Is there anywhere that offers advice on whether a car has been clocked or not? Bought a car 6 weeks ago with low mileage and fsh. It's been back in twice for bushes replaced and a head gasket (or cylinder head. They keep telling me different things) According to the service history it was serviced quite regularly. Does this not contradict these problems? I've spoken to several people - including 2 mechanics who say it all sounds dodgy. I've rang the AA, SIMI, ODCA and can't find anyone that could check the car out and confirm it. I need to make a decision on what my next move is. Any advice?? (It was bought from a reputable dealer. I believe that it was clocked by the previous owner)Thanks
Independent advice on possible clocked car
- Thread starter Yoltan
- Start date
If it has a FSH, the mileage at each service should be recorded in the book. There's always a chance the book's a fake, but you can double check by calling the garage that carried out the services: they should have a record. This assumes the services were carried out by a main dealer.
How old's the car at this stage? Bushes could be just wear and tear. Head troubles could be something like a water leak that was ignored. That is, neither are necessarily indications of lack of servicing.
How old's the car at this stage? Bushes could be just wear and tear. Head troubles could be something like a water leak that was ignored. That is, neither are necessarily indications of lack of servicing.
There is NO SUCH THING as a reputable dealer Honestly...take my word for it. I learnt this last year. Don't believe that they didn't clock it...or that they didn't at least know it was clocked. The law is so difficult right now surrounding this problem that they know they can get away with it!
What car is it and what year?
Does it have a fsh? If so ring the garages and verify the mileage as per the services.
Ring the AA again and ask them how they would check if your car was clocked during a full engineers inspection? If they can't answer that let us know.
Keep the service book at home, ask for copies of the service invoices and check dates, milages off the book. If it has a full fsh it should be very easy to see if it has been clocked.
I wouldn't worry if a car has had the "cylinder head gasket" done. Fiat Punto will do them every 40,000 mls. You want to know why? Was it that the temp sender or fan switch was faulty.
Bushes, depends where the person lived before you. Did you ever here "Donegal or Kerry shocks" etc. Do your bit of homework and you'll find out quick enough.
I wouldn't worry if a car has had the "cylinder head gasket" done. Fiat Punto will do them every 40,000 mls. You want to know why? Was it that the temp sender or fan switch was faulty.
Bushes, depends where the person lived before you. Did you ever here "Donegal or Kerry shocks" etc. Do your bit of homework and you'll find out quick enough.
As far as I know it wasn't serviced by a main dealer.
Car is a 02 Hyunda Coupe. After 35k miles, there shouldn't be enough wear and tear. I've had cars with well over 100k and never had as much trouble as I've had with this car.
Honestly...take my word for it. I learnt this last year. Don't believe that they didn't clock it...or that they didn't at least know it was clocked. The law is so difficult right now surrounding this problem that they know they can get away with it!
What car is it and what year?
Does it have a fsh? If so ring the garages and verify the mileage as per the services.
Ring the AA again and ask them how they would check if your car was clocked during a full engineers inspection? If they can't answer that let us know.
AA said they wouldn't do it. Something to do with diagnostic checks which they wouldn't do.
I well believe that they know now that the mileage is dodgy. It's just a matter now of me being 15k out of pocket for a heap of s**t car!
I have the book but not the invoices.
Explanation given for the head gasket was the wrong oil. Even though the car was serviced every 6-7k miles.
Explanation for bushes was that the car is low to the ground. My last car was practically ON the ground and I never had a problem with bushes. Also the salesman told me that bushes are a problem with coupes. Hyundai head office were very quick to deny that today when I spoke to them!!
SIMI approved Main Dealer will not knowingly sell a clocked car. It's not worth it.
Gabriel what sort of experience did you have?
The law your prob taking about is the data protection act. It is not illegal to adjust your milage but it is illegal to sell it with out telling the next owner. If the NCT see the milage has been corrected they can't tell you.
