Just found out car I'm buying was clocked

morrga

I'm about to buy an Audi from an Audi dealer in UK. Got the HPI check on it and it was recorded last November 09 as having 60,000 miles.

Its being sold with 51,000 miles on it.

Thoughts please? Run a mile or ask for a couple of grand off? Cant beleive Audi UK would do this.

Abelloid

What did the dealer have to say?

morrga

Only found out tonight, so I will be ringing him in the morning. Not happy at all so I will be interested to hear what he says.

rebel.ranter

Just remember that you will be trying to sell that car on when you are finished. You will be trying to explain the discrepancy.

Also why would the dealer give you a "couple of grand" off? They will find someone else who wasn't as thorough as you to buy it for near their asking price. Keep looking, as a friend of mine in the trade always tries to tell me:
"there's always another one".

Midnight_EG

You sure that's not miles/kilometres equivalent boss?

johndaman66

morrga wrote: »

Thoughts please? Run a mile or ask for a couple of grand off? Cant beleive Audi UK would do this.

Such seems to be the case with many cars coming in from the the UK apparently according to a friend who works in the Motor trade, particularly prevelant in more upmarket motors such as the Audi's, Mercedes, BMW. I wouldn't be inclined to pursue the sale myself.

morrga

HPI report says Mileage record so I have to assume that means miles. If Audi UK mean km on their site that makes it even more comical.

All figures quoted are miles.

They've told me car is being sold at a loss because they havent being able to get rid of it. Now I know why.

noclee

I also have a query on this. Currently looking at a 08 A3 Uk 1 owner. The miles are recored at each service on the log book 3 in total. But the hpi report doesn't have any millage recorded. Is this normal for 2 year old car with 1 owner.

Tks,
Noclee.

Absurdum

morrga wrote: »

Run a mile

.

argosy2006

i bets its a kms/miles mix up

Anan1

morrga wrote: »

I'm about to buy an Audi from an Audi dealer in UK. Got the HPI check on it and it was recorded last November 09 as having 60,000 miles.

Its being sold with 51,000 miles on it.

Thoughts please? Run a mile or ask for a couple of grand off? Cant beleive Audi UK would do this.

It is possible that the mistake is at HPI's end. What does the service history say? Have you verified the SH with the dealers who stamped the book?

bazz26

morrga wrote: »

HPI report says Mileage record so I have to assume that means miles. If Audi UK mean km on their site that makes it even more comical.

All figures quoted are miles.

They've told me car is being sold at a loss because they havent being able to get rid of it. Now I know why.

The fact that the mileage is inaccurate is bad enough but the lack of honesty up front by the dealer would make me run as far away from them as possible.

dergside

noclee wrote: »

I also have a query on this. Currently looking at a 08 A3 Uk 1 owner. The miles are recored at each service on the log book 3 in total. But the hpi report doesn't have any millage recorded. Is this normal for 2 year old car with 1 owner.

HPI gathers mileage at each search for records on a car, i.e. you may have been asked to enter the current mileage on the car when you enquired. In the case of a young car, particularly a one owner, it just may not have had any previous enquiries, or ones where the person entered a value, because it has only just recently gone up for sale.

Nothing intrinsically suspicious in this.

noclee

Tks I just did a mileage check on mycarcheck.com and they match the log book service dates, so all looks ok.

Tks,
Noclee

slimjimmc

johndaman66 wrote: »

Such seems to be the case with many cars coming in from the the UK apparently according to a friend who works in the Motor trade, particularly prevelant in more upmarket motors such as the Audi's, Mercedes, BMW. I wouldn't be inclined to pursue the sale myself.

*cough* As if clocking isn't prevelant in Ireland *cough*

argosy2006 wrote: »

i bets its a kms/miles mix up

Nov '09
60,000 kms = 37,000 miles
60,000 miles = 96,000 kms

May '10
51,000 miles = 81,600 kms
51,000 kms = 31,875 miles

It's possible it's a mixup if the 60,000 was kms and the 51,000 was miles. That would mean 14,000 miles (51,000-37,000) was put on in the last 6mths which is feasible if the car was in daily use. I don't believe it though.

