Hi Y'all. Been surfing gumtree and facebook marketplace recently and noticed quite a few cars with low km's for really low prices. These sellers rarely have logbooks and tend to have little knowledge about the history of the car. I went to look at one of these cars, a Toyota Camry 2007 for 4.5k with 120,000kms. The car looks a mess, the engine bay was extremely dirty and the interior completely ripped and covered with grime. The exterior also had paint fade and sun damage. Now of course, the condition of the car might explain the low price, but honestly it just seems suspicious to find a 13 year old car with low km's in such bad condition, especially the interior.
What are your thoughts? Do people still roll back cars? I thought when renewing rego your km's are recorded, thus making it difficult to lets say buy a car, roll back it, selling it for profit?
Do People Roll Back Cars Still?
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Or you could use a drill like in Matilda lmao
Or drive it until it clicks back over to 0 after passing 999,999, married with children style.
Is it possible to "roll back the odometer" in modern cars?
It's not just possible, it's easier than it has ever been. On old cars you could tell that the screws on the dash had been tampered with, it was also possible to spot wear on the seats, pedals, steering wheel, gear lever, etc.
On modern cars you hook up the car to a laptop via the diagnostic port and apply the correct (freely available) software and you're done. Zero evidence. On top of this modern cars, particularly cars that are likely to have high miles such as German saloons, are much better made, the interior trim doesn't show signs of use nearly as clearly.
Seems to be easier than ever to roll back modern car odometers.
Modern cars have internal computers that also record your odometer in other locations not just in the front HUD. One check by the manufacturer and you're fooked.
Correct, most new cars store in the PCM, BCM and the cluster. Possibly more depending on how much monitoring of driving habits is going on.
Doubt the manufacturers would bother much to check and then chase someone up if they found it's been rolled back.
IT's when you make a warranty or service claim. BMW for example can check this information and then file a cease of coverage for your car.
If the KMs in the odo don't match the ecu in a BMW, it puts a symbol/message on the dash.
I wouldn't say 120K kms is low for a 13 year old car. It's within the range of expected driving.
If you're worried about a clock job, buy a CarFacts history report before purchasing the vehicle. On top of that you'll need to do a lot of your own diligence as well - get a mechanical inspection. Honestly if the sellers don't have log books, don't bother. You can find safer options.
Start by searching on websites which aren't free to list. Carsales is your best option. Gumtree and Facebook are for selling PS4 controllers and old tables.
Don't forget to filter search results to only show cars that haven't been revved past 4000 RPM.
Yeah, mine's a 2013 model with less than 55K kms.
Idk, my current car didn't have logbooks, not sure if it was rolled back either. Its 2003 Integra DC5 with 150ks. But I think thats a bit more reasonable, since its a car that probably wasn't driven long distances, like maybe a toyota camry would have.
Yeah I agree its not necessarily unusually low km - I only do about 7500km/year because it's only driven on weekends.
Very easy to do even in modern cars.
They might have changed the cluster
Always do a ppsr.
I've got a 2004 Toyota Camry that has ticked past 120k. I bought it brand new and it's still going strong. No mechanical issues at all. I don't have logbooks either… Got lost during a service some years ago.
Plan to drive it for a few more years till it gives up the ghost or electrics become a lot cheaper.
Plan to drive it for a few more years till it gives up the ghost or electrics become a lot cheaper.
Some people: https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/517712 haven't gotten that message yet. I call those people the 'soon to unemployed'.
While it is physically easier to do than it used to be it requires a bit more skill and equipment. Good old days you duck off to the wrecker and buy a Speedo/cluster with less kms on it and switch them.
Just because a car looks grubby doesn’t mean it has more kms than on the dial either. Some people really don’t look after their cars, particularly when they are a bit older.
Legend says if the call rolls back on a hill, you and the car go back in time.
Not sure about the car but from experience I went back in time to before I got my last paycheck when that happened…
if you ignore the 120K km I still wouldn't buy the car
Another way to roll back your odometer, is to replace it with a cluster that shows lower millage.
Doesn’t work on every car, or most cars for that matter. Some cars you would need to change every ECU in the vehicle as well as the dash display, as they all talk to each other and store each other’s details on things like VIN and odometer readings.
Why would you not have a logbook?
Why would you have one for an older vehicle? Plenty of people buy cars without them.
Unless you throw it away you still have it, regardless of the age of the car. And why would anyone throw it away?
If the service history hasn’t been filled in, it’s worthless. I’ve had a dealer service my car before. Unless asked specifically they didn’t touch the log book, just relied on their electronic records. I had to have the log book out, they didn’t check the glove box.
If a car has been traded by a dealer they often chuck the log book away too, especially if incomplete.
@Euphemistic: You still get a service report though no? I fold them up and tuck them into my log book. That way all the history is in one place, even if it's not explicitly written into the log book.
@Beanvee: Personally it’s not worth that much to me anyway. I tend to keep my cars until they are old enough that a full service history doesn’t add much to the value.
Log books can be easily faked. It's just a rubber stamp with a dealers name on it. You need to cross reference the log book with the servicing dealership.
If this car is in that poor condition externally, what are the odds that it has been properly serviced?Probably easier for them to change out the odometer assembly/instrument cluster.
Off topic but I will ask here on the off chance. I was looking for a 1-3 year old car this morning at Pickles Auctions. There were loads of cars that age up for auction but they were all unregistered. Are cars sold at auction usually unregistered? Would they be mainly repos?
That's pretty standard with Pickles, or it was when we got our car from them 3 years ago. Some of the fixed price stuff is registered but generally everything is sold unregistered. Although when we bought our car it said 'unregistered' on the online listing but was actually still registered so that was handy.
Depending on the branch I think most of their cars are ex-government. Probably some repo's. Ours was an ex salary packaged vehicle.I'd recommend going along and watching a few auctions first. The dealers are like buzzards.
Roll it back? Bah.
The cool kids plug in one of these: https://www.ebay.com.au/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1…. Just slows down the odometer update.
Only works on the instrument cluster of course, so it'll be noticed eventually. Long after you've sold it though.
I think a good inspection by a mechanic would reveal the true picture. It's not exactly the mileage I would concern about but the health of the vehicle. But then I am buying sub-$7000 cars so as long as there isn't anything costing a good % of purchase price on repairs, I am happy…
I do it by driving in reverse.