eBay sellers listing mileage as 0

ferry

I may have missed something here and I'm sure this has been covered before but why do sellers list their cars mileage as 0?

Is there a specific reason for it ?

To be honest there were probably two cars I may have been interested in but because the mileage is not listed I moved on.
Wonder if eBay should make it a rule that the mileage 'at the time of listing' should be stated?


Any thoughts?
F

vikingaero

Maybe they don't know the correct mileage - speedo change, faulty odometer?

ferry

vikingaero wrote: »

Maybe they don't know the correct mileage - speedo change, faulty odometer?

But all their cars are listed as mileage 0.

HappyMJ

ferry wrote: »

But all their cars are listed as mileage 0.

If they cannot rely on the reading then why state any reading at all. If they were to claim 100,000 miles yet the car really had done 300,000 miles then you could claim misrepresentation and get your money back. Entering 0 clearly is incorrect so it could be any mileage and you couldn't claim misrepresentation as a reason for returning the car.

vikingaero

Buyers like low mileage cars and will search for low miles. Zero miles, even though it is incorrect, will attract buyers.

ferry

HappyMJ wrote: »

If they cannot rely on the reading then why state any reading at all. If they were to claim 100,000 miles yet the car really had done 300,000 miles then you could claim misrepresentation and get your money back. Entering 0 clearly is incorrect so it could be any mileage and you couldn't claim misrepresentation as a reason for returning the car.

Forget buying for a moment do you think its right to sell a car without knowing its correct mileage? It doesn't show a lot of enterprise on the part of the seller.

That aside surely that places the vehicle on a lower pecking order than one listed with the mileage verified?
Each to their own I guess but as a potential customer it certainly put me off for all the reasons you've stated above.

jaydeeuk1

How do you know that mileage is true? Even if it matches past MOT certificates, on a majority of cars a laptop, a cable and software that can be obtained fairly easily is all you need to change a cars mileage just before a service or MOT. Trickier on new ones, but incredibly easy to do on a Renault Grande Espace for example.

Bongles

vikingaero wrote: »

Buyers like low mileage cars and will search for low miles. Zero miles, even though it is incorrect, will attract buyers.

Sounds similar to the trick some people seem to do on Autotrader with cars over 100,000 miles - listing the mileage in the ad as, say, 133 and then stating in the body of the ad that it's 133,000. Not intended to fool anybody - just to get their ad at the top of the search results.

oliverr

Bongles wrote: »

Sounds similar to the trick some people seem to do on Autotrader with cars over 100,000 miles - listing the mileage in the ad as, say, 133 and then stating in the body of the ad that it's 133,000. Not intended to fool anybody - just to get their ad at the top of the search results.

This is what I thought, very common on Autotrader eg 150,000 miles they would list as 150 miles so it appears at the top of the search results as often people limit the mileage to a certain amount, so no matter what their car will come up.

forgotmyname

Sometimes used to hide the mileage and get people looking, If they said 200,000 miles you would probably move onto the next advert without reading further.

But if you go and see if and find the cars in great condition you maybe tempted.

Tigerprint

The majority list as 0 miles due to the vehicle having OVER 100,000 miles. Lets be honest, if the car has low/lowish miles this will go in the advert as a good selling point & to generate interest.

If 0 miles is listed it generates a question, a potential buyer will have to phone or message to ask the "miles"..... &, that's when all the blah begins & before you know it you have purchased a car that has taken 8 trips around the earth.....