Retrieved stolen car - mileage upped by 40k

PCros

Hello all,

Awhile back I posted here about my stolen car, long story short I managed to get it back myself.

However one of the few things they have done is upped the mileage from 89k to 125k. I'm not sure how or why they would up it but the only thing I can think of is that they have swapped my odometer or something from another car? It was found with false plates which was an exact model and colour as mine.

Any ideas what to do here as it devalues the car? VW Ireland wanted €100 just to plug the computer in. If thats what I have to do I will but would love to now if there is any other garage that can look at this.

Eric Cartman

are you sure they didn't actually drive 40k in the car , if it was on false plates and a while ago they could have been using it a lot.

colm_mcm

Could have swapped the clocks?

It was hardly a cloning attempt was it?

ba_barabus

Was it taxied? Do you know the false reg number? See if it shows up as a PSV on a search. Strange one however

Probably swapped clocks though for so,e reason. Was it gone long?

PCros

Eric Cartman wrote: »

are you sure they didn't actually drive 40k in the car , if it was on false plates and a while ago they could have been using it a lot.

Sorry forgot to say it was only gone 5 days...

Eric Cartman

is anything else changed , locks, radio etc ? some cars the coding is all tied together and it might have had to be done as a result of a swap.


in cases like these I always wish the car turns up burned , just so you don't end up with any horrible issues like this. A stolen car will almost never be right.

PCros

Eric Cartman wrote: »

is anything else changed , locks, radio etc ? some cars the coding is all tied together and it might have had to be done as a result of a swap.


in cases like these I always wish the car turns up burned , just so you don't end up with any horrible issues like this. A stolen car will almost never be right.

Nope nothing else was changed. Strange one alright.

barryoneill50

Are you sure it's your car?

PCros

barryoneill50 wrote: »

Are you sure it's your car?

Yes, I new it was mine when I saw it on done deal, never mind sitting back into it.

Pipmae

PCros wrote: »

Yes, I new it was mine when I saw it on done deal, never mind sitting back into it.

Off topic somewhat but how the hell did you manage to get it back and were the Gardai involved. I totally understand if you can't or don't want to answer that in the interest of a pending prosecution but fair play to you. I was sure it was gone for good.

iwillhtfu

Have you any kind of proof of the mileage before it was stolen although I'm not sure what that would be. You didn't happen to have it NCT'd the day before?

Speaking with the insurance assessor head on I'd have to call BS.

Perhaps they swapped out the on board computer for some reason but i'm sure that would lead to all other manner of issues immobiliser/locks etc.

It's an odd one alright.

punisher5112

They were selling car so do history check on cloned plates will prob show the mileage on yours.

They have a car for free sell for 3 or 4 grand 100% profit .

Well done for getting back

PCros

iwillhtfu wrote: »

Have you any kind of proof of the mileage before it was stolen although I'm not sure what that would be. You didn't happen to have it NCT'd the day before?

Speaking with the insurance assessor head on I'd have to call BS.

Perhaps they swapped out the on board computer for some reason but i'm sure that would lead to all other manner of issues immobiliser/locks etc.

It's an odd one alright. What did your insurance company say when you brought it up with them?

Honestly no proof, only thing I would have had would have been a service history which showed the car at about 15k a year but they kindly removed that from my handbook too.

Insurance company said to bring it in to a dealer to have a look at it. Just want to do a bit of homework first.

iwillhtfu

PCros wrote: »

Honestly no proof, only thing I would have had would have been a service history which showed the car at about 15k a year but they kindly removed that from my handbook too.

Insurance company said to bring it in to a dealer to have a look at it. Just want to do a bit of homework first.

Terrible luck altogether man.

visual

Yes tell the story of how you discovered your car on DD and how you got it back.

To change mileage and confirm the computers are correct it will need dealer software.

If the ECU was changed the mileage is stored there as well as clock display. If they changed ECU it may have forced clock display to change

Guy:Incognito

Have you owned it since new? If not, are you sure it wasn't clocked before you got it and them messing with something reset the clocks to their true mileage?

quadrifoglio verde

Has it been through an nct test recently

Damien360

Could it be your actual mileage for the car age looked suspicious for a quick sale on done deal and someone would flag it (here most likely ). Therefore they upped the mileage for something more appropriate ?

lifer_sean

As others have said ... Most likely they set the mileage to tally with the mileage of the "donor" car used for the new identity (false plates) on your car. Then if a buyer does a history check on the "new" reg, the history check would come up clear ... otherwise it would come up as a mileage discrepancy.

joujoujou

Anyone with vagcom software would compare ECU odometer with dash odometer in just a few clicks.

pudzey101

Sitec wrote: »

They might have done a history check on the false plates and reprogrammed the km reading to that figure.

x2

first thing that springs to my mind too.

is it the old odometers or the new electronic ones ?

It hardly just switched from KM to miles if they were playing about with it?


EDIT: Sorry, just seen it went from 89 to 125. Wouldn't make sense.

cerastes

PCros wrote: »

Yes, I new it was mine when I saw it on done deal, never mind sitting back into it.

