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Old 16th May 2013, 19:41   #46
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Re: How to detect *Odometer Fraud*

I saw some used cars in which the odo showed 055600 kms (for eg) instead of 55600. Why this extra zero in the beginning ?
In My car the odo shows 40000 and there is no zero in the beginning.

The cars in question are Honda City dolphin shape and a Merc c200 2004 model I think .

Can someone confirm whether their car shows this extra zero in the beginning.

This might be a case where the actual mileage of the car might be in 6 digits and later rolled back to 5 digits so the 1 or 2 in the beginning later become 0.
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Old 16th May 2013, 20:52   #47
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Quote:
Originally Posted by StrangeWizard View Post
I saw some used cars in which the odo showed 055600 kms (for eg) instead of 55600. Why this extra zero in the beginning ?
In My car the odo shows 40000 and there is no zero in the beginning.

The cars in question are Honda City dolphin shape and a Merc c200 2004 model I think .

Can someone confirm whether their car shows this extra zero in the beginning.

This might be a case where the actual mileage of the car might be in 6 digits and later rolled back to 5 digits so the 1 or 2 in the beginning later become 0.
The 6 digit meter is no scam and it does exist in some cars. I have this same 6 digit meter in my 2003 model Maruti Suzuki Zen Lxi as well. Same was the case with the digital meter of Wagon R we had, ran it for some 180000 km before selling to true value.
One possible reason I can think of is good confidence of the manufacturer that the car manufactured is good and worthy for a few lakh kilometers. But then the same vintage Esteem having 5 digit meter while the Zen having 6 digit meter is beyond my understanding.
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Old 16th May 2013, 20:59   #48
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Quote:
Originally Posted by StrangeWizard

Can someone confirm whether their car shows this extra zero in the beginning.
My Lancer is now at 109xxx kms and there was no zero prefixed when it was on five digits.
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Old 16th May 2013, 22:38   #49
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Grr7 View Post
The 6 digit meter is no scam and it does exist in some cars. I have this same 6 digit meter in my 2003 model Maruti Suzuki Zen Lxi as well. Same was the case with the digital meter of Wagon R we had, ran it for some 180000 km before selling to true value.
One possible reason I can think of is good confidence of the manufacturer that the car manufactured is good and worthy for a few lakh kilometers. But then the same vintage Esteem having 5 digit meter while the Zen having 6 digit meter is beyond my understanding.
I know the 6 digit meter exists in most cars.
What I'm asking is when your car's mileage is in the 4 or 5 digit range then does it have 1 or 2 zeros prefixed before the other digits.
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Old 11th June 2013, 17:07   #50
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Re: How to detect *Odometer Fraud*

I am afraid of buying cars otherwise also, too much of headache and inconsistent behavior of car dealers.

I would much rather prefer buying cars when they go for mid-life facelift. There are few chances of getting a demo as no changes happen with respect to performance (in most of the cases - i have not seen many such examples, I may be wrong though) and you know the changes due to facelift....resulting in buying a fresh car.

Not sure if this approach is correct.
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Old 11th June 2013, 17:42   #51
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Re: How to detect *Odometer Fraud*

Quote:
Originally Posted by StrangeWizard View Post
I know the 6 digit meter exists in most cars.
What I'm asking is when your car's mileage is in the 4 or 5 digit range then does it have 1 or 2 zeros prefixed before the other digits.
In my 2006 WagonR, no Zero prefix before the actual ODO reading. It was showing 2,3,4,5 and now 6 Integers after crossing 1L kms.
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Old 25th August 2014, 10:19   #52
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Meter Tampering - Rampant in most used cars sold in India

In my recent research whilst selling a few cars of our household i chanced upon the underbelly of used car selling activity in our country. Meter Tampering has become rampant with extremely high (even 90%) of all dealer cars offered in all markets in India. This is not just one region it is happening every where for rates as low as Rs 300. It is believed that even individuals are engaging in this kind of 420 activity whilst selling their cars even respectable ones either knowingly or unknowingly (done when at used car dealers on a park and sell basis) This was a highly prevalent (80%) practice with grey imports with the advent of full and dynamic democratisation of corruption in our country this practice is now RAMPANT in the general used car industry at alarming proportions. You have been warned, tread carefully, ask for workshop receipts/file. Also look out for grey areas on the car as some people are doing this between service intervals so just general file verification at service station won't suffice. Sure shot way of verifying is that all cars which have scannable systems can be exposed when hooked up to a scanner since any sort of tampering leaves a trail. I had a close call recently on investigation I was given a complete low down on what's happening on the ground Best of luck

Last edited by moralfibre : 25th August 2014 at 11:39. Reason: Please avoid typing with excessive dots. Thanks!
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Old 25th August 2014, 11:05   #53
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Re: Meter Tampering - Rampant in most used cars sold in India

Well it's a common knowledge that meters are tampered to clock reduced readings in the Used vehicle market.

