Mileage Discrepancy Help Please

critchley999

I've read a few of the past queries about this but none of them seem to relate to our problem so sorry for yet another but we could really do with some advice.

Husband treated himself to a Ford campervan conversion 2007 model in March of this year as a retirement present. It was a Classified Ad on Ebay and he arranged to meet the seller at his address, getting his brother to take him there. It was about 100 miles away.

The seller was supposed to be home at 1 pm but in the end never turned up until 4 pm so maybe that would explain the haste and lack of proper inspection at the time (if you know what the M25 is like at that time).

Anyway, he was happy with the over-all condition and paid £10,000 cash despite it still needing a few minor things to get it re-classified as a Motor Caravan which he subsequently did. He has no recollection of any conversation taking place regarding the mileage and can't even remember what it was advertised as on Ebay. The seller also indicated that he hadn't finished it off as he had got a job abroad.

I know, reading all this everyone will be thinking "ouch" (or words along those lines) as he could have ended up with a stolen vehicle or something.

We've had no problem with it until it was MOT'd in August of this year and we noticed the discrepancy regarding the mileage. MOT reads:
2011 - 59140
2012 - 80954
2013 - 91333
2014 - 72905 current reading is 74497.

Our problem now is that we've decided that due to ill health the life on the open road isn't for us and we have put it up for sale as a Classified on Ebay for £9000 or reasonable offer. We left the mileage blank on the description so we are being plagued by people wanting to know and we don't really know what to say. We've explained the discrepancy to those that have enquired and have guestimated that the true mileage is probably nearer 100,000. It is not our intention to defraud or deceive anyone but I fear this is going to put buyers off. The last registered keeper on the log book is a company name and address.

Is there anything we can do to rectify the discrepancy? We have no paperwork indicating that the Odometer has been changed. We had no problem getting it re-classifed as a Motor Caravan so we believe that everything else is in order or we would have heard about it by now.

I'm thinking that if anyone does buy it I should write something on the receipt to indicate that they are aware of the discrepancy at the time of purchase, having read about people trying to get their money back under the TDA.

Any help or advice please?

Herzlos

Have you contacted the last owner or the company on the paperwork? They might be able to shed some light on it.

BeenThroughItAll

critchley999 wrote: »

Any help or advice please?

Just be honest. Personally, I'd explain that in the eBay ad, and let people make their minds up that way to avoid hassle.


Remember, as a private seller you aren't covered by SOGA so as long as you make it clear on the ad/receipt that the vehicle is sold with a known mileage discrepancy, there's nothing a buyer can do about it.

colino

Tell viewers the current mileage but you don't believe it to be accurate, for those that enquire further, relate the MOT mileages and go no further, you don't know, so don't speculate.
Incidentally for other buyers of camper conversions, not those used for leisure out of the showroom, how realistic do you think it is to have the base vehicle, a commercial unit, having low mileage in its first three (pre-MOT) years?

BeenThroughItAll

colino wrote: »

Tell viewers the current mileage but you don't believe it to be accurate, for those that enquire further, relate the MOT mileages and go no further, you don't know, so don't speculate.
Incidentally for other buyers of camper conversions, not those used for leisure out of the showroom, how realistic do you think it is to have the base vehicle, a commercial unit, having low mileage in its first three (pre-MOT) years?

Quite a lot of the 'home' conversions start life as minibuses it seems, which unless private hired often have quite low miles. I bought one of these a few months back for an engine swap, was 14 years old and had less than 60K on it. Was owned by a private school for the first eight years and did about 5k a year.


Bodyshell was scrap, but the engine and gearbox were perfect.

colino

I bought one too from a local private school that seized on the M6 through lack of oil and only two and a half years old. Beautifully waxed body and immaculate interior, 74,000 miles of abuse though.

welfayre

Just say in your add:

Mileage shown as XX,XXX - please note there is a discrepancy as shown on MOT (put photo of MOT on).

As long as you don't claim the mileage is accurate you'll be fine.

BeenThroughItAll

colino wrote: »

I bought one too from a local private school that seized on the M6 through lack of oil and only two and a half years old. Beautifully waxed body and immaculate interior, 74,000 miles of abuse though.

Shame, could have made one nice one.

motorguy

I would put "approx 98,000 miles" or even just "98,000 miles" in the advert.

If anyone rings i'd explain that the mileage is reading as 74,000 most likely due to a speedo head change, and its evidenced through the MOTs.

That way you're not lying, but you're not saying the car was clocked either.

If you make it a big deal, people will think its a big deal.

One thing i have found is if there is a complication with a car and you put it in the advert people are more likely not to bother even ringing, whereas if you bring it to their attention when they are on the phone or viewing the car once you've had a little time talking to them, then theres generally no issue.

To me putting in the advert "this car has a mileage discrepancy and we think its around 98,000 miles on it" or words like that, will just have alarm bells ringing with people - they'll think its been clocked - and they wont pick up the phone.

I've sold various cars with incorrect mileages - usually renaults that had had new speedos heads fitted under warranty - and thats how i handled it. Never had ANY problems.

Geodark

If the bloke was converting it is it not just the case that he has stuck a new dash in? Have you tried speaking to the guy you bought it from? it could all be legit.

critchley999

Geodark wrote: »

If the bloke was converting it is it not just the case that he has stuck a new dash in? Have you tried speaking to the guy you bought it from? it could all be legit.

Unfortunately it was just a case of jotting down his name, address & phone number on a scrap of paper and off to go on an impulse. Who knows what happened to that. From what I researched on the net you can't just do that without reconciling the two readings but what do I know. At my age I really could do without all this hassle - just want to sell it and get some of our money back without getting involved in any legal battles.