Lord Nikon

Ring Audi UK Headquarters and let them know what the story is. Ask them what they think you should do?

The Audi Dealer in question would worry more about head office than you in Ireland. Going over their head makes it more official and serious, which it is.

Saab Ed

Any linky OP!

From working in an Irish dealer ,we've seen a huge amount of cars from the UK coming in here and being clocked. Now alot of the clocking was done by used car dealers here rather than in the UK , it's most common in what we call " peasent posh " i.e BM 3 Series, Low end Mercs , Passat diesels etc. Over a 3 month period in 2008 , out of all the cars we entered into the SIMI history check ,ALL of the imported cars were clocked.

If the clock aint right then walk away , thats my advice.

langdang

Saab Ed wrote: »

" peasent posh "

ah the upwardly mobile, will ignore any warning signs just to have the right badge in the driveway

Edit - not a dig at you OP, there may be just a mix up here, but there's definitely people out here who wouldn't even do normal checks in case they'd find out there was a reason not to buy that "bargain" Audi/BMW

rebel.ranter

Saab Ed wrote: »

...Now alot of the clocking was done by used car dealers here rather than in the UK ....

That is a very pertinent point. Normally it is the dealers who scream blue murder about clocked UK cars when their own are the ones chiefly responsible for it.

I have even heard of a case where a car dealer put up the miles on a car when he brought them to the VRO so the VRT would be lower, he then knocked then back down to an even lower mileage once cleared.
e.g. Original mileage 60,000 -> VRO inspection mileage 120,000 -> Sale mileage 40,000

He got caught & spent a bit of time in cork prison. He was actually a very nice guy to talk to but you would never buy a car off him.

I would second contacting Audi UK, I wouldn't bother going back to the dealer, you're only wasting your time.

EPM

OP, the fact that you haven't told the dealer where to go both puzzles me and amazes me in equal measure. It's not as if it is a rare car - you'll find another no problem.

lilka

neuromancer wrote: »

Ring Audi UK Headquarters and let them know what the story is. Ask them what they think you should do?

The Audi Dealer in question would worry more about head office than you in Ireland. Going over their head makes it more official and serious, which it is.

I'd hope its a mix up with km/miles but recommend going with neuromancers advice. If it's an Audi dealer then they won't want a reputation of selling clocked cars

Anan1

EPM wrote: »

OP, the fact that you haven't told the dealer where to go both puzzles me and amazes me in equal measure. It's not as if it is a rare car - you'll find another no problem.

All we have so far is a conflict between the mileage on the database and the recorded mileage on the car. While it does set alarm bells ringing, and is of course worthy of further investigation, it doesn't mean that the car has definitely been clocked.

bazz26

Thing is that in the UK km are very rarely referred to when it comes to cars, they deal in miles.

Also the OP states:

morrga wrote: »

They've told me car is being sold at a loss because they havent being able to get rid of it. Now I know why.

The above would make me think that the dealer possibly got burnt with this car too. This is enough for me to look elswhere, there are so many of these cars for sale over there why would anyone dwell on one with this uncertainty?

EPM

Anan1 wrote: »

All we have so far is a conflict between the mileage on the database and the recorded mileage on the car. While it does set alarm bells ringing, and is of course worthy of further investigation, it doesn't mean that the car has definitely been clocked.

For me couple the mileage uncertainty (agree could be a HPI mistake and wouldn't be the first time) and the dealer spouting a bit of crap about the cost would make me think they want shot of it a bit too much...

Shane732

Run - Run - Run away!!

BigEejit

If its getting flogged by a main dealer it stands a good chance of having a full service history. What do the stamps say?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4vr1LIOhuI
Some guy changing his VAG mileage.

Would have thought manufacturers would make this harder or impossible to change.... seeings as it is illegal just about everywhere

EPM

Only illegal if not disclosed unfortunately...

BigEejit

EPM wrote: »

Only illegal if not disclosed unfortunately...

:eek::mad: