Bought a new car that had been clocked

azi_2

Started the thread in Consumer rights, but been told to post it in here as their will be more knowledgeable folk who should be able to help...

Am hoping for someone can help, Basically a year ago(Feb.13) I bought a 09 plate VW golf from Arnold Clark who had the car advertised the car had done 19,988 miles and was told that it had full service history but needed its first mot which they would do when it was sold that way i had a full years MOT etc which i thought was fair enough and thought nothing more off ,gave my old car in as part exchange and paid the rest of the balance off,so along the year I've had odd bits of trouble with it but I'm doing a fair bit of driving so thought must just be wear and tear.
Anyway last week i took it in for its MOT and the mechanic told me that when he's put it through its shown that its first mot was actually done in January 2012 and had done 56000 MILES and not in February 2013 like the salesman has told me, and that's probably why you've been having so much trouble as its more likely the cars done 100k in miles rather than the 40k its now showing in the odometer.
So I'm just wondering where this leaves me ? Can i sue Arnold Clark for selling me a car which had been clocked back ? or even get some of my money back ?
The first mot was done in the very same garage so they can hardly say it was done by a a cowboy garage (ok maybe it was seeing as it was them!!!)
I've looked a bit online and seen bits and bobs but not sure how it affects me with me having the car for now almost a year and having done an extra 25k since getting it

just to add
Car was registered march 2009
first mot was done January 2012 - 56k (Mot done by Arnold Clark Glasgow)
Second Mot was Done 19th Feb 2013 - 19k (which is when i bought it Arnold clark Glasgow)
third Mot was done on 21st Feb 2014 - 46k (Local independent garage)

three services have been done all show under 19k

i paid 6k plus i gave in my old car which they valued at 5k

cheers for your help

nash1977

It could possibly be a data input mistake by the MOT tester, after 7 days the mistake cannot be rectified.

You state the car has a full service history prior to you buying, all stating under 19k. You can confirm the service history mileages for 2010, 2011 & 2012 with the dealer/s.

If confirmed, it is safe to trust the 3 service figures rather than the 1 mot figure.

Joe_Horner

Did it not ring alarm bells that it was coming up 4 years old but they were putting it in for its "first MOT"? If true, that would mean it had been hanging around basically undriven for a year which is not a good thing for a car to do!

jimjames

If it was more than 12 months ago then it may be a bit late to do much about it now.

If the true mileage is higher then it normal circumstances you'd expect to get back the amount you'd overpaid based on the lower mileage. One reason I like high mileage cars is that at least you are normally sure it's genuine

azi_2

how would you prove that it was a legitimate mistake ? i mean how easy is it to type in 56000 instead of 16000 or say 5600 ? iv never seen a mot center i take its just a normal keyboard ?

fivetide

To be fair, 16k would be amazingly low miles for a three year old car. Perhaps the tester wasn't feeling the best and put in what they thought was the right (and more realistic) figure.


You can double check the services as above. You could even ask Uncle Arnold about it and have them do the leg work.

AdrianC

azi wrote: »

iv never seen a mot center i take its just a normal keyboard ?

Yep, usually with a rubber "condom" over the keyboard to save grubby fingers marking it up badly. Very easy to mistype on.

What does the "full service history" say about the mileage at the services? On a low mileage 2009 Golf, VW recommended "time and distance" servicing, 12mo/10k miles. Even if it'd been on the "Long Life" regime, which VW only recommended for cars doing more than 25 miles/day, it'd be maximum 2yrs between services.

Stoke

Right, I have no idea what the crack is on a modern Golf, but I have a VW Lupo. VW put in an odometer correction log which dealers/VAGCOM owners can access. On my car, you could actually get around it by simply buying a new set of clocks with lower mileage as the ECU only recorded a signal sent to the clocks for their correction. Newer VW have coded clocks, so odometer correction is almost impossible to do without leaving a trace.

Hope this helps.

Geodark

I have a zafira an in the ECU the mileage is stored in two place, and only one of them can be edited. This is to allow new clocks to be programmed up to match the correct mileage. It might be worth seeing if you can find someone with a VW specific diagnostic tool to have a look and check what is stored in the ECU

Stoke

Geodark wrote: »

I have a zafira an in the ECU the mileage is stored in two place, and only one of them can be edited. This is to allow new clocks to be programmed up to match the correct mileage. It might be worth seeing if you can find someone with a VW specific diagnostic tool to have a look and check what is stored in the ECU

That sounds a lot like my Lupo to be honest, although the Lupo was easy to get round, modern VW's are not.

Hintza

Track the previous owner via the V5c and give them a call.