DVLA MoT check site question

[coldel]

Hey...

 

As some may know I stuck down a deposit on an R33 to collect and pay in full on Saturday.

 

The car has 135k on the clocks, the seller said he bought it from a garage with 132k on the clock but the car was still running in kilometres, as part of the purchase deal the garage converted the speedo to miles. it now has as I say 135k on the clock, so in effect about 85k miles. He even produced an MoT when he bought the car from the garage has 132k km on the mot certificate.

 

I took all this as read, but something bothered me last night so I remembered about the mot check section on the DVLA site. I got the mot ref number from the seller and dropped it in, it shows correctly the mot cert from the garage as 132k km, but previous year 121k miles, before that 110k miles and so on.

 

I guess my question now is, is it possible for MoT centres to write down miles mistakenly instead of KM? Or would the online system not record it correctly? Anyone used to dealing with imports who has any advice on this greatly appreciated...

 

Col

[Ekona]

Easily possible. Not sure I'd worry about it matey, depends on who did the first MOT and whether they got it right in the first place, is there a way of checking otherwise? ECU interrogation?

[HAMLNJ]

Basically...you have to many nice cars! Jokes!

[HAMLNJ]

Jokes...as I don't really have a good answer for you . Sorry

[GMballistic]

When I had an old Golf VR6 the previous owner had replaced the speedo clocks at 75K miles odd after they failed and replaced them with a second hand set stating 54K miles odd. When I bought the car the dealer was honest and told me about the mileage but when I next got the car MOT'd the tester had entered the mileage at 56K miles odd which was wrong obviously as it should have been 77K miles odd but it still stated 56K miles odd on the MOT.

 

That was a while ago now though so I would imagine nowadays that something would flag up on the system but it does happen.

[coldel]

I guess I have two scenarios in my head right now

 

1. That the car was running km's the whole time, the previous mot stations though just listed it as miles not km and the speedo was indeed changed as the selling garage stated, so all legit.

2. The car was imported, converted to miles, ran up to 132k then the selling garage back in 2012 got a 'friendly' mot tester to stick it down as km's.

 

If its point one then it has a healthy 85k miles on it (quite good for a 17 year old car) or if point two its anywhere between 85k and 135k miles. He has a dyno print of it pulling 279bhp with just the intercooler added so the engine is sound, its just that peace of mind of what I am buying!

 

I am going to call the previous mot testers tomorrow to see if they can help...

Edited February 27, 2014 by coldel

[coldel]

Easily possible. Not sure I'd worry about it matey, depends on who did the first MOT and whether they got it right in the first place, is there a way of checking otherwise? ECU interrogation?

 

Its got a custom ecu. Checking the car over, no rust, no leaks, looks in great shape and as I say the dyno had it running almost as well as it could unmodified. Might just take a chance...!

[GMballistic]

When I bought my import Impreza WRX a mate of mine who had owned his import Impreza for years did warn me that when buying an import (performance car) you'd better have the money for an engine rebuild. I didn't believe him but unfortunately he was right. Engine let go after just one month of owning the car.

 

Unfortunately with an almost totally unknown history from a foreign country it is very hard to gauge whether or not it's a good, well maintained vehicle. Even if all looks good on the outside you just never know what it's like inside the engine.

 

At least you have a dyno report stating that it's giving good power so hopefully in some respect that's a good sign even if the mileage is questionable.

[Richf]

You should buy Skylines on condition not miles anyhow so don't worry about it, the sad truth is the mileage was probably altered back in Japan prior to export anyhow

 

But you are right the mot places will usually note as miles not km as that's what they normally deal with

[coldel]

Car has been in the country since 2006, it went through a garage called GLC in swansea who imported it for a customer. He had it until 2012 when he px'd/sold it back to the garage who then sold it to the current owner. So if the engine went bang after import, it would have done some time ago.

[Ekona]

You should buy Skylines on condition not miles anyhow so don't worry about it

^^^ This.

 

Miles are irrelevant, as long as the car is in good nick.

[evilscorp]

I like the butt wear method, compare the seats to other cars with similar mileage(unless aftermarket) but as stated above if it looks sound go for it! I was lucky to have the import documents otherwise no way to tell it's 8000 less on the clock.

[Richf]

Cars are trimmed prior to going to auction in Japan so import docs are no guarantee of true miles

 

Skylines don't show their miles either on the 33 the seats, wheel and trim often look good well over 100k

 

But as I said buy a well loved example every time , I've seen plenty of sub 50k sheds

[coldel]

It has replacement interior, its GTR interior so can't use the butt wear method.

 

I think I will still go for it, just wary that if and when I sell it on, that I will probably have to try and explain to any potential buyer what miles it has on it.

[coldel]

Amazing what a few phone calls can achieve, been speaking to a number of Welsh mot centres and the dealer that sold the car to the current owner, all remember it well, also told me about the previous owner to the current owner. They imported the car and didnt switch it to miles as the buyer didnt want to. So it does sound like it sat on KM all that time.

 

Phew!

[Richf]

It has replacement interior, its GTR interior so can't use the butt wear method.

 

I think I will still go for it, just wary that if and when I sell it on, that I will probably have to try and explain to any potential buyer what miles it has on it.

 

Pedal, belts, carpets, wheel all show wear as well

[rabbitstew]

Another thing to note is that the MOT place really doesnt care what they write down for the miles or what it was previously. I have had 3 different set of clocks on my R1 motorbike since ive had it all with various different miles showing. In fact, this year the mileage on the MOT is about 10,000 miles less than it was last year. The only time I can see it being a problem is if I was to ever sell the bike, it looks extremely dodgy to a new buyer - but then ive no intention of ever selling it so it shouldnt be a problem.

 

As a side note, the reason ive had 3 sets of clocks on the bike is that the rev counter keeps breaking due to landing too many wheelies.

[coldel]

Its exactly this - I dont mind the mileage, its a 17 year old car, it will have miles on it but I want to be able to explain the history of the car if and when I sell on. I do sell cars well, but its not a fluke, its because I am careful of what I buy in the first place. I have all the history of car now through a lot of phone calls this morning to many welsh people (have to say considering they were dealers and mot garages who are getting nothing out of speaking to me they were very helpful and willing to put the effort in trawling through paperwork - well done Swansea guys!) I have a good record of where its been and who owned it, not ideal but better than it was yesterday evening.

 

Just looking forwards to getting it and giving her a nice run back up the 303 tomorrow morning...next stop, Halfords for a baby seat!

[Richf]

You might have trouble fitting the seat in the back of a R33 , the seat belts are a bit short, you may need to get an extender

[coldel]

Thanks Rich, actually have an extender as they didn't fit in the Focus either!

[r37]

Ive never looked at miles when im buying a car. My girlfriend has a v reg 206 on 50k miles. Been used as a dog transporter, driven on dirt roads, carried heavy loads. Im amazed it still runs. Whereas the BMW Z3 i had was on 130k and was as tight as a drum. Good maintenance >>> Low miles.

[coldel]

But good maintenance+low miles>>>>good maintenance+high miles.

 

Also the UK market is a fickle one, they will want to buy lower milers so I do bear that in mind when buying a car.