Suspicious mileage on used car....

General_query

Hi,

Sister-in-law has been looking for a second hand car as her's is now unrepairable.

She has seen one from a local long established car dealer and it states its done 99,000 miles.

When I checked on the Government check mot history website it lists the last 3 MOT'S and mileage as below:

[PASS] 17th July 2020 86,005 miles
[PASS] 19th July 2021 90,793 miles
[PASS] 19th July 2022 55,648 it's gone backwards



Very strange and seriously worrying.

And last MOT expired on 18th July 2023. 

So, if the garage claims it has now done 99,000 miles, it hasn't been MOT'd in 15 months but has done an extra 43,352 miles since July 2023. So it has been driven without an MOT for the last 15 months and has now done 99,000 miles?!

And why has the mileage been rolled back?

Anyway, I then checked on another free car check website and under "legal checks" that shows:

Tax 03 Mar 2023 - Tax expired 2 years ago.

MOT 18 Jul 2023 - MOT expired a year ago, fair enough but then this > 

And a 3rd free car check website even provides more details, below:







Can there be any logical legal reason it has its mileage reduced by 35,145 miles, and even if so, how come it has now done 99,000 miles according to the dealer when it hasn't had an MOT and now done all these extra miles?

I guess you'll all say avoid, don't touch with a bargepole etc, but has anyone else come across this please?

She had her heart set on this and needs another car but to me this is so dodgy looking.

Comments / advice please.

Thanks.

General_query

Garage is shut today and she can't go there again until next weekend.

badmemory

I would say someones typo.

SiliconChip

The obvious answer is that when the MoT was done in 2022 the examiner made an error keying in the mileage, it probably should have been 95,648. That's far more likely than the odometer being rolled back and then the mileage increasing by 44,000 miles between then and now. But if she's bothered about it then don't buy it, there are many more cars out there to look at.

400ixl

It could be as simple as the speedo failed and was replaced with a secondhand unit. The 99k miles could be the last mileage of the broken unit + the additional mileage since the replaced speedo.

MOT will only ever record what the speedo says.

You need to speak to the dealer. Although why hasn't it been used for the last 18 months would also be a big question. Things like tyres, suspension, engine etc will not have benefited from sitting around.

Sarahspangles

If a typo, then 95,658 to 99,000 is plausible.  But allowing the tax and MOT to expire is a concern. An owner passing away leaving a car in the garage is one scenario. But a breakdown that’s not been worth fixing until now could be a bad buy.

Wonka_2

Well done for doing the due diligence - it ‘could’ be as simple as a typo that the MOT was done at 95,648 for example but until the garage is open and you can start to ask some questions you won’t know. 

We’ve a similar issue on Mrs Wonkas car where there was a 70k reduction - consecutive MOT’s were 20k, 90k, 30k. As part of the purchase we got dealer to get written confirmation from precious MOT station of the erroneous mileage but were too late to have it changed on the records. Had it not been the right colour/model/spec we’d probably have walked away. 

In your case then assuming the mileage now displays 99k there’s no logic for the wind back unless it’s had a speedo replacement and then racked up a massive mileage over the next year. 

Is it something special enough that it’s worth pursuing or time to look for something else ? 

horsewithnoname

Did a dealer own it for a while? They can get away with not mot-ing a car for a period. 

fatbelly

I'd want to see a fresh mot on that and I wouldn't be paying a huge amount for it. There could be issues raised by the MOT unless the dealer is very confident of getting a clean one

What's the service history look like?

facade

The most likely scenario is that the previous owner "got rid" sometime before July 18th, didn't bother to get a fresh MOT beforehand, and it has been "In Trade" for at least the last 3 months.

The mileage is most likely a typo with a 5 instead of a 9.

The question really is what was wrong with it to make the owner "get rid", and has it been fixed properly? - this would apply to any car where it isn't obvious that it was an end of lease/PCP return.

400ixl

facade said:

The most likely scenario is that the previous owner "got rid" sometime before July 18th, didn't bother to get a fresh MOT beforehand, and it has been "In Trade" for at least the last 3 months.

The MOT and tax expired in 2023 not 2024. So 15 months, rather than 3.