Unscrupulous ppl: Rolling back mileage on Euros.

[Pointman-IA]

I noticed a certain VW had its mileage rolled back from 170000 kms to 45000 kms.
And the price increased by a whooping $8000

I hope the potential buyer would run some checks by BA yes.

[EcoTune Trinidad]

call names na man

[Team Loco]

Its so easy to spot a rolled back mileage car. But many people cant tell. Some tell tale signs:

Wear on steering wheel. Sometimes hidden by a brand new steering cover

Shiney or slowly retracting seatbelt. Also wear on edge of belt

Unsupportive seats and worn seats especially at the seat entrance

For mazda 3 vehicles the gas warning light comes on way before it is due

For cs3 vehicles the "park" position of the fuel and temp needle is affected. It usually drops too low.

Obvious worn shifter

Wear on brake pedal rubber

Look for heel impression on floor mat

For euros especially look for lip on brake rotor

Many other ways of knowing.

[Pointman-IA]

Loco and Ecotune, a particular VW Passat that is currently for sale on trinicarsforsale underwent a rollback.
I know the car personally.
Someone from central Trinidad, who buys and sells used cars, apparently bought it and next 2 days, it is on the site with the rolled back mileage.

[Team Loco]

is it the one for $68,000?

[kg494EJ-1]

this seems to be a common thing I was looking a some vehicles with a friend last year who was interested in a Euro but apart from Euros quite a few vehicles were worn beyond what the odometer stated.
as Team Loco stated there are tell tail signs and its up to us as consumers to wise up.She was almost completed with the purchasing process before she got me to see the vehicle her parents thought was a steal of a deal and just jumped at it. I'm wondering if we can get a sticky topic on tuner with Car buying 101s because alot of people are buying vehicles not knowing what to look for especially first time buyers.

[Team Loco]

i had planned to start one. will do soon

[shottah_crew]

I'm wondering if we can get a sticky topic on tuner with Car buying 101s because alot of people are buying vehicles not knowing what to look for especially first time buyers.

Would be very helpful

[Mazdout]

Call names buddy - help a fellow potential euro purchaser not make a mistake on their first ride

[EcoTune Trinidad]

I think VCDS can show the logs on how many times the mileage was corrected...open to correction... But I always make it practice to scan any used Vw or Audi for faults

[Pointman-IA]

Call names buddy - help a fellow potential euro purchaser not make a mistake on their first ride

Most recent Passat on trinicars.

[Gool]

huh.... a car that was doing 170,000 must show a lot of wear as compared to one thats doing 45,000.

thats just wrong tho. what goes around comes round. oh well... thanks for the headsup dude.

[TriniVdub]

I think VCDS can show the logs on how many times the mileage was corrected...open to correction... But I always make it practice to scan any used Vw or Audi for faults

yep with VCDS you can tell as they change the mileage on the cluster but the ECU will always store the correct mileage.

[Team Loco]

huh.... a car that was doing 170,000 must show a lot of wear as compared to one thats doing 45,000.

thats just wrong tho. what goes around comes round. oh well... thanks for the headsup dude.

mostly true but i had a friend who was wrongly accused of this. he had a pcd local prado for sale. i knew the vehicle when he bought it new. it had a tan leather interior. he lives like 5 mins from his workplace. he is a cook and also a really big guy. with oily hands and his size the leather wore fast and the steering wheel got silky smooth. when he put it up for sale it was doing 60,000kms. one potential buyer openly accused him of mileage rollback. poor fellah didnt even know mileage rollback existed.

[Pointman-IA]

44450...

Definitely not 45,000 km.

[ALIS]

See now these are among the things that my company is against..... But unfortunately if i post tips and stuff here... mods gonna think I am advertising..... smh

[Pointman-IA]

See now these are among the things that my company is against..... But unfortunately if i post tips and stuff here... mods gonna think I am advertising..... smh

Post some tips nuh...

[ALIS]

See now these are among the things that my company is against..... But unfortunately if i post tips and stuff here... mods gonna think I am advertising..... smh

Post some tips nuh...

While I have no problem posting tips, apparently it can/might be viewed as soliciting business, since my company is basically involved in the vehicle inspection business with ties to both Japan and the UK. Vehicle history reports for imported used vehicles are just one factor of our business.... so even while trying to justify my tips and experience/expertise... you see what Im saying? LOL

[Pointman-IA]

See now these are among the things that my company is against..... But unfortunately if i post tips and stuff here... mods gonna think I am advertising..... smh

Post some tips nuh...

While I have no problem posting tips, apparently it can/might be viewed as soliciting business, since my company is basically involved in the vehicle inspection business with ties to both Japan and the UK. Vehicle history reports for imported used vehicles are just one factor of our business.... so even while trying to justify my tips and experience/expertise... you see what Im saying? LOL

Quote me on a Clio 200.
Thanks.

[ALIS]

See now these are among the things that my company is against..... But unfortunately if i post tips and stuff here... mods gonna think I am advertising..... smh

Post some tips nuh...

While I have no problem posting tips, apparently it can/might be viewed as soliciting business, since my company is basically involved in the vehicle inspection business with ties to both Japan and the UK. Vehicle history reports for imported used vehicles are just one factor of our business.... so even while trying to justify my tips and experience/expertise... you see what Im saying? LOL

Quote me on a Clio 200.
Thanks.

average 185-200 depending on mileage, condition, can be a lil down or up depending, around 4 yrs

[ALIS]

Things to look at:
If local, check for service history, as almost all new euros bought return to the dealer for initial or periodic mtce.
pedals
belts
rotors (run fingers from inner to outer edge, if you feel inner and outer edge has a ridge, the rotors has seen excessive wear, typical with euros on the high km mark.
steering linkage inspection
console control knobs
stuff like that

But best thing to do is an invasive approach, which would require use of a lift etc, then compare this with whatever data you can derive from seeing and paperwork.

