Clocked Car - How much to offer trader.

Millionaire

optimus_primera wrote: »

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 ............

He is happy with the car, however the thing that he has concerns about is.

1. If he has to sell the car it will be a nightmare, although he is looking to keep it awhile.

2. Cambelt most likely will need changing just to be on the safe side.

3. It is an automatic and that sort of mileage might make it more prone to failure? which means alot of money.

Niche

benham3160 wrote: »

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

This is so incorrect.

Cars are so much easier to clock these days than they were years ago, with digital clocks and all run by the ECU all you would have to do it plug your computer and lead into the OBD2 port and hit a few buttons.

You can buy VAGtacho on eBay for £15 and change the mileage on any VAG group car in less than 2 minutes. I am sure most manufacturers have a program to do it.

You have to be very careful when buying a second hand car.

benham3160

Niche wrote: »

This is so incorrect.

Cars are so much easier to clock these days than they were years ago, with digital clocks and all run by the ECU all you would have to do it plug your computer and lead into the OBD2 port and hit a few buttons.

You can buy VAGtacho on eBay for £15 and change the mileage on any VAG group car in less than 2 minutes. I am sure most manufacturers have a program to do it.

You have to be very careful when buying a second hand car.

Not true at all, in the case of VAG the clockset can be interograted directly via the VAGCOM protocol, but many manufactuers either store mileage on the PIC on the clockset, (! la Ford, GM, PSA) or though new security measures such as a checksum between the PIC and the ECU, and the PIC can not be interogated through the diagnositcs port.

Why would a new clockset not remove "xyz" number of miles?

Also, "Mileage For Indication Only" is normally on the small print when signing a car over, infact I know of several large dealers I have visited recently have put stickers to this effect actually on the binnacle of the clocks, unless the car is sold with warented mileage (which is entirely possible.)

Modern clockset failures really are making a mess of everything, lots and lots of cars are running around with completely innacurate mileages due to LCD failures, or clocksets that have recorded "funny" miles.

Regards,
Andy

cyclonebri1

I would say 2k is about the right price, £1500 is less than the dealer would get with the true mileage shown. He doesn't want the hassle but he won't want to lose money. Accept him to accept 2k or a full refund is in order, IMHO. :T

colino

Return the car. Unfortunately all cars nowadays, especially premium makes, lap up the miles much, much better than similar cars of 10-15 years ago. Fine and dandy if he trousers some money from the dealer as a benefit now, but the car is a lot nearer to its terminal age than its same-aged counterparts and it will be harder to sell in the future to a savvy buyer.
The move to digital clocks has tranformed the art of clocking from a 15 minute fiddle to a sixty second breeze. The technology, like storing the mileage in different places like on the cars key fob have been introduced and overcome and if you cant find a clocker within 10 miles of home, your not trying hard enough!

Pincher

This is from a web site:


Price: from £40

We repair instrument panels and adjust mileage to correct value, if you replace faulty with a new or second hand one with wrong value. We can help you with all makes and models of vehicles and motorbikes.


This guy should worked for the civil service.
Income tax will become a wealth distribution adjustment for your benefit.

Millionaire

Hi,

Thanks for all the input. He is returning the vehicle. He rang the trader again (been having to chase them all week) and being cheeky offered £1500 as they again would not say a price, they obviously declined it but the sales rep said will speak to the owner and get back but yet again never got back to him .

He rang again and finally got hold of the owner and when mentioned that he was calling about the BMW got told abruptly just return the vehicle for a full refund. After a slight argument about out of pocket expenses and the bloke making out he was doing him a favour due to a disclaimer on the sales invoice regarding unwarranted mileage. he also is getting £50 fuel costs as compensation.

Will be going down tomorrow, will let you know if he gets the £50 on top of the refund.

harveybobbles

If it was a BMW just take the key into any dealership and they will be able to tell you the mileage by popping the key into the key reader thingy on the Service Desk.

motorguy

harveybobbles wrote: »

If it was a BMW just take the key into any dealership and they will be able to tell you the mileage by popping the key into the key reader thingy on the Service Desk.

Is anyone disputing that it has been clocked?

ailuro2

I'd go to the dealer via Trading Standards, think they'd be very interested in how the dealer advertises the car to the next mug who will buy it without checking...;)