Just discovered my car was "clocked" before I bought it in 2015

worried_jim

wgl2014 wrote: »

Why would anyone bother 'clocking' a car to remove 20k miles? It would make little difference to the cars value and as the OP has now noticed is easy to see on MOT's.
An incorrectly entered mileage is far more likely.

Maybe it was a pcp with a mileage limit and the first owner had gone over so simply plugged their laptop in and reduced the mileage to stay within the contract. I’ve seen done. However, as already stated the time to check was when purchased.

wgl2014

But for that to work it would need to be before the first MOT test when the 45k was recorded.

macman

It did have a 'full service history'. One service only, which was stamped in the book...
Seriously, you didn't check the book before buying?

droopsnoot

If this is just going from the mileage entered during the MOT test, there's always the simple explanation that the MOT tester simply entered the incorrect figure when filling out the computer. Perhaps they were busy. But I'd agree with everyone else, it's probably too late to do much about it now.


As for it being entered in kilometres, how would that happen? Do modern cars show the mileage in both figures now? Or could it be that the car was used abroad in its early life and configured that way?

EdGasketTheSecond

I've had incorrect mileage entered on MoT. They read a 7 as a 1 and knocked 6000 miles off.

n217970

droopsnoot wrote: »

As for it being entered in kilometres, how would that happen? Do modern cars show the mileage in both figures now? Or could it be that the car was used abroad in its early life and configured that way?

On a car I used to own with a fully LCD display it would only show speed and distance in miles, when I took it on the continent I used to change it to KM in the settings, at that point it would only show everything in KM.

Also, when diagnostic software was plugged into that car all codes/milestones where recorded with KM at the time rather then miles irregardless of what measurement the speedo was set to.

AdrianC

realh wrote: »

I don't know what the mileage was before 2015, because that was its first MoT.

OK... but the MOT certificates from Jan 2016 (the current one when you bought it) and Jan 2017 (done in your possession) would also have shown the mileage history.

Did you HPI this car when you bought it at 4.5yo, 18 months ago?
What does the service history show?

realh

I didn't check everything as thoroughly as I should, because I've got some health conditions and couldn't afford the stress/energy etc, and I thought the reason people pay more to go to franchised dealers was for more peace of mind.

@AdrianC I bought it later in 2015, not 2016, and paid in full. The mileage wasn't entered on the previous service history.

It was serviced and MoT'd at the same time; they didn't put the mileage in the service book that time, but they may have recorded it separately, so I'll see if it can be traced. Maybe not today because, like I said, I have to carefully ration my stress and I've got other things to do.

AdrianC

realh wrote: »

@AdrianC I bought it later in 2015, not 2016, and paid in full. The mileage wasn't entered on the previous service history.

Ah - I took "the following summer" to be summer 2016, not summer 2015. My apologies.

So when you bought it, the then-current MOT certificate said 45k miles on it. This is the third test done in your ownership, and the fourth the car has had. The 2016 and 2017 tests were done in your ownership, and gave the full previous test mileage history on them. The mileages from the previous four tests were introduced to the test certificate in 2012, with the move to the current-style fully-computer-printed "receipt" certificate instead of the old green pre-printed stationary.

realh

AdrianC wrote: »

So when you bought it, the then-current MOT certificate said 45k miles on it. This is the third test done in your ownership, and the fourth the car has had. The 2016 and 2017 tests were done in your ownership, and gave the full previous test mileage history on them. The mileages from the previous four tests were introduced to the test certificate in 2012, with the move to the current-style fully-computer-printed "receipt" certificate instead of the old green pre-printed stationary.

That's correct. FWIW the 2016 and 2017 MoTs were carried out by the dealer I bought it from.