[Ace F355]

A post about from my thread on the extent some people go in our country to hide their real odometer reading. A few quick queries here and there and beans spilled out that the odo is tempered hugely.

Narrow escape for me, shudder to think about some poor soul who will fall for the trick!

Originally Posted by Ace F355

there was one case where the previously owner was so smart that he got one service done from Toyota every 10k kms and one from outside, clocked back the odo by 10k everytime he got it done aftermarket (it only costs INR 500 to get a new chip for odometer!)! So, essentially his car had covered twice the kms than what odo showed and this odo was backed with service history from Toyota! Can you imagine?

[prabhatmilan]

More details here at TOI news link below. Hope it deters dealers from engaging into unethical practices.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...w/64151405.cms

[Sherlocked]

Originally Posted by prabhatmilan

More details here at TOI news link below. Hope it deters dealers from engaging into unethical practices.

Kudos to the aggrieved party for taking it forward to the court and happy that he got some compensation.
Although I believe the compensation amount of just 1.5 lakhs on a car for which the sufferer shelled 6.2 lakhs is too less to teach the fraud a lesson.

Compensation plus penalty should have been at least greater than 50-60 percent if not 100 to really deter that unethical dealer and others to repeat it again.

[pedrolourenco]

Most of the cases here are of clocking back the odometer. Have you heard of the opposite? A acquaintance of mine did it. He increased his odometer reading from 5K to 80K kms. Now why would anyone do that? Even the guy who was hired to do the job was baffled. What happened was his car had completed 1.5L kms and he had a major accident. The repairs were carried out which included changing the wiring harness and instrument cluster. The new cluster was displaying 5K. Even TASS could not explain. AFAIK the reading is stored in the ECU so even a new cluster should display the original reading. If the reading is stored in the cluster then it should display zero. The guy was in no mood to try and figure out why this happened so he just settled on clocking the odometer as selling such an old car with 5K on the odo will definitely raise eyebrows. So though it looks like he has increased the reading from 5K to 80K, he has actually reduced it from 150K to 80K.

[scorpian]

I have worked in True Value and very closely observed a number of things that go on routinely.one of the prime reasons for quitting was the unethical way of dealing that would go on. Many a times batteries, tires etc are swapped,sometimes they even go to people who work there and have similar cars or requirements.Alloys will also go missing and be replaced with rims.
If you sell your car with a good player,speakers and god forbid an amp, all of it will be changed before the car goes for display.I did come across some people with who had multiple alloy wheels and music systems and would sell it to make some bucks.My advice to all who sell their cars is to strip the car of all additions you have done before even getting it evaluated, once evaluated if you try to remove anything you will start seeing your price dropping as the evaluater will say "sir price was inclusive of all accessories".

[dailydriver]

I was witness to an odometer tampering incident today. An elderly gentleman was showing his son's car to a dealer and I casually enquired with him about the details. Since it was owned and always driven by his son, the man wasn't really aware of anything except for the vague remembrance that it was four years old (which I too knew). He graciously offered me the key and insisted that I take a test drive so that I could sound out any potential purchasers in my circle.

The car drove well but the clutch was gone and the tyres were fully bald. The odo showed 40,3xx kms.

I couldn't hold off my smile as I realised that the number was clearly doctored. Reason?

About two years ago, in the absence of her husband and son, the lady of the house had requested me to move the car to make way for a truck. I had obliged. During two brief stays in the driver's seat, I had noticed that the car had run 45,xxx km and had wondered how a two year old car had covered such distance.

PS: Withholding identities as the car & people in question are in my neighborhood.

[Eddy]

My cousin's wagonR met with a serious head on accident and the car was handed over to him with 0 on the odo post repairs at MASS. You can call that a tampered odometer, but not really with an intent to cheat. So don't judge your neighbors just yet

[tstlnt]

Originally Posted by Eddy

You can call that a tampered odometer, but not really with an intent to cheat. So don't judge your neighbors just yet

Well said and I fully agree !

Post 2015 Chennai deluge, I had to replace the Odo of my swift. New Odo showed 0 and MASS was helpless, quoting their protocol, albeit Swift had run for about 54 K km. In addition, I had (have) the habit of maintaining a vehicle log, so, I had the exact reading.

Since, all my services, including body shop works, for the past 7 years, were done with MASS only, they had all the past Odo references and it was almost tallying, with a difference of 340 km. Went to Kodmbakkam (Chennai), reset the Odo to 54 K km.

When, I sold the car in 2017, informed the same to the buyer with the proof of all service records, from the free service days, with specific mention about change of Odo. He, wholeheartedly agreed and he is still in contact with me, for any help for services.

