Car Clocking issue

Budd · 28-09-2006 11:41am #1

Hi, bit of a lurker here but I had to get some advice.

Just bought a Passat a month ago from a small dealer. UK import all the rest. Lovely spec and condition. 80k on the clock. After buying it I had heard some bad things about this guy and then I was reading lots of dodgy stuff here. After I got the car the service history was missing as was the original car book. I was getting a bit worried so I said **** it and got a HPI check. Turns out at last taxing there was 116,000 miles on the clock. Pretty pissed off.

What should I do next? Ask for money back? Ask for a few grand back and threaten him with being outed as a clocker? I'd probably like to keep the car for a short time as I have my driving test lined up with it in a few weeks.
Thanks in advance.

bazz26 · 28-09-2006 12:02pm

Budd wrote:

Hi, bit of a lurker here but I had to get some advice.

Just bought a Passat a month ago from a small dealer. UK import all the rest. Lovely spec and condition. 80k on the clock. After buying it I had heard some bad things about this guy and then I was reading lots of dodgy stuff here. After I got the car the service history was missing as was the original car book. I was getting a bit worried so I said **** it and got a HPI check. Turns out at last taxing there was 116,000 miles on the clock. Pretty pissed off.

What should I do next? Ask for money back? Ask for a few grand back and threaten him with being outed as a clocker? I'd probably like to keep the car for a short time as I have my driving test lined up with it in a few weeks.
Thanks in advance.

This is a very grey area. The only real advice I can give you is to maybe seek legal council from a solicitor before approaching the garage. It is very unlikely they will just hand you back your money straight away. You may have a battle on your hands with them.

While this is of little comfort to you now it is well worth doing these type of checks before buying the car.

gyppo · 28-09-2006 12:07pm

Sorry to hear this.

Its probably of little comfort to you, but it's a pity you did'nt do the hpi check before parting with your cash.

Anyhow, I would contact the vendor, see what he has to say about the matter, and in the meantime get some legal advice. Is the vendor an SIMI member? If so, thats another avenue to explore.

Also, take heart that it had only 36k more miles than what was on the odometer - you've said you have looked at the other threads here!

Wishbone Ash · 28-09-2006 12:07pm

As the prevoius poster said, you will have a battle.

AFAIK it's not illegal to 'clock' a car nor is it illegal to sell a 'clocked' car. It is only illegal to sell a 'clocked' car without informing the new owner. He could argue that he did inform you. Your word against his.

Budd · 28-09-2006 12:10pm

Thanks.

I have his carzone ad saved which clearly states the milage of hte car. Also have the window display showing the milage advertised. I just saw read that some dealer got a custodial sentence for clocking so I thought it would have been fairly straightforward.

Wishbone Ash · 28-09-2006 12:17pm

Budd wrote:

Thanks.

I have his carzone ad saved which clearly states the milage of hte car. Also have the window display showing the milage advertised. I just saw read that some dealer got a custodial sentence for clocking so I thought it would have been fairly straightforward.

Was the milage advertised as being "80k on the clock" or "80k recorded"? If it was, then that would be true unfortunately, although misleading.

Bicky · 28-09-2006 12:25pm

Could it not be a case of when he bought the car it was already clocked? Or at least he can claim it

the_batman · 28-09-2006 12:30pm

He could claim that, but if he bought the car on ebay and the ebay ad stated the original mileage then he would be in trouble!

testicle · 28-09-2006 12:34pm

Wishbone Ash wrote:

As the prevoius poster said, you will have a battle.

AFAIK it's not illegal to 'clock' a car nor is it illegal to sell a 'clocked' car. It is only illegal to sell a 'clocked' car without informing the new owner. He could argue that he did inform you. Your word against his.

Slightly incorrect. It's not illegal to "clock" a car, but it is illegal to sell a car knowing that it has been "clocked"

Budd · 28-09-2006 12:40pm

Here's the thing,

It was sold with a full service history and that was not delivered. I'm sure thats for a reason. The clocking of the car occurred in the month of August as the thats when the last register is made of the cars real mileage. I have no doubt this guy went over to england to buy a higher mileage car to clock. I just want to make sure the evidence supports this.

Wishbone Ash · 28-09-2006 12:48pm

testicle wrote:

Slightly incorrect. It's not illegal to "clock" a car, but it is illegal to sell a car knowing that it has been "clocked"

Are you sure about that testicle ? What if the owner knows that it has been clocked but still wants to buy it?

Budd wrote:

It was sold with a full service history

Personally I would always go through the service history myself ,there and then and ask plenty of questions. If it's not with the car I'd walk away (run away actually

). I realise that they are not foolproof either!

Mc-BigE · 28-09-2006 1:10pm

Budd wrote:

Here's the thing,

It was sold with a full service history and that was not delivered.

I'm not sure i understand this, but did you see the Full service history before you bought it and the part about the mileage was missing?
or

He advertised it as full service history but you didn't see it but decided to buy it anyway?

smash · 28-09-2006 3:19pm

who is the dealer?

bazz26 · 28-09-2006 3:55pm

steve06 wrote:

who is the dealer?

Naming the accussed party at this stage is not advisable as it could harm the OP's case if he or she decides to bring them to court.

