Considering this SL350

[Bay Leaf]

Extremely easy. Easier than traditional speedometers in fact as you don't even need to remove anything.

So lets get some clarity on this. So hypothetically speaking I could clock up say 80k on my car blasting up and down the motorway over three years. Then knock 60k off when I come to sell it. That can't be right surely. I mean years ago the car industry must have spent vast sums of money eg digital Speedo's etc to stop people doing this, and now you'r saying it can be easily done.

 

[LostKiwi]

So lets get some clarity on this. So hypothetically speaking I could clock up say 80k on my car blasting up and down the motorway over three years. Then knock 60k off when I come to sell it. That can't be right surely. I mean years ago the car industry must have spent vast sums of money eg digital Speedo's etc to stop people doing this, and now you'r saying it can be easily done.

Yes that's correct. Unless you have decent diagnostic kit you'd never find it either.
Takes a "mileage adjuster" under 15 minutes.

 

[ajlsl600]

Never take any notice of miles on used car I always go on condition and how it feels to drive. Just assume they clocked.

 

[LostKiwi]

Never take any notice of miles on used car I always go on condition and how it feels to drive. Just assume they clocked.

Absolutely this.
Use the mileage as a guide perhaps but condition is king.

 

[Bay Leaf]

I was talking to a friend today who works on top of the range sports cars, and he said the same,that cars can be clocked. He said that Porche gear boxes have a mileage memory so that's one way of finding out true mileage. But what if the box has been changed?

I still find it hard to believe that it happens. It's the same with car theft, again the industry have spent hundreds of thousands of pounds to make it harder to steal cars and then they come up with keyless entry where now someone can clone your key if it's in your pocket or in your house. Unbelievable.

 

[LostKiwi]

I was talking to a friend today who works on top of the range sports cars, and he said the same,that cars can be clocked. He said that Porche gear boxes have a mileage memory so that's one way of finding out true mileage. But what if the box has been changed?

I still find it hard to believe that it happens. It's the same with car theft, again the industry have spent hundreds of thousands of pounds to make it harder to steal cars and then they come up with keyless entry where now someone can clone your key if it's in your pocket or in your house. Unbelievable.

MBs store the mileage in a number of places throughout the car. Prevents casual 'adjustment' but the professional simply overwrites every ECU that stores it.

 

[MBDevotee]

I'm afraid its true -

A proper "Mileage correction" (if there can be such a thing) will overwrite every place it's stored. The unscrupulous owner will do a it a few weeks before every MOT and service (the two will usually be done at the same time to save them having to do it more than once a year).

Having said that, I knew someone who had an Aston - 10 years old - 14,000 miles on it..... He claimed it was his "Weekend car and barely used it" - yet he headed off to work in it every morning...... I used to see a van rock up at least twice a year and one of the things on the side was "Remaps and Mileage correction" - he was there half an hour, never lifted the bonnet, just sat in inside with a laptop and off he went......

 

[DSK]

It happens A LOT! There's people advertising the service all around Facebook etc...I treat all used purchases the same. Make sure MOTs and Service books tally up. Flick through the receipts to ensure they also tally up and no one has accidently forgotten to remove receipts/invoices that may show mileage inaccuracies.

A family member is an independent motor fraud investigator and in addition to checking staged accidents etc, he's also comments regularly on the mechanical condition not being consistent with mileage. The prime offenders being the premium brands, Audi, BMW and Mercedes...…...

There was a 2003' ish Audi A3 2.0 TDI advertised a few streets away last year with, 159,000 miles and the engine light on but running OK and needing new brakes, 3 months MOT. About 7 weeks later, the very same car was advertised by someone else, a little further away with 119,000 miles and new MOT...…..

Sure there are cases where such a service (be it in house dealer or elsewhere) is required, instrument cluster changes etc but, sadly, as with everything, this is utilised heavily by unethical people both trade and private.

 

[Blobcat]

It happens A LOT! There's people advertising the service all around Facebook etc...I treat all used purchases the same. Make sure MOTs and Service books tally up. Flick through the receipts to ensure they also tally up and no one has accidently forgotten to remove receipts/invoices that may show mileage inaccuracies.

A family member is an independent motor fraud investigator and in addition to checking staged accidents etc, he's also comments regularly on the mechanical condition not being consistent with mileage. The prime offenders being the premium brands, Audi, BMW and Mercedes...…...

There was a 2003' ish Audi A3 2.0 TDI advertised a few streets away last year with, 159,000 miles and the engine light on but running OK and needing new brakes, 3 months MOT. About 7 weeks later, the very same car was advertised by someone else, a little further away with 119,000 miles and new MOT...…..

Sure there are cases where such a service (be it in house dealer or elsewhere) is required, instrument cluster changes etc but, sadly, as with everything, this is utilised heavily by unethical people both trade and private.