As long as the intent and actions are the same, it's fine

[typlo]

Just wanted to add to this thread. Went to a car wash at a Friendly Neighbourhood Garage (quite literally 'friendly', the owner and my dad grew up together). While the wash was being done, I asked him to demonstrate the paint defects and ways to identify repaints, which he diligently did (he had a few cars for some repairs that were repainted at some point).

Here comes the shocker. I asked him about odometer fraud. He pointed me to a small shop about 500 metres ahead of his garage, near an intersection (The place is Pratap Vihar, Ghaziabad, UP). I observed a huge crowd of taxis and a few hatchbacks there. I asked about the 'service'. The guy at the shop quoted me Rs. 200 for any reading on the ODO I wanted to. I asked him how did it work. He showed me around and verbally listed the procedure of changing an odo reading.

1. Open up the dash to reach to the odo.
2. Connect some wires around.
3. Use some device to input the numeric value, takes a minute to complete.

I was surprised when he told me that there's no soldering involved, no flickering of dashboard lights takes place, and the speedometer doesn't flicker. Basically, there are no signs of tampering. He went on to say that amount of manual labour was reduced due to digital ODOs. This makes me very sad.

[E = mc²]

Back in May 2018 I landed up in my first job. As with any other enthusiasts I planned to save up, as I wanted a car of my own to use whenever I’m in my hometown. Although the current one at home does less than 3000 kms a year, decided not to sell it as I didn’t want any casual errands to be run on the new car I’m buying. This impending car purchase was against the approval from the family, and there wouldn’t be any help from their side for the paperworks But still, I frantically wanted (or want) an another car.

Started looking at Ford Fiesta 1.6 S, which’s up for sale around. A few days back, I was informed by someone in a whatsapp group that one with 60k kms is available in Kerala. I was overjoyed by the fact that I could find one within my state itself (although I was abroad), as fetching one from a different state would be a tedious task.

I messaged the owner and he turned out to be a genuine one. For almost every enquiry I made, he called me back and responded to it. He also opened up that there is a small crackline on the windshield and the S-Drives would last only for a few thousand kms and also, about the kaput engine mount. The car was MH registered by then, for which he has already applied a KL plate. That meant, I didn’t even have to worry on the reg transfer paper works.

What drove me dubious was that, why would someone sell an all time enthusiasts’ favourite car that he’s bought just 2 months back so quick! I asked him the same and he retorted that they just had a baby and the car which he bought for his better half couldn’t be driven by her anymore. Also, he had a few car projects going on in between and the Fiesta S didn’t make much of a use.

To confirm even more on the car’s condition, I was given the contact of an equally enthusiastic person from Ford by the owner itself, with whom the car was taken care during its services. Had a talk with him for about 10 mins via phone and somewhere when I mentioned about the 60k kms, I could feel something changing in the air and he said, “that car was last serviced at 93k.”

I was dumbstruck at this moment. For a car which I thought that was almost mine started to literally fade away by what he said. I wanted him to be kidding me, but he wasn’t. He opened up even more - the car when the owner bought to KL was told to be a lady driven car. The dealership from which he bought couldn’t provide the service history of the car and the added lapse made him to buy a car that had 30k kms lesser on the odo. He was furious at the dealership which sold him that car, but in vain.

I kept this to myself, as instructed by the guy from Ford and never told it to the car’s owner that I’m aware (I didn’t want to spoil the relation between the Fiesta’s owner and the guy from Ford). I repeatedly then asked the owner whether he has the service details from the previous owner, to which he countered with reasons, “this was well maintained by the previous lady. It had some service tags on it when I purchased. So, I knew the genuinity of the kms..blah and blah..” (Though, the tone of his voice and the way he spoke seemed bona fide. But still, I wasn’t fully convinced.)

I still did not confront the owner. As per the guy from Ford, the job card opened at the new service center was at 93k kms, and not 60k kms - the owner insisted the new job card at the Cochin dealership to have the genuine km reading (as opposed to the odometer), as he never wanted the new owner to be cheated (but hey, you still told me it had run only 60k!). He also wanted the odo reading to be put back to original, but somehow they couldn’t do it, as rolling up an odo cannot be done (is that so.? ).

I still gave the owner a benefit a doubt. The Ford guy actually eyed that car a bit long back but he wasn’t selling it then. But when he decided to sell it, I came up. So, could it be the guy from Ford who’s tricked me to not buy that car.?

