keeping it is because the car does not look like it's done the mileage, inside or out.

The previous owner seems to have looked after the car and I think may not have been aware of it being clocked.

Various maintenance receipts were provided dating back to 2007, including a service. The only thing that has been replaced seems to brakes/discs/tyres/ brake pipes and the battery according to all the receipts.

Previous to this it doesn't have a service booklet (obvious now the the reason why it went missing) but BMW was contacted and the car has been serviced by them, up to 2006, with 113,000 on their records. and it seems that it has done mainly motorway mileage.

The VOSA printout and MOT's doesn't show any failure other than brake pipes corroded/low tire tread and light out of alignment. all minor things over the years.

So as the trader has asked what they can do for him to keep the car he is wonderiing what a reasonable price would be for a clocked car with around 180,000 on it.

Personally I think £2500 is generous for something that has done nearly double the mileage it was advertised for.

And I think he could pick up something with FSH for that price or less with that kind of mileage.

How about £1500?:D

optimus_primera

If he's happy with the car and its condition, then any monies coming from the dealer is going to be a bonus surely?.
If there wasn't a clocking issue, would he even consider getting rid of it?
Personally if it was me, and was happy with the car, then i might see if i could get a service or 2 out of the dealer, on the other hand £1500 is a lot of fuel ............

Millionaire

optimus_primera wrote: »

So how long was the the time scale between getting the car and finding out it had been clocked?
Was your friend happy with the car before he found out about the issue?


Remember mileage is no indicator of condition.

He brought the car on Sunday, A mate of his noticed the inaccurate mileage on Sunday night. Rang trader Monday morning.