# Clocked cars



## paf (3 Sep 2006)

just wondering has anyone ever been caught with buying a clocked car, i heard of so many people getting caught, im trying to sit up some kind of place on the web where people have purchassed clocked cars and where they have been purchassed, alredy there are a couple of repeat offenders turning up,especially around the red cow and tallaght


----------



## DaveD (4 Sep 2006)

Haven't actually bought one but have been to see a few that turned out to be clocked. Ususally diesel imports from the UK with all the manuals etc but service history "lost". Most seem to be ex lease cars that usually have over 90,000 when sold by the lease companies in the UK, the generally have a full print out of full service history when sold by the lease company, but this vanishes when the car appears in Ireland with 50,000 less miles. I've seen them in garages around the Red Cow and Naas Road also, but also in Harolds Cross and Templeogue.

I'd have no problem buying a UK import with high mileage as long as its a big diesel with full main dealer service history, particularly ex lease cars as they are usually well maintained. Has to be reflected in teh price also!


----------



## Gabriel (4 Sep 2006)

paf...would you care to name the repeat offenders in question? Or could you pm me with them? I'm particularly interested in this having narrowly averted buying an import that I found out was clocked.


----------



## CCOVICH (4 Sep 2006)

Don't name any dealers here.


----------



## paf (4 Sep 2006)

i have no intention of naming them here,but if you waqnt to e mail me at paf10000@hotmail.com i will be only to happy to chat with what i have come up with and hear your story.


----------



## Orca (5 Sep 2006)

Yes I did buy a clocked BMW. It was imported from the UK.  I bought it from a dealer in the Ballymount area who was selling it on behalf of a dealer in Rathgar. I eventually got a full refund only after i got the police involved.

I found alot of clocked BMW's being sold around Clondalkin and also in Clane.


----------



## Guest109 (5 Sep 2006)

heres a very recent case

http://u.tv/newsroom/indepth.asp?id=76491&pt=n


----------



## Vanilla (5 Sep 2006)

My ( now ) husband bought a clocked car from a dealer here in Kerry  ( not a Volvo dealer ) some years ago. It was a Volvo estate imported from Britain. Within a few days of buying it he felt there was something wrong with it- it drove like an old car, but the mileage was low. He did a search in Britain and low and behold it was clocked. He hadn't retained his copy of the SIMI agreement and requested a copy- this agreement usually contains the mileage of the car. This was ignored until I became involved- I am a solicitor. I dropped in to the dealers office and requested a copy of the SIMI agreement. I was polite but firm. I didn't mention the search- I wanted to see what mileage had been put down on the agreement before I did so. Although nothing was ever said, I knew they knew and they knew that I knew. They never gave us the SIMI agreement but we were presented with another equal value car within a week which we then traded in with another garage almost immediately as we no longer trusted this dealer. We accepted this in order to walk away from the deal without losing too much. Some months later we had a phone call from a would-be purchaser of the volvo- we advised him not to buy. We never received another call.


----------



## antimonarch (6 Sep 2006)

this is the risk you take to buy high spec english cars. i have used www.cargiant.co.uk in the past for buying cars from the UK very reliable and trustworthy and not a chance of them being clocked. they will even check rival sellers cars for you for free.


----------



## Johnny1 (29 Jan 2007)

I know of a leading garage that bought a toyota avensis ex taxi with over 200k miles on it the car was in excellent condition they sold it with 40k on it, I got inside information on this.


----------



## tiger (30 Jan 2007)

Was at a car auction a no. of years back.  I remember when a 2yr old Primera ex. taxi with 270K miles came on the block the sheepskin coats got very excited...


----------



## ANC (30 Jan 2007)

how do you know if a car is clocked??

are there websites you can get info on a car?

i'm looking to buy a second hand car at the moment and this is a big worry for me..


----------



## xt40 (30 Jan 2007)

assuming it drives tightly and everything appears to work, check for wear and tear on the interior, esp the drivers seat which if cloth would usually start to wear a bit thin  at the outside edge at about 100k miles or so. also look at a few examples of the car you want to buy with high and low mileages to get a feel for what to expect.  i bought 2 uk cars recently and in the process did 5 or 6 checks on potential purchases with different websites. www.autocheck.co.uk @19.99 was the only one which gave a mileage history consisting  of 6 different entries for an 03 car with 50k miles.