Adding to the benefit of doubt, the service records of Fords are not centralised. Which means the service done at dealership A wouldn’t be available at dealership B. But as per the Ford guy, insiders from Ford dealerships have the ability to source job cards opened at different places from their desktop. As with my experience from calling different dealerships around the country for service records for different Fiestas, what everyone was able to say about was only about the record from their own dealership. Upon asking the other dealerships’ job cards, none could help. Again, this made me doubt the Ford guy, whether there was really a service done for this car at 93k kms or not back in MH.

So finally, did I bite the deal.?! Hell no!! 3.0L was the final price (I still did not talk about the odo tampering with the owner). Adding the repair cost of the aforementioned items, I was looking at an overall price of ~ 3.4 L. Had the car really ran 93k++, that would have been the worst decision I could make on the very first car I’m buying with ‘my own’ Vitamin M. Duh!

PS - The Fiesta S is a well sought out car by enthusiasts. If anyone happened to come across any Aquarius Blue 1.6 S, which resembles to what I said, give me a PM. I won’t be able to divulge any names, but can confirm if it’s the same car or not. Non-team bhp’ians can contact the admin, to message me on the same.

[Turbo Head]

Sorry to stir this old thread, I am contemplating to buy a used Merc E Class and was searching through various portals and shortlisted a few good specimen (as they appear in pics and on paper), Now surprisingly most of them have extremely low readings on Odo (typically around 15-20k) for a 3-4 yrs (even 5 yr old) cars.

Obviously I can smell the dead rat but don't have a sureshot method to separate grains from chaff, physical observation and usual wear and tear are too difficult to track as now professional have new tricks in sleeve to hide them all from average eyes.

Is there any way I can get the records from ASS, I don't even mind paying premium for it ?

Any alternate methods ?

Your valuable suggestions with be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

[gkveda]

Originally Posted by Turbo Head

Is there any way I can get the records from ASS, I don't even mind paying premium for it ?

Any alternate methods?

Your valuable suggestions with be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

Usually, I ask who is the dealer where they service the car.
1. Go to the dealer and ask him to give the complete service history of the vehicle.
2. Usually, for every service, corresponding odo reading will be recorded. See the service interval and kms run. If it is genuine owner, the service interval and kms run will be almost same.

Example: If the car has run 30,000 Kms and 3 years from the registration date, it means it has run 10,000 kms per year. So, service interval is should be in the range of 6 to 8 months between any two services. (Assuming it is 5000 km per service)

If there is an unusual interval or unusual Kms for any service, then, you need to ask why?
Sample:(Genuine case)
Date of Service Kms Run
10 Jan 2014 5014
10 Jun 2014 10123
10 Jan 2015 15612
10 Jun 2015 20402
10 Jan 2016 25434
10 Jun 2016 30232

Sample:(Fake case)
Date of Service Kms Run
10 Jan 2014 5014
10 Jun 2014 15123
10 Jan 2015 25612
10 Jun 2016 30232

In the second case, it is clear that the car has run average 10000 kms in 6 months but last row indicates that the car has not been serviced for 1.5 years and run only 5000 Kms. It is something fishy

[bharatbits]

This thread was really an eye opener and helped me make one solid decision. I will be better off buying a new Jetta over a used BMW. You don't want to put your hard earned money on a car only to realise it later that it is way more abused than what you were told it was. Very disheartening for the buyer.

I have bought a Ford Fiesta at 23000kms used and a Chev Beat at 43000kms used. Today Ford is at 60000kms and Chev Beat is at 62000 kms and they drive exactly the way they drove when i bought them. I follow manufacturer recommended service schedule and maintenance. I would not have had any clue even if the odometers were rolled back. However, i still paid them the money for the lower odometer reading (if rolled back) and would feel cheated if i knew it after the purchase. I don't have any reason to believe that the odometers on my cars were tampered with. I think there's no foolproof way to know if the odometer was tampered with so better stay away.

This can be a good point for manufacturers to come up with tamperproof odometers which i think is not very difficult with so much technology advancement. Owners can get better resale as the buyer knows these odos cannot be tampered with, thus aiding new car sales.

[KL01toKA03]

Originally Posted by gkveda

If it is genuine owner, the service interval and kms run will be almost same.

This need not be correct in many cases. My car used to run 120 km every day till March. After changing the location of work, I have brought the running down to approximately 6 km daily. I used to send my car for service when it completed 9000 km for the last 6 years. I will change that habit to get it serviced once a year.

[adi.mariner]

I am thinking of buying a pre-owned Civic (previous generation). I was checking Carwale and there were a few clean looking cars with low Odometer readings. A full background check with the service history and a thorough inspection would be definitely required before buying the Car. This thread is really informative regarding the lengths people will go to tamper the Odometer while selling the car.