It could also get this forum in a whole heap of trouble.

smash · 28-09-2006 4:06pm

It's a simple case, raise the issue with the garage, have a print out of the ad, have the HPI report and threaten to go to consumer rights... they'll give you the money back.

Lex Luthor · 28-09-2006 5:28pm

gather your evidence is the best thing.

if the car came from the UK, if you could find out when it was imported then you would know if he was involved in clocking it. He could always say he bought it from a distributor. Is it possible to find out who paid the VRT oin the car and what mileage was on it when he did that? If you have a favour from a boy in blue owed to you, now would be the time to call it in

upsfan · 28-09-2006 9:20pm

If you have the HPI report it is open and shut, the car has been clocked. You've only had the car a month, as Steve says you will almost certainly get your money back from the dealer and he'll just sell it on to some other sucker. Avoiding the hassle of having to do this is simply not worth the risk of being exposed as selling a clocked car (whether or not he was the one who clocked it or whether anything can be proven is really quite irrelevant, even the rumour is something no dealer wants near them, dodgy or not.)

faigs · 28-09-2006 10:07pm

Sorry if I'm slow on this one lads but whats a HPI check and how does one go about getting one done?

Stephen · 28-09-2006 11:04pm

http://www.hpicheck.com/

bazz26 · 28-09-2006 11:52pm

The UK HPI check is much more detailed. It covers the whole history of the car, things like previous insurance reports on crashes if any, outstanding finance, service history, MOT history and recorded mileage, etc.

The Irish HPI check will only tell you if the car has any outstanding finance on it.

sk8board · 29-09-2006 9:19am

testicle wrote:

Slightly incorrect. It's not illegal to "clock" a car, but it is illegal to sell a car knowing that it has been "clocked"

correct testicle, thats the case alright.

My brother sold an '01 Almera in '04 with 40k miles on the clock. However, he had to get the entire dash replaced (commonish on new Almeras and Primeras for some reason) at 20k miles, so it was only displaying 20k when sold (to the same dealer as replaced dash).

When we made a cold call interested in buying it, it was advertised as mileage:20k. The car was sold the same day, so haven't a clue what became of it. Its not the same as the high-mileage examples you see, but the same law is broken.

dbraiden · 29-09-2006 2:08pm

Hi Guys,
Im about to buy a new car and was wondering if there is any way of getting a history check done on a car in Ieland.
I'd like to find out the number of previous owners and mileage.

Any Ideas.

Dave

bazz26 · 29-09-2006 3:17pm

dbraiden wrote:

Hi Guys,
Im about to buy a new car and was wondering if there is any way of getting a history check done on a car in Ieland.
I'd like to find out the number of previous owners and mileage.

Any Ideas.

Dave

Have a look at this site: http://www.cartell.ie

Unfortunately finding the information you want in Ireland is easy. There is no central database with this information available. At best you may get partial information. The above site is no different imo. Also the information on that site has been known to be incorrect. Ie if you type in the reg of a car it has been known to come back as a different make and model to what the car is.

Seth Brundle · 29-09-2006 3:31pm

One way that may help is to look at the NCT certs along with service history. Also ask the dealer (if buying from them) for the phone number of the previous owner and ask them.

MercMad · 29-09-2006 4:24pm

If you have a favour from a boy in blue owed to you, now would be the time to call it in

.........how does one go about getting credits for favours from the boys ??

Unfortunately I feel you broke the golden rules by taking thetime to check all this out AFTERWARDS !!

There was/is/will always be some dark cloud over imported cars. Fold need to be very careful when buying these cars, this is why dealers offer low prices for the same cars !

If I were you I would gather the evidence and talk to a soliciot first. You need to avoid alerting the garage until you have the facts and then wade in with the big guns ..........its the only way to scare them into doing something. Lety them know you will quietly go away if they sort you out quickly ! Otherwise it the national press !!

dikiedavis · 04-03-2010 1:04am

hi there
i recently bought a nissan primera.i gave it a good loo over before i bought it and all seemed well.i sent it in to my regular mech and he came back and said it was a taxi at some stage and that the 90k on the clock looked like 190k from the wear of the parts on the car.it drove fine,no signs of any crashes.when i was lookin at the car i asked the previous owners was it a taxi and they told me no that they used it for the wife to get to work.my mech has advised me to take the matter further with the law.if any one has any advice on this i would be very greatful.my mech says he can back his claims of clocking up withe the authorities if need be! thanks.just another question...wouldthe nct centre know what mileage the car recorded during last nct test?

Gary ITR · 04-03-2010 4:30am

dikiedavis wrote: »

hi there
i recently bought a nissan primera.i gave it a good loo over before i bought it and all seemed well.i sent it in to my regular mech and he came back and said it was a taxi at some stage and that the 90k on the clock looked like 190k from the wear of the parts on the car.it drove fine,no signs of any crashes.when i was lookin at the car i asked the previous owners was it a taxi and they told me no that they used it for the wife to get to work.my mech has advised me to take the matter further with the law.if any one has any advice on this i would be very greatful.my mech says he can back his claims of clocking up withe the authorities if need be! thanks.just another question...wouldthe nct centre know what mileage the car recorded during last nct test?

Please don't bump really old threads without good reason. You are more than welcome to start a new one of your own

Car Clocking issue

Comments