What to do when you find your old car on e-Bay and it's been clocked?!

[NISFAN]

Just to add, if a seller gives excuses about suppling VIN numbers, V5C reg doc serial numbers, etc, you need to run a mile.

 

[jaymanek]

not necessarily, I wouldnt give anyone this info unless they show their face at my premises...

with V5 number etc its all you need to clone a car.

 

[Vlad]

A common scam is buying high milers from auction which are just under three years old and then reducing the mileage down.......as the car won't have been in for its first MOT, the reduction in mileage never gets picked up on the VOSA website and in the vast majority of cases it wont register on HPI.

Groan!

 

[harry_dhuga]

It is why you need to do HPI checks on EVERY car that you buy.

People who don't HPI are running the risk of being de-frauded in this manner, but just as many cat C D cars being sold as 'mint, owned by little old lady to go to church' etc etc. There are too many crooks out there trying to part you of your cash.

I did a HPI check on my E55 when I was gonna purchase it and there was nothing to report back from it that it's had the mileage altered.

From the report all I could see I was buying a good car, which it is apart from the mileage obviously.

 

[wemorgan]

I did my last HPI check with Autocheck. This included a mileage check and gave me a print out of mileage records, most likely recorded at DVLA at each MoT and when serviced.

 

[jaymanek]

unfortunately most HPI checks dont tap into the MOT system.. they rely on that voluntary mileage box when you tax the car or apply for a log book etc... so mileage checks are usually a waste of money...

 

[219]

It is why you need to do HPI checks on EVERY car that you buy.

People who don't HPI are running the risk of being de-frauded in this manner, but just as many cat C D cars being sold as 'mint, owned by little old lady to go to church' etc etc. There are too many crooks out there trying to part you of your cash.

Over a certain value , yes , but there is a price point below which it does not matter.

These days , I don't buy cars worth any more than I can afford to lose with a shrug of the shoulders , so I don't worry if I might buy a dud ( has only happened once in recent years with a cheap W111 that was even more riddled with rust than I originally thought - still only lost out about £300 on it as I broke it and recouped most of the outlay ) .

When I bought a W124 showing about 180,000 miles , which later turned out to be 430,000 miles , I didn't worry as the flip side was that it had been a one owner car , meticulously maintained from new by the supplying dealer until a couple of months before I bought it through the trade 'for spares or repairs' and the full history obtained from the dealer showed not only the new speedo , but a recent six grand new engine and lots , lots more .

 

[219]

not necessarily, I wouldnt give anyone this info unless they show their face at my premises...

with V5 number etc its all you need to clone a car.

Although I very seldom sell cars on , nor would I give this information out , although I would permit a potential buyer to look it up on my computer prior to concluding a sale .

 

[rigel]

This is my first ever post so go easy on me. Just read the whole of this thread, it makes very interesting an informative reading, well done to all you MB sleuths out there, I’ve learnt a lot already.
It’s also a tad scary as I’m of to look at an e220 cabriolet at the weekend!! (Something I’ve wanted for over 8 years now), but not sure I want to leave the relatively hassle free world of Honda CRV's