----------



## johndoe64 (30 Jan 2007)

I was going to by a bmw from a big dealer in the uk got the mileage and the chassis number from him and got a mate of mine in BMW to check the service history on it, last serviced at 82K Klm's, being sold with 47K on the clock.


----------



## RS2K (30 Jan 2007)

ANC said:


> how do you know if a car is clocked??
> 
> are there websites you can get info on a car?
> 
> i'm looking to buy a second hand car at the moment and this is a big worry for me..



Check it's service history. Speak to previous owner.

Use your eyes and ears.


----------



## tradefriend (30 Jan 2007)

Just logged in here looking for advice on something else and couldn't resist having a look at my own trade section. Clocking is only the start of it. When they're money laundering to beat the band, buying cars vat free in the U.K and importing them here without paying the vat, breaking all kinds of planning and environment laws that reputable garages are obeying at large costs, etc, etc, clocking is only the cream. And then there's the honest public. Yeah right. 

Use your head when buying a car. It's not rocket science. Service history is vital. If it's not there, just walk. And not everybody keeps an up to date stamped service book. If you like the car, and the service book is empty, ask can you contact the previous owner, call them, ask them where they had the car serviced, call the garage concerned, and they'll have all the details on computer. 

My rule on English imports is if they're isn't a stamped up service history with the phone no. of the garage that carried out the services legible in the service book, that you actually call the service dept in the U.K and verify, then it is clocked. 


And stick with a good reputable garage. There's lots of us out there. We can't be that difficult to find. 

With regard to dodgy garages, and getting someone to check out a car, I'd reccomend www.carcheck.ie Put it this way. I've heard them say that when they call certain garages to tell them they have been asked to check a car out, the salesman just tells them 'Oh sorry we just sold it'


----------



## howareya (31 Jan 2007)

i went looking at a car with my other half a few years ago.  The dumbo selling it had clocked it but failed to take off the sticker some mechanics put on the car which shows the mileage and date of last oil change.  talk about getting stung.


----------



## RS2K (31 Jan 2007)

howareya said:


> i went looking at a car with my other half a few years ago. The dumbo selling it had clocked it but failed to take off the sticker some mechanics put on the car which shows the mileage and date of last oil change. talk about getting stung.



I hope you reported him to the cops. I think that may have been an attempted fraud.


----------



## Johnny1 (1 Feb 2007)

tradefriend said:


> Just logged in here looking for advice on something else and couldn't resist having a look at my own trade section. Clocking is only the start of it. When they're money laundering to beat the band, buying cars vat free in the U.K and importing them here without paying the vat, breaking all kinds of planning and environment laws that reputable garages are obeying at large costs, etc, etc, clocking is only the cream. And then there's the honest public. Yeah right.
> 
> Use your head when buying a car. It's not rocket science. Service history is vital. If it's not there, just walk. And not everybody keeps an up to date stamped service book. If you like the car, and the service book is empty, ask can you contact the previous owner, call them, ask them where they had the car serviced, call the garage concerned, and they'll have all the details on computer.
> 
> ...


Where does this leave the DIY man when he wants to sell his car? I service my own car which is a lot cheaper that any garage, service history is great but it costs a lot of money.


----------



## cheque (1 Feb 2007)

I bought a passat and found out it had been clocked by 100k miles. Bought it in a garage in the south east area. It was perfect, leather throughout, even had orginal plastic in the boot. Spotless car. They are closed now and are opened in another county not far away from the orginal garage. They actually told me that it wasn't the first car they sold clocked!! Got most of my money back in the end after going to solicitors. then they wouldn't take my name off the car and had to go to guards about it. Guards told me that the reason they don't take name off ownership is a VAT issue as by doing so they have no proof they sold it and therefore don't have to pay vat on sales. Would love to name and shame them, but can't, here anyway.


----------



## pussycat (5 Feb 2007)

so what do you do if you buy a clocked car and its a private sale??


----------



## conor_mc (5 Feb 2007)

Johnny1 said:


> Where does this leave the DIY man when he wants to sell his car? I service my own car which is a lot cheaper that any garage, service history is great but it costs a lot of money.