The access to cheap PCP deals allowing those who previously couldn't hope to get a Mercedes has made the situation worse as those deals have really low annual mileage allowances and punitive costs for excess mileage.
So they get a low PCP deal on 6K miles pa and then "mileage correct" every 6/12 months to keep within their allowance.

The only time I've heard of mileage correction going the other way is Japanese imports having higher mileages added to reduce taxes import/export taxes

 

[DSK]

The access to cheap PCP deals allowing those who previously couldn't hope to get a Mercedes has made the situation worse as those deals have really low annual mileage allowances and punitive costs for excess mileage.
So they get a low PCP deal on 6K miles pa and then "mileage correct" every 6/12 months to keep within their allowance.

The only time I've heard of mileage correction going the other way is Japanese imports having higher mileages added to reduce taxes import/export taxes

Great point and it totally makes sense with the leasing/PCP stuff people do!! I can see how many people many people will take the cheapest deal they can, and then have the mileage altered prior to servicing etc.

I tried leasing a few years ago, taking the Astra CDTI as an example, from an internet based company who was far, far cheaper than anywhere else, the monthly cost of request 30,000 miles p/year was about an extra £120 p/month and about £160 on the E350. Yep, I clocked 90,000 miles in each in 3 years and vowed never to loose money in such a manner ever again.

 

[Blobcat]

Great point and it totally makes sense with the leasing/PCP stuff people do!! I can see how many people many people will take the cheapest deal they can, and then have the mileage altered prior to servicing etc.

I tried leasing a few years ago, taking the Astra CDTI as an example, from an internet based company who was far, far cheaper than anywhere else, the monthly cost of request 30,000 miles p/year was about an extra £120 p/month and about £160 on the E350. Yep, I clocked 90,000 miles in each in 3 years and vowed never to loose money in such a manner ever again.

Which is why I've always bought mine outright, usually with a personal loan but 25-30K pa kills any PCP stone dead compared to a personal loan - in my experience over the last 20 years

 

[DSK]

Which is why I've always bought mine outright, usually with a personal loan but 25-30K pa kills any PCP stone dead compared to a personal loan - in my experience over the last 20 years

Me too, always buy outright but, only with own money, not even bank loans.

I was doing 900-1200 mile a week since 2011 and 2020 Lockdown in a Volvo T5. Not bad imo but everyone including family and colleagues though I was the most nutty person. They said that I could lease, fuel and run something more economical for what I was burning in fuel. So I caved in and gave it a go a few years back and well fvck me..... I was no better off, they were problematic compared to my trouble free trusty old daily, slower, noisier, more expensive to insure, and I'd rather have stuck a screw driver in my head than be in them.

I get 99% of the population appreciate looks and new stuff for image purposes but, I'm happier being stuck in the dark ages lol.

 

[welease woger]

It’s sold , did you buy it ?

Not me.
After a few phone discussions it was arranged that the car would be taken to MBS for inspection which they had booked in.
On the morning of the inspection the dealer 'phoned to say they had sold the car the previous day. Waste of my time and that of MBS.
As an old duffer I'm 'old school', when I agree something with a customer I keep to my word but integrity and used car dealers don't belong in the same sentence.

 

[DSK]

To be fair, unless one puts a deposit down then the vehicle is open to anyone on a first come first serve basis, unless the dealer gives you a verbal gentleman's agreement that he will hold the vehicle until inspection without a deposit.

Look on the bright side, you get more time to shop around and there will be lots of nice SL's to choose from.

 

[peterws1957]

A car like that is never going to hang around long and MBS had already given it the thumbs up which would have been enough for me. Experience has taught me to jump on a car like this if it was what I really wanted, because someone else will. As DSK says though there always lots of SL's for sale to choose from.

 

[John Laidlaw]

As above, due diligence is one thing but having heard from MBS that would do it for me- no time for procrastination really. Good luck with the hunt

 

[flowrider]

Now you can concentrate on getting a V8, every cloud and all that.....

 

[MBDevotee]

Me too, always buy outright but, only with own money, not even bank loans.

I was doing 900-1200 mile a week since 2011 and 2020 Lockdown in a Volvo T5. Not bad imo but everyone including family and colleagues though I was the most nutty person. They said that I could lease, fuel and run something more economical for what I was burning in fuel. So I caved in and gave it a go a few years back and well fvck me..... I was no better off, they were problematic compared to my trouble free trusty old daily, slower, noisier, more expensive to insure, and I'd rather have stuck a screw driver in my head than be in them.

I get 99% of the population appreciate looks and new stuff for image purposes but, I'm happier being stuck in the dark ages lol.

In fairness, it's not the PCP that's the issue here - it's doing 25-30k miles per year - that will cost a bomb in any new car - PCP or pay cash, it makes no odds.

I totally agree that used cars make total sense for anyone doing those kinds of miles - you will kill the resale of anything new or nearly new.