I was going to ask how you got it back, now Im wondering how you got it back. While Im visualising something ala Ronin car chase, obviously not, I still cant see someone trying this scam on would be willing to let it go easily or lie and insist its genuine or not turn to violence?

So how'd you do it?

joujoujou wrote: »

Anyone with vagcom software would compare ECU odometer with dash odometer in just a few clicks.

If I was selling a car, Id be damned if Id let anyone plug anything into it, wouldnt know what kind of dicking around they could get up to, or if not malice, maybe ignorance could be worse.

Frankly my dear

Congrats on getting it back, also wondering how the whole thing went down! Don't keep us hanging

braddun

how did you get it back

dr.fuzzenstein

braddun wrote: »

how did you get it back

+1, the question on everyone's mind.

Cleveland Hot Pocket

Maybe our own toasty pickle has engaged in some car theft - given his annual mileage in an astra!

(JK)

Cleveland Hot Pocket

How did you get it back.

PCros

Apologies!

So basically the car was stolen 2 weeks when I had left it to defrost in the driveway. I taught it was gone for good.

Kept checking done deal and 5 days later a 2008 golf was up for sale (mines a 2007). Car had a dink over the wheel arch and also had same tyres as mine. Rang the guards and they wanted to setup a meet so they could sweep in and get them. Rang the chap and he told me what area he was from and to meet up the next morning and I was to ring him near a local shopping centre. I relayed this to the guards and it was all set.

However I started to think what if the chap rings back and tells me its sold etc, kept thinking that I was never going to see the car again. So I decided to post up a photo of the car (on here - last thread I started before this one) and a boardsie came back with a google maps link to where it was located.

We then took a drive over with the spare key and low and behold it was the 5th car parked up in this estate. Rang the gaurds and they came out to take it away.

Don't know or care now if the chap got stung in the end.

Just glad to have it back, but with getting the locks recoded, stolen pram, baby seat and replacing tax discs etc I'm about 1k down. Better than being 7k down with no trade-in.

cerastes

Maybe you could have continued to enquire about the car after you stole it back, then see what he said and maybe if he had anything else? And try at least get them that way? He still had your key,if he had it on him somewhere, would it have a serial no. to match your other key?

bear1

Glad to hear of the Guards taking it seriously and well done for your own detective work.
Pity that you lost money regardless but as you say 1k is much much better than 7k, at least now you can enjoy your Christmas.
Will you need to do much work on the car to get it back to normal? How much do you reckon to get it back to before?
Consider yourself lucky and don't go defrosting the car now like before

PCros

Car is pretty much fine except for the mileage issue and the missing service history.

Trust me I have learned my lesson about leaving the car running!

About chasing this guy, I taught about it but I don't want to push it, I'm just glad I have the motor back.

kerry4sam

PCros wrote: »

Car is pretty much fine except for the mileage issue and the missing service history.

Trust me I have learned my lesson about leaving the car running!

About chasing this guy, I taught about it but I don't want to push it, I'm just glad I have the motor back.

Ah lovely end to your story. Was following the original here & never would've seen this ending

A lucky Christmas for you,
kerry4sam

Frankly my dear

PCros wrote: »

Car is pretty much fine except for the mileage issue and the missing service history.

Trust me I have learned my lesson about leaving the car running!

About chasing this guy, I taught about it but I don't want to push it, I'm just glad I have the motor back.

Glad it all worked out for you, mate. Hope the tosser gets what he deserves somewhere down the line.

18MonthsaSlave

One would think that the Gardai would force donedeal, adverts.ie and gumtree to temporarily store all exif information for images submitted in adverts (without sharing info with the public) so that the GPS information could be pulled from the images of stolen cars. If it is turned on then you'd get useful info like GPS, time of photo, model of phone, etc.... which would be helpful in a prosecution.

Greenmachine

Glad to here you have gotten your car back op. Shame you didn't get a f2f with the thief.

ScottStorm

Greenmachine wrote: »

Glad to here you have gotten your car back op. Shame you didn't get a f2f with the thief.

Ah, I'm sure he was just selling it for a friend as a favour....

r3nu4l

18MonthsaSlave wrote: »

One would think that the Gardai would force donedeal, adverts.ie and gumtree to temporarily store all exif information for images submitted in adverts (without sharing info with the public) so that the GPS information could be pulled from the images of stolen cars. If it is turned on then you'd get useful info like GPS, time of photo, model of phone, etc.... which would be helpful in a prosecution.

While i agree this would be useful, where is the law that allows the Gardaí to force companies to do this? AGS do not have this authority as far as I know.

mfceiling

Delighted you got it back OP. We had our car stolen a few years back...total scum, that's all they are. Good friend of mine almost lost his sprinter van last night - they were that fcuking stupid that they did it under a camera, left fingerprints and the hammer that they used was also left behind.

Special Circumstances

mfceiling wrote: »

Delighted you got it back OP. We had our car stolen a few years back...total scum, that's all they are. Good friend of mine almost lost his sprinter van last night - they were that fcuking stupid that they did it under a camera, left fingerprints and the hammer that they used was also left behind.

Out on bail within hours, do a few more jobs shur - even if they are caught again it'll run concurrent. In for a bit of a reunion, remission, out again. Rinse and repeat.