 

Keep all receipts for parts you've bought, even if it's just a gallon of oil and an oil filter. Not as good as a service history, but at least it gives some indication that the car was looked after.


----------



## Smi1er (6 Feb 2007)

Look at the condition of the car first, check wear and tear then take an educated guess at the mileage. Generally someone who knows about cars will be within 10,000 miles.

Service histories can be easily forged. Look at service history and ring garage to confirm.

Years ago I was looking to buy a car privately and the owner had lots of receipts. 10 mins later I handed them back pointing out he had a receipt dated 3 years ago with 20,000 more miles on it than the car had now.


----------



## pussycat (7 Feb 2007)

But what do you do if you buy one can you sell it on can a garage tell by looking at it if it was clocked??? i bought a car 2months ago and now found that the mileage was clocked??? any advice how do i get rid of it will i loose the money on it???


----------



## CCOVICH (7 Feb 2007)

pussycat said:


> But what do you do if you buy one can you sell it on can a garage tell by looking at it if it was clocked??? i bought a car 2months ago and now found that the mileage was clocked??? any advice how do i get rid of it will i loose the money on it???


 
Take legal action against whoever sold it to you.  Trying to pass it off to someone else as genuine would mean that you are liitle better than the crook who sold to you in the first place.


----------



## pussycat (7 Feb 2007)

so if i tell the garage would they do a trade in i am going to get a new car on finance??


----------



## Sloppy (7 Feb 2007)

You are not covered by the sale of goods act if you bought a car privately. What kind of car is it, how old is it, how many miles are on it, and how do you know it is clocked? If it's an older car, the garage won't worry about it too much as they are only going to sell it to the trade anyway. If it's a newer higher value car, then you may have a problem.


----------



## pussycat (8 Feb 2007)

its a volkswagen bora 00 - 52,000 miles on it. Last service on computer records was in 2003 50.000.


----------



## RS2K (8 Feb 2007)

pussycat said:


> But what do you do if you buy one can you sell it on can a garage tell by looking at it if it was clocked??? i bought a car 2months ago and now found that the mileage was clocked??? any advice how do i get rid of it will i loose the money on it???



You will loose money on it if you bought it privately.

I don't like Cartell, particularly it's lack of warranty, but it's essential.

If anyone buys a clocked car in from the North or UK without getting a HPI check done, they are foolish.


----------



## Sloppy (8 Feb 2007)

The seller would still be able to say it was lying up. Have you confronted them and asked them to explain the lack of mileage over the last 4 years?

Hard to prove if there is no documented proof of it having had previous higher mileage than indicated now.


----------



## Persius (11 Feb 2007)

Johnny1 said:


> Where does this leave the DIY man when he wants to sell his car? I service my own car which is a lot cheaper that any garage, service history is great but it costs a lot of money.


 

Good point. I would say that the money you save by not going to a garage for a service, will then be lost in longer time for resale (if selling privatly) and lower resale price. Might be more economical to go the the garage for a service in the long run - even if you can do an equally good (or even better) job yourself.


----------



## Arthur Daley (12 Feb 2007)

I'll refer you on this thread re: clocking


http://www.askaboutmoney.com/showthread.php?t=38213&highlight=suburban+autos


----------



## terrysgirl33 (16 Apr 2007)

Without naming the garage or anything, DH went to look at a car today and thinks it may be clocked.  It is supposed to have 38k on the clock, but the mat on the drivers side of the car is missing and the carpet there is worn away.  It's a 4 year old diesel, is it likely that someone bought a diesel and did less than 10k miles a year?  We're pretty happy in the decision we made, but I was wondering what everyone else thinks...


----------



## woodseb (17 Apr 2007)

terrysgirl33 said:


> Without naming the garage or anything, DH went to look at a car today and thinks it may be clocked. It is supposed to have 38k on the clock, but the mat on the drivers side of the car is missing and the carpet there is worn away. It's a 4 year old diesel, is it likely that someone bought a diesel and did less than 10k miles a year? We're pretty happy in the decision we made, but I was wondering what everyone else thinks...


