Mileage Tampering and Freezing

[TurboLlew]

I know we have a few running jokes on mileage tampering done largely by dealers. This affects all brands and in the US there was even a massive scandal around it in the Ferrari community and dealers were shut down over it. There are sometimes instances where you see cars that have low mileages, but quite "worn-in" interiors. and when you check at BMW, their mileages actually correlate.

We were having such a discussion this morning and came across this device which I am sure many have known about but it was news to me.

https://smelecomuk.com/product/stop-km-freezer-for-the-bmw-3-series-f30-f31-f35-f34-f80/

They get around it by saying: [font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif] [/font][/font](The Stop KM Freezer is Intended for off-road, dyno testing and research purposes.)

:roflol:

it seems BMW discovered the original and updated software on cars in 2019 but the company appears to have a 'fix' for this as well. It is a CAN device that enables all your gauges to work, but does not record mileage. There are no tamper dots, system checks that will reveal it and BMW seems otherwise unaware that anything is amiss.

I think back to some of the cars I looked at the past year or so... the sub-15000km ones with wear (knob, pedals, bolsters, paddles, steering etc) you would expect from much higher mileages. These are mileages where a careless owner isn't really an excuse since even with abuse it shouldn't look that bad. Surely something like this was used!?

I suppose the point of this post is to raise awareness of another tactic around mileage that is more on the dodgy seller/owner side vs. dealers who turn back mileage. It is a more difficult one to spot... I actually don't know if you could spot it in reality other than going with your gut?

How such a car would be maintained is anyone's guess (not sure if the owner would keep up with services privately or rely on time at the dealer?).

It's a minefield out there looking at cars these days. Apart from having their repair histories expunged, being repaired off-the-grid, mileage tampering detectable via service history or via other systems in the car etc, there is now this...

 

[Danny2]

Yeah for sure... we all take our F8x M's and go off-roading :biglol:

 

[Kyle]

:dunnoanymore:  People hey... 

But as you said, the scariest part is that apart from due diligence and applying some common sense, there seems to be no reasonable way to verify mileage if the tampering is done 'properly'. 

Service history - Can be adjusted
General condition - I have seen cars with genuine low mileage that look like they have 300k kms on them and vice versa... 
Tools like Carly etc.. - Can help to a certain point if the person doing the adjustments were lazy, but probably the best bet.

 

[MikeR]

mmm one of my pet hates, walking into a dealer and clearly seeing obvious wear and tear and a low km reading and when you point it out they become abusive as though its your fault.

 

[boost3d]

Many years back , i knew a guy that had "high end" dealerships call him to turn back mileage on some very exclusive car marques....he "supposedly" use to charge these guys like R50k a pop to alter the mileage. i have no contact with him anymore but just putting it out there, that dont think its high mileage or cars trying to be sold for cheap that are only affected by mileage tampering

 

[FiRi@Rennzport]

It's being on at car sales dealerships and in private.

I was called during the course of last year to test out a E90 330d here in JHB for a Fanatics in Kzn.

Took all the photos etc of car and had my suspicion on mileage already from said wear and tear, but gave it benefit of the doubt because it was a 8 or 9 year old car.

Met up the next day with the seller again to drive the car, and it drove well and everything seems good. When I got back to my home with the car, I took out my phone and ran I carly to check for faults. Emailed my self the list and then used the feature which enables you do a check and verification on used cars.

Mileage tempering found, and it even told me at what mileage it was changed.

Told the seller please dont try and scam people, I will be posting the results to the forum, which we did as well notify the interested buyer.

Its absolutely sickening that people do this, and it amazes me that nobody thinks it's coming to bite them back in the arse In this life or the next.

No tamper dot was visible on the cluster btw.

I think we should have a thread where anybody who picks up this tempering on cars, should post their finding with make, model, registration or vin of possible. This is to safeguard our membership from making a mistake.



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[FILV]

Its so common now it is scary.

There is a dealer in Bez valley in Gauteng that pretty much every single car they have has been turned back.
I actually saw a mk5 Gti that they listed with 170 000km then a week later same car had 70 000km.
Actually every single car of theirs amazingly has less than 100 000km lol

for example:
https://www.olx.co.za/item/2007-bmw...uto-sunroof-sedan-liberty-auto-iid-1057413901

Be weary out there guys

 

[TurboLlew]

It's being on at car sales dealerships and in private.

I was called during the course of last year to test out a E90 330d here in JHB  for a Fanatics in Kzn.

Took all the photos etc of car and had my suspicion  on mileage  already from said wear and tear, but gave it benefit of the doubt because it was a 8 or 9 year old car.

