Turning off the odometer before selling a car – Crazy story from a dealership employee

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Turning off the odometer before selling a car – Crazy story from a dealership employee

Have you ever wondered if a car dealership would "turn off" a vehicle's odometer to prevent it showing delivery mileage?

 

[Aghori]

Turning off the odometer before selling a car – Crazy story from a dealership employee

Have you ever wondered if a car dealership would "turn off" a vehicle's odometer to prevent it showing delivery mileage?

Mileage is still stored in the ECU. It's easy to plug in and check, and compare it to the physical counter/clock. You can sue them if they do that.

 

[supersunbird]

Don't they have one or 2 resets that can be done to zero the KM specifically for this reason, I am sure that's how I heard it explained on the radio.

 

[epah]

Mileage is still stored in the ECU. It's easy to plug in and check, and compare it to the physical counter/clock. You can sue them if they do that.

this

 

[PhireSide]

Not surprised. Back before digital instrumentation was becoming popular, all you had to do was disconnect the cable running from the gearbox to the speedo cluster. And now it's even easier with just some fuses.

As @Aghori said, some cars store mileage in multiple places, while others just store it in the EEPROM inside the cluster and a backup copy in the ECU.

 

[epah]

Don't they have one or 2 resets that can be done to zero the KM specifically for this reason, I am sure that's how I heard it explained on the radio.

i doubt it, i know some supercars get delivered with over 100km on them already because they do a few track tests before delivery.

 

[Pineapple Smurf]

Jinne you South Africans are lekker skelm

 

[6spdmanual]

Sounds like a Toyota dealer.

 

[Fulcrum29]

i doubt it, i know some supercars get delivered with over 100km on them already because they do a few track tests before delivery.

Isn’t that when you consent to the tuning?

 

[epah]

Isn’t that when you consent to the tuning?

No, A polo will roll off the line and no one will actually test drive it thats why it will have 5km or so on the clock when you get it from the dealer. With supercars they usually go around a track after its been completed to make sure all is good. Thats why their delivery mileage is a bit higher, usually 50km or 100km some even with 200km on them.

 

[Stokstert]

In earlier years, the 70's and 80's, cars were driven from the factory to their destinations. We often met Nissan columns on our way to Windhoek in Namibia. The columns included small cars like 1200 bakkies, big sedans and big trucks all drove at the same speeds, higher than a new car shouldn't have been driven at. We had to speed to keep up with them.

All petrol cars, big and small, were fuelled with low-octane fuel. All the odometers were disconnected at the gearboxes and showed only two or three Km, that while the total distance from Pretoria to Windhoek was 1860 Km.

The biggest irony was that the dealerships told the clients that they should not exceed a certain low speed until the car was run in, and they should use higher octane fuel for the more powerful cars.

 

[PaulMurkin]

Regardless it is still done. I have seen second hand cars "lose 20,000kkm" before being sold. The stealerships have access to the equipment to change all the locations it is stored in.

I left a job once, in 2003, when I saw the vehicle I was working on, lose 15,000km because it was being sold. I don't tolerate that kind of ethics, and it was Steve's Auto Clinic in PTA..

 

[PhireSide]

Regardless it is still done. I have seen second hand cars "lose 20,000kkm" before being sold. The stealerships have access to the equipment to change all the locations it is stored in.

I left a job once, in 2003, when I saw the vehicle I was working on, lose 15,000km because it was being sold. I don't tolerate that kind of ethics, and it was Steve's Auto Clinic in PTA..

I read a comment a while ago that said something along the lines of "the steering wheel will tell you the true miles". Probably because a car that has low miles but has a knackered steering wheel is likely to have the mileage tampered with, since it's the thing that you most interact with and is least likely to be cosmetically altered when compared to easier to replace items like pedals or gear lever knobs.

 

[ronz91]

Regardless it is still done. I have seen second hand cars "lose 20,000kkm" before being sold. The stealerships have access to the equipment to change all the locations it is stored in.

I left a job once, in 2003, when I saw the vehicle I was working on, lose 15,000km because it was being sold. I don't tolerate that kind of ethics, and it was Steve's Auto Clinic in PTA..

after googling, that place seems to be a national franchise

 

[PaulMurkin]

I read a comment a while ago that said something along the lines of "the steering wheel will tell you the true miles". Probably because a car that has low miles but has a knackered steering wheel is likely to have the mileage tampered with, since it's the thing that you most interact with and is least likely to be cosmetically altered when compared to easier to replace items like pedals or gear lever knobs.

Here are my tests I use to see who is lying:
1. Drain transmission oil and look at it, especially for debris and metal
Sometimes I look at the speedometer sensor because if the car is really at around 180,000km the magnet in there would have picked up quite a bit of metal. On a manual transmission there will be a small amount of bronze from the synchronizer rings which is normal and some dark grey from the aluminium casing, in the oil.

The steel from the gears tends to stick to the magnetic drain plug, or the speedo sensor

Automatic transmissions are easier, darker the fluid, the higher the wear and tear and mileage (and poor driving habits)

2. I take the top cover off the motor and look for sludging... in and around the camshaft lobes and crevices