If you ring a garage and were not the owner of the car when it was serviced, a garage will not give out service details to you. You must go back to the place you got it and let them get it for you.
Gabriel what sort of experience did you have?
The law your prob taking about is the data protection act. It is not illegal to adjust your milage but it is illegal to sell it with out telling the next owner. If the NCT see the milage has been corrected they can't tell you.
If you ring a garage and were not the owner of the car when it was serviced, a garage will not give out service details to you. You must go back to the place you got it and let them get it for you.
All sorts...last year when I was looking for a Beamer.
I came across so many dodgy dealers...and no I can't say if they were SIMI approved or not. But after a lot of legwork I discovered that an awful lot of Dublin car dealerships are at it. And I've heard a lot of unsubstantiated reports (from people inside and outside of the car trade) that it goes on in main dealerships too. I was about to hand over my cash for a 320 CI before discovering (after HPI check) that it was well clocked. And the amount of UK imports I came across where the service books had been "lost" was unreal. It's a minefield out there. The sooner the government appoint an independent body that spot checks garages for clocked cars and makes it illegal for a garage to display a car with the incorrect mileage the better.
IMO - clocked car on forecourt = close down dealership.
The other thing is how any dealer would "not knowingly" sell a clocked car. This suggests that most dealers don't check in the first place. I can't understand why not? It's not that hard is it? A laptop and the right software is all you need for most modern cars!
Nct, so the cars at least 5 years old on Irish roads and Irish weather and your asking about why bushings are gone. Are you for real?
Gabriel, SIMI approved Main dealers that only sell Irish orignal cars, go to all the hastle and expence of this to show that we are reputable and people still go to "Joe bloggs motors" on the main road (out of town) and find all sorts of bad practises going on there and then blame us the main dealer who is doing all they can to help the customer show "We have nothing to hide".
So where can we win. We are bringing the mass public to the water but if the blind F**ker won't drink it and tries to KEEP drinking the sand, what does the Main dealer do? We know were not perfect but at least were trying to help people not like "Joe bloggs motors".
Gabriel, SIMI approved Main dealers that only sell Irish orignal cars, go to all the hastle and expence of this to show that we are reputable and people still go to "Joe bloggs motors" on the main road (out of town) and find all sorts of bad practises going on there and then blame us the main dealer who is doing all they can to help the customer show "We have nothing to hide".
So where can we win. We are bringing the mass public to the water but if the blind F**ker won't drink it and tries to KEEP drinking the sand, what does the Main dealer do? We know were not perfect but at least were trying to help people not like "Joe bloggs motors".
Hey I've actually had nothing but good experiences dealing with main dealers so perhaps my comment was a little harsh. It was heresay at the end of the day what I heard...and it only concerned one main dealer.
Murphy Chambers for instance - I dealt with them two years ago and found them excellent...a real pleasure to deal with. But when I wanted to get rid of the car - he had nothing I wanted!
Now I do nearly all my car business with Murphy & Gunn in Milltown. I didn't buy my car there...I bought it from a guy who lives very close to them so the car had always been serviced there. Their service and general attitude is second to none. I couldn't recommend them highly enough.
So...in general I'd have to say I take my hat off to main dealers.
The problem ye guys have, I think, is the range of stock. In general I've always found the right spec or model I want when looking for a car outside of main dealers. Now in saying that...yeah...a lot of them end up being dodgy.
Come to think of it...maybe the problem with SIMI approved, only Irish cars IS the Irish cars themselves...as VRT affects spec levels so much here. Ireland sucks badly when it comes to all things car related...buying one, paying tax and driving on Irish roads!
I've actually had nothing but good experiences dealing with main dealers so perhaps my comment was a little harsh. It was heresay at the end of the day what I heard...and it only concerned one main dealer.Murphy Chambers for instance - I dealt with them two years ago and found them excellent...a real pleasure to deal with. But when I wanted to get rid of the car - he had nothing I wanted!