Met up the next day with the seller again to drive the car, and it drove well and everything seems good. When I got back to my home with the car, I took out my phone and ran I carly to check for faults. Emailed my self the list and then used the feature which enables you do a check and verification on used cars.

Mileage tempering found,  and it even told me at what mileage  it was changed.

Told the seller please dont try and scam  people, I will be posting the results to the forum, which we did as well notify the interested buyer.

Its absolutely  sickening  that people do this, and it amazes me that  nobody thinks it's coming to bite them back in the arse In  this life  or the next.

No tamper dot was visible on the cluster btw.

I think we should have a thread where anybody who picks up this tempering on cars, should post their finding with make, model, registration  or vin of possible. This is to safeguard our membership from making a mistake.



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The idea of a registry of sorts is a great one, even if it is just a blacklist as a start for the known-bad cars that have tampered mileage, extensive repairs etc!

What goes around comes around!

 

[SubLoaded]

@'Riyaadh_"m' Howsit

 

[TurboLlew]

mmm one of my pet hates, walking into a dealer and clearly seeing obvious wear and tear and a low km reading and when you point it out they become abusive as though its your fault.

They are quick to roll their eyes and tell you you should be looking at a brand new car or make comments about how you should buy it from BMW instead then... as though your standards are the issue and not their pricing or practices.

Someone commented on the gumtree thread a while back as well saying these guys take such poor care of the cars that on top of the implausible mileage, they don't even try to make them look the part LOL

 

[Danny2]

its called the Fountain of Youth trip, they go the the Drinking well and sip some magical water and instantly lose 50k km if not more. :smilebounce:

I have also found that using @Coisman to check the history on the car to be valuable. Couple of the cars he checked for me had less mileage at the time of sale then they had when they passed roadworthy

 

[Kyle]

Couple of the cars he checked for me had less mileage at the time of sale then they had when they passed roadworthy

This is most likely because they drove primarily in reverse since then

 

[Danny2]

Couple of the cars he checked for me had less mileage at the time of sale then they had when they passed roadworthy

This is most likely because they drove primarily in reverse since then

Ahh dammit knew i was doing something wrong... Thanks Kyle for shedding some light

 

[tman]

@'Riyaadh_"m' Howsit

 
You beat me too it  :roflol:

 

[MR_Y]

At least Volvos made since 2015 have Trackers fitted as standard equipment and they can corroborate actual total mileage on used cars.
I did this when I bought my used V60CC from a non-Volvo dealership, which had relatively low mileage for a 2016 model.

 

[gumpertapolloss]

Friend of mine bought a Polo 1.9tdi from a dealer in KZN. Apparently the car had 109xxxkm on the clock.

He came over to my house and I went through the car and all seemed fine. 1st drive I noticed that both rear wheel bearing were shot and were constantly making a drone noise. At 100k km odd, rear wheel bearings shouldn't be an issue. After checking history with VW, the car had over 300k km on the clock and the last service was done at vw a month before it was sold by the private dealership which in essence points to the dealership turning the kilos back.

He tried to take the matter further with the dealership, but he signed a contract with them that states if mileage tampering is found, they are not responsible.... DODGY AF! Car was stolen 2-months later.

Ps: If anyone needs help with verifying mileage on a BMW, I can assist.

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[individj]

At least Volvos made since 2015 have Trackers fitted as standard equipment and they can corroborate actual total mileage on used cars.
I did this when I bought my used V60CC from a non-Volvo dealership, which had relatively low mileage for a 2016 model.

apparently these trackers were fitted standard because people were parking them and running away & claiming they were stolen.

 

[AlexYannoulatos]

At least Volvos made since 2015 have Trackers fitted as standard equipment and they can corroborate actual total mileage on used cars.
I did this when I bought my used V60CC from a non-Volvo dealership, which had relatively low mileage for a 2016 model.

apparently these trackers were fitted standard because people were parking them and running away & claiming they were stolen.

:roflol:

 

[MR_Y]

At least Volvos made since 2015 have Trackers fitted as standard equipment and they can corroborate actual total mileage on used cars.
I did this when I bought my used V60CC from a non-Volvo dealership, which had relatively low mileage for a 2016 model.

apparently these trackers were fitted standard because people were parking them and running away & claiming they were stolen.

So, that explains the 5 Volvos in these stats  
https://www.timeslive.co.za/motoring/news/2019-09-13-these-are-the-five-least-hijacked-cars-in-south-africa/

 

[individj]

hahaha