By the way what investigation are you talking about? I can't imagine any positive work like investigation being initiated from Govt agency on their own though.
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Old 25th August 2014, 11:18   #54
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Re: Meter Tampering - Rampant in most used cars sold in India

Until there's something like a national vehicle register , these odometer frauds will continue. Main dealers are probably the only ones who don't commit this fraud. So look for main dealer service records when buying used cars.
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Old 25th August 2014, 11:34   #55
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Re: Meter Tampering - Rampant in most used cars sold in India

If its a TATA Motors vehicle, you can get indications of the Odometer reading during last service, car variant, colour, owners name & "last serviced at" history HERE.

Yes, its quite a menace for used car buyers. Last year I bought a pre-worshipped Linea and I came across numerous such instances where a car apparently "done just 12,000kms" had completely balded tyres, all of them. (I know incorrect WA/WB can cause premature wear or even rough usage with heavy braking, but the age of the vehicle definitely seemed like a 50-60K done car).

So, its things like these that further add to the pain of searching good used cars. I've decided if at all I need another car and renting doesn't work out, its definitely going to be a new one.

Last edited by GrammarNazi : 25th August 2014 at 11:37.
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Old 25th August 2014, 11:59   #56
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Re: Meter Tampering - Rampant in most used cars sold in India

With tools like these why wouldnt anyone tamper the odometer ?

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/2014-...747228870.html


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Old 25th August 2014, 12:41   #57
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Re: Meter Tampering - Rampant in most used cars sold in India

Quote:
Originally Posted by canonball View Post
In my recent research whilst selling a few cars of our household i chanced upon the underbelly of used car selling activity in our country. Meter Tampering has become rampant with extremely high (even 90%) of all dealer cars offered in all markets in India. This is not just one region it is happening every where for rates as low as Rs 300. It is believed that even individuals are engaging in this kind of 420 activity whilst selling their cars even respectable ones either knowingly or unknowingly (done when at used car dealers on a park and sell basis) This was a highly prevalent (80%) practice with grey imports with the advent of full and dynamic democratisation of corruption in our country this practice is now RAMPANT in the general used car industry at alarming proportions. You have been warned, tread carefully, ask for workshop receipts/file. Also look out for grey areas on the car as some people are doing this between service intervals so just general file verification at service station won't suffice. Sure shot way of verifying is that all cars which have scannable systems can be exposed when hooked up to a scanner since any sort of tampering leaves a trail. I had a close call recently on investigation I was given a complete low down on what's happening on the ground Best of luck
Cannonball - i completely agree with you.. In 2012 I was on the lookout for a used car in Mumbai and i must have covered at least 20 - 25 used car dealers in the Andheri, Goregaon, Malad areas. I used to visit the dealers to shortlist the cars i liked, based on the look and feel (test drive)during my weekends and spend the weekdays in researching the data i had gathered from the dealer (VIN, Regn number, odometer, service history etc.).

At that time i had concluded that almost 95% of the cars which i had researched were tainted and the most common taint was odometer tampering. This was true irrespective if the dealer scale of operations (across large, medium and small used car dealers). I found that the dealer route did not work for me due to this very reason and stopped looking at dealers for my requirement. Their greed for making huge margins out of every deal is obviously the motivation for them to tamper the odo on every vehicle which passes through their hands.
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Old 25th August 2014, 12:42   #58
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Re: Meter Tampering - Rampant in most used cars sold in India

Its really easy to tamper with digital odometers.
I met a guy about a year back and he told me;get me any car and i will give you odometer reading you want.

Bought quite a few used cars and every time ensured that i got one with proper service records.In fact the 18 year old car i just bought has each and every service documented in the service book
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Old 25th August 2014, 12:51   #59
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Re: Meter Tampering - Rampant in most used cars sold in India

Allow me to put another twist to this, from personal experience.
Bulk of the buyers in the used-car market are aware of this practice. Yet, when they are offered a car with full and authentic history, they are not willing to pay anything more than the price of such tampered cars. Their argument is: same car model is available for xxx less at yyy dealer.
So such cheapskates deserve the lemons that they end up buying.
I am in no way defending this cheating; just providing another view.
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Old 25th August 2014, 13:12   #60
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Re: Meter Tampering - Rampant in most used cars sold in India

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bomi View Post
Allow me to put another twist to this, from personal experience.
Bulk of the buyers in the used-car market are aware of this practice. Yet, when they are offered a car with full and authentic history, they are not willing to pay anything more than the price of such tampered cars. Their argument is: same car model is available for xxx less at yyy dealer.
So such cheapskates deserve the lemons that they end up buying.
I am in no way defending this cheating; just providing another view.
+1. Cars with good maintenance and full history deserves a good resale; but buyers don't realize that and haggle hard.

A 1L km done car with nicks here and there but with a proper service history is better than a 50k done model done with a rubbing polish.

Last edited by ramzsys : 25th August 2014 at 13:14.
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