Now I do nearly all my car business with Murphy & Gunn in Milltown. I didn't buy my car there...I bought it from a guy who lives very close to them so the car had always been serviced there. Their service and general attitude is second to none. I couldn't recommend them highly enough.
So...in general I'd have to say I take my hat off to main dealers.
The problem ye guys have, I think, is the range of stock. In general I've always found the right spec or model I want when looking for a car outside of main dealers. Now in saying that...yeah...a lot of them end up being dodgy.
Come to think of it...maybe the problem with SIMI approved, only Irish cars IS the Irish cars themselves...as VRT affects spec levels so much here. Ireland sucks badly when it comes to all things car related...buying one, paying tax and driving on Irish roads!
Yoltan, It all comes down to expectation. You with your Honda (Jap reliablity) and build quality will be miles ahead of the Korean. It's a softer car with a very stiff suspension. I'd ask why the head gasket went but bushings etc your going to get that stuff. Ash you other friends have they replaced, Door locks, window regs, Anti-roll bar links, Coils, key fobs etc and they will have at some stage. This is what goes wrong with these cars.
Gabriel, If it's not a main dealer, SIMI approved stay away. This means the garage is not able to meet the targets and standards set by a main dealer or SIMI. Hence you won't get a "dodgy motor" if you go to the above. If you do well at least you've been told and can only blame yourself.
Gabriel, If it's not a main dealer, SIMI approved stay away. This means the garage is not able to meet the targets and standards set by a main dealer or SIMI. Hence you won't get a "dodgy motor" if you go to the above. If you do well at least you've been told and can only blame yourself.
hyundai coupes eat front and rear anti roll bar bushes this is an easy job and cheap to do ,havent seen many head gaskets go on them but they do have a lot of locking problems but this does not mean a car is clocked!!
i just read through the last lot of posts regarding dodgy main dealers and im sick of it.yes there are a few,just like every industry .but there are alot of honest guys out there too.
having been on both sides of the fence having spent the last 15years working for ford,and now as independent,you cannot satisfy everyone .
ive seen main dealers literally rebuild cars for people just to keep a good customer happy,
the only advice i can give is get to know a good dealership build a loyality with them and you will have good service,same with a good independant,
alot of people get bad service because the first rattle or squeek and they start shouting solicitors this is only a red rag to a bull,and then you are on a looser.
there are a lot of dodgy imports out there with no service historys but buying cars with a history is also no a gaurantee the car will never give trouble,buy from a reputable dealer and get a good warranty in writing and at least you can go back ,more than likely they havent folded over nite and ran with your bread
i just read through the last lot of posts regarding dodgy main dealers and im sick of it.yes there are a few,just like every industry .but there are alot of honest guys out there too.
having been on both sides of the fence having spent the last 15years working for ford,and now as independent,you cannot satisfy everyone .
ive seen main dealers literally rebuild cars for people just to keep a good customer happy,
the only advice i can give is get to know a good dealership build a loyality with them and you will have good service,same with a good independant,
alot of people get bad service because the first rattle or squeek and they start shouting solicitors this is only a red rag to a bull,and then you are on a looser.
there are a lot of dodgy imports out there with no service historys but buying cars with a history is also no a gaurantee the car will never give trouble,buy from a reputable dealer and get a good warranty in writing and at least you can go back ,more than likely they havent folded over nite and ran with your bread
there is a website called www.cartell.ie that may be able to give you the info you're looking for. Just been and looked at my own car - bit alarmed now as it says that they have further details on the database, (I bought it new and it hasn't been smacked)! Mind you that could just be that it's on finance.
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Any chance you can name them???
I'm at the point of giving up on trying to buy a new car: I'm staggered at how indifferent sales staff can be on even the most basic stuff (like returning calls etc.).
At this stage, I'd nearly go by finding a good dealer and look at what they're selling, rather than choosing a car and finding someone to sell it. The problem is in finding one.