There are many other ways.........

[StefanH2]

whats with all this cat and mouse trickle info? If you know for a fact that man rolling back euro mileage on vehicles then spill it na man? I'm in the market for a used VW Passat. Actively looking too and have been on trinicarsforsale. So this kind of information is vital to potential buyers like myself. steups.

[ALIS]

whats with all this cat and mouse trickle info? If you know for a fact that man rolling back euro mileage on vehicles then spill it na man? I'm in the market for a used VW Passat. Actively looking too and have been on trinicarsforsale. So this kind of information is vital to potential buyers like myself. steups.

You mention two things... "if i know for a fact" and steups... Fact is this industry is not a kindergarten and we are all not children. If you cannot exercise some level of common sense to realize basic tell tale signs of wear and tear against what you sit and see in the driver's seat then I cannot and would not be irresponsible and just pelt out knowledge which may or may not affect everyone and their intended sale/purchase.

There are good vehicles out there - both local used and imported, some genuine some not. I can show you a 30k vehicle that has seen more work than a backhoe and the backhoe looks better. I can show you a 100k vehicle that you would swear now doing 20k!

Information is one thing, responsibility in dissemination is another.... We will do this on a case by case basis as what our service entails.. Its not about cat and mouse and trickle info, its about responsibility in providing information as to what we see pertinent to this industry.....

You in the market for a volkswagen? well inbox me and I'll point you in hopefully the right direction!

[StefanH2]

whats with all this cat and mouse trickle info? If you know for a fact that man rolling back euro mileage on vehicles then spill it na man? I'm in the market for a used VW Passat. Actively looking too and have been on trinicarsforsale. So this kind of information is vital to potential buyers like myself. steups.

You mention two things... "if i know for a fact" and steups... Fact is this industry is not a kindergarten and we are all not children. If you cannot exercise some level of common sense to realize basic tell tale signs of wear and tear against what you sit and see in the driver's seat then I cannot and would not be irresponsible and just pelt out knowledge which may or may not affect everyone and their intended sale/purchase.

There are good vehicles out there - both local used and imported, some genuine some not. I can show you a 30k vehicle that has seen more work than a backhoe and the backhoe looks better. I can show you a 100k vehicle that you would swear now doing 20k!

Information is one thing, responsibility in dissemination is another.... We will do this on a case by case basis as what our service entails.. Its not about cat and mouse and trickle info, its about responsibility in providing information as to what we see pertinent to this industry.....

You in the market for a volkswagen? well inbox me and I'll point you in hopefully the right direction!

I think there are some contradictory statements in your post and it just lends to more validity to my statement. I quote "I can show you a 30k vehicle that has seen more work than a backhoe and the backhoe looks better. I can show you a 100k vehicle that you would swear now doing 20k!" E.g. So bearing in mind what you have just stated, if I or some other newbie (especially to Euro vehicles) were to come across a vehicle that the seller showing is 45000km when in reality it was 170000km; but the vehicle looks better than a vehicle doing 20000km then most of the wear and tear so called tell-tale signs may not be present or easily spotted. If I were to purchase this said vehicle then I would still end up being shafted so to speak. If i'm buying a 170k vehicle then I would want to know about it up front. Not fork out for a 40k only to learn that its actually a 170k. I maintain that if one has such information about a particular vehicle, I would like to believe that divulging such info so that unsuspecting buyers can be on a look out. While I understand what you trying to say I humbly dis-agree. Reading the responses in the thread, it was stated that the vehicle was known personally. So its a known fact. By keeping this info quiet, these so called unscrupulous sellers are laughing all the way to the bank with some shmuck's hard earned cash.

[Krystal Car Part Imports]

The mileage on a Euro can be rolled back.

OR, The instrument cluster may have been replaced. In any case, One would need the dealership software to do it. and not many people have the dealership software. VCDS is not the dealership softwre

So that narrows down your list of culprits by a lot.

[TriniVdub]

^^ you do not need dealership software, but you are correct VCDS cannot do this, but their are a lot that can.

[Stig786]

The instrument cluster doesn't allow for mileage to be rolled back but it does allow to add miles unless it's replaced with a cluster with lower miles the display on my passat has gotten damaged with the heat and I wanted to replace it but from what I've read the entire cluster needs to be replaced

[Pointman-IA]

The instrument cluster doesn't allow for mileage to be rolled back but it does allow to add miles unless it's replaced with a cluster with lower miles the display on my passat has gotten damaged with the heat and I wanted to replace it but from what I've read the entire cluster needs to be replaced

When you say heat, does the car spend most of the day exposed to the sunlight?

[Stig786]

Yea in the last year it's been parked in work in a carpark that isn't covered and although I use a windscreen shield the heat inside the car has messed up the LCD pretty bad to the point where it is nearly unreadable in the day but its fine in the night prior to this it was my dads car was parked in a garage most of the time out of the sun

[ALIS]

this seems to be a common thing I was looking a some vehicles with a friend last year who was interested in a Euro but apart from Euros quite a few vehicles were worn beyond what the odometer stated.
as Team Loco stated there are tell tail signs and its up to us as consumers to wise up.She was almost completed with the purchasing process before she got me to see the vehicle her parents thought was a steal of a deal and just jumped at it. I'm wondering if we can get a sticky topic on tuner with Car buying 101s because alot of people are buying vehicles not knowing what to look for especially first time buyers.

I was hoping for the same sticky type topic