Clocked car

loopa1

So...long story cut short.

I bought a car approx. 6 months ago which I went on to suspect had been clocked due to conflicting odometer and on board computer total mileage counter (the former read 30k, the latter read 55k).

This was never 100% proven but following an inspection by the manufacturer's dealership they suspected the car had been clocked also and fortunately for me provided enough evidence to return the car to the local garage I bought it from.

The Government's MOT history checker for this vehicle shows it's had a recent MOT and the mileage is still approx. 30k. When I returned the car to the dealer I bought it from (who I suspect weren't responsible for clocking the car based on an MOT certificate I was given), they said they'd investigate and get it changed if needed.

I reported this to citizens advice at the time, who asked if they could inform the local trading standards team.

Given the manufacturer's dealership couldn't 100% prove it'd been clocked, I'm wondering what action I could/should take, if any?

The car is no longer my issue of course.

forgotmyname

You cannot prove it was clocked. You have reported it and thats as much as you can do.

Just move on.

Or the dealer may have been mistaken where the odometer is in miles and your 55k figure was Km? Quite often the ECU stored the mileage in Km not miles.

Was your cars 30k miles closer to 34k miles?

societys_child

Or the dealer may have been mistaken where the odometer is in miles and your 55k figure was Km? Quite often the ECU stored the mileage in Km not miles.

Was your cars 30k miles closer to 34k miles?

I think you're right about that. (34,176 miles = 55,000 Km)

Mine won't allow different mileages.
It currently shows 80k, but if the dashboard cluster failed and I replaced it with a second hand one that had done, for example, 120k, the ECU would update itself to match the 120k shown on the odometer. If I replaced it with a lower mileage, it would update the odometer to the correct mileage.

Similarly, if I replaced the ECU with one that had only done (for example again) 50k, the ECU would take the reading from the odometer and update itself to match the 80k shown.

I thought all cars did this now?

"Mileage correction software" is easily obtainable if someone wanted to knock some miles off, but it would write the same value to both odometer and ECU - and would likely be a mix of miles and km.

BeenThroughItAll

OBC will almost certainly be recording KM, not miles. If OP had given us a bit more information rather than relying on the Motoring Board crystal ball, we'd probably be able to find out for certain.


If, for example, it's from the VAG stable, the OBC will definitely be in KM.

loopa1

Both readings are in miles - I have the option to switch to either km or miles.

motorguy

loopa1 wrote: »

Both readings are in miles - I have the option to switch to either km or miles.

Chances are the dealer has sold it on via an auction (presumably marking the mileage as incorrect) OR sold it on to a customer and told them the correct mileage.

They would be under no obligation to have the mileage adjusted upwards.

Wasnt a renault scenic was it?

BeenThroughItAll

loopa1 wrote: »

Both readings are in miles - I have the option to switch to either km or miles.

How are you reading the OBC mileage? I would be surprised if the ECU gives a nice handy option for recording mileage in both measures or indeed displaying the recorded OBC mileage on the dash - that contained within the ECU is unlikely to match the odometer in miles.

Unless you've got a car with two odometers, how are you able to access the OBC total mileage without diagnostics?

Again, if you actually told us what the car was, maybe we'd be able to give you a definitive answer.

societys_child

loopa1 wrote: »

- I have the option to switch to either km or miles.

Most euro vehicles can change the dashboard output between the two.

What are the actual mileage and km readings?

Exemplar

Is it a Renault? was the dash swapped at some point?

AdrianC

Notwithstanding the (very likely) mile/km confusion explanation, it isn't illegal to have a car with a wrong mileage displayed on the odometer or the MOT certificate. It isn't illegal to sell a car with a wrong mileage displayed.

It is only illegal to claim a wrong mileage is genuine. So, if the mileage is suspected to be wrong, then all the vendor needs to do is to say that the mileage is not warranted to be correct, and job's a good 'un.

ess0two

I had a similar issue with a Mercedes the ignition switch and other places store the mileage.
Unfortunately a crude way to frig the mileage is input a figure of 999999999miles into the ignition switch,this allows the cluster to be set at whatever mileage.
The ECU never lies though, I got a report from Mercedes stating the correct mileage from the ECU.
The dealer was being an !!!! over it so I just got trading standards involved,12 hrs later I got a full refund, had 8 mths use of the car also.
How did I find out it was clocked? one morning it wouldn't start, so had a guy to do diagnostics etc.
Trading standards told me its rife, and mainly people taking PCP deals with unrealistic mileage,then getting them clocked back when returning car.