 

10K a year is pretty much average for a car, whether it be a diesel or not.  As for the carpet wear, it could be just down to the driving style of the owner, they could be wearing boots, heels etc when they drive


----------



## RS2K (17 Apr 2007)

woodseb said:


> 10K a year is pretty much average for a car, whether it be a diesel or not.  As for the carpet wear, it could be just down to the driving style of the owner, they could be wearing boots, heels etc when they drive



I don't agree. Average mileage is 12,000 miles per annum, and to make a diesel an economic winner requires substantially more than that.


----------



## BlueSpud (17 Apr 2007)

woodseb said:


> 10K a year is pretty much average for a car, whether it be a diesel or not.  As for the carpet wear, it could be just down to the driving style of the owner, they could be wearing boots, heels etc when they drive



It is almost unthinkable for someone to buy a diesel & do only 10k per year.  Not impossible but very rare indeed.  Would certainly be looking for some coroborating paperwork.


----------



## woodseb (17 Apr 2007)

RS2K said:


> I don't agree. Average mileage is 12,000 miles per annum, and to make a diesel an economic winner requires substantially more than that.


 
depends who you ask, i've been told its between 8-12k pa - does anyone have a definitive answer on this?


----------



## Murt10 (17 Apr 2007)

terrysgirl33 said:


> Without naming the garage or anything, DH went to look at a car today and thinks it may be clocked.  It is supposed to have 38k on the clock, but the mat on the drivers side of the car is missing and the carpet there is worn away.  It's a 4 year old diesel, is it likely that someone bought a diesel and did less than 10k miles a year?  We're pretty happy in the decision we made, but I was wondering what everyone else thinks...



Have a look at the steering wheel. If its nice and shiney then it has been used a lot. If there are still ridges all over it then it has not. Take a look at a couple of cars with different mileages and you will see what I mean.

It's one thing for someone clocking a car to alter the mileage, put new pads on the foot pedals and put in new mats. Changing the steering wheel is a much bigger job and to do so would eat into the clockers profit margin both in terms of the cost of the wheel and getting it installed. I'm sure it can be done, but would they bother? 


Murt


----------



## jmayo (17 Apr 2007)

If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it is a duck. In other words if something is too good to be true then it probably ain't true. Walk away if in any doubt about the car.


----------



## cashmni1 (17 Apr 2007)

I just bought a diesel passat from the UK, private sale. I have test driven in access of 10 different cars (mostly the same spec) before I went to the UK. One car was clocked for sure. (no service history, UK car with 60k on clock, seat belt restraints had lost their spring retention, engine covers tampered with and a lot of road grit located in parts of the engine bay). Quite an obvious "clocked" car. Armed with this knowledge, and the experience of driving other genuine milage cars, I was able to purchase the car in the UK without any doubt in my mind. Of course the service history all stacked up with receipts and the car was immaculate with a good HPI report. Point being, drive plenty of cars in Ireland from garages and private sellers. A bit tedious but well worth it in the end.


----------



## amoposh (1 May 2008)

hey, anyone help me on this?

i am after buying a car in febuary and i am certain that this car is clocked, the sales guy said its 29,000 km but i done a history check and the results said it is 52% below avg so it doesnt look good. so anyone know what i can do ?


----------



## Leo (2 May 2008)

amoposh said:


> i am after buying a car in febuary and i am certain that this car is clocked, the sales guy said its 29,000 km but i done a history check and the results said it is 52% below avg so it doesnt look good. so anyone know what i can do ?


 
What do you mean by history check? Any history on that car surely wouldn't refer to averages? If the mileage is 52% similar aged cars, that in itself is no indication of clocking. 
Leo


----------



## stefg (2 May 2008)

Johnny1 said:


> Where does this leave the DIY man when he wants to sell his car? I service my own car which is a lot cheaper that any garage, service history is great but it costs a lot of money.


 
Hi Johnny1,

It isn't really a problem if you keep a record and receipts of what you have done. I recently bought a motorcycle that had no service history after the waranty period because the owner serviced it but he had receipts for all the parts he used and the dates matched the service record he had kept. 
He also used a garage where he had an account to get parts so the receipts included his name and address.

The only thing that you may have to prove to a potential buyer is your competence at mechanics but the condition of the car / engine will usually show this.

Stefg


----------

