Milage adjustment / clocking

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perleman

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I see there are a load of places here in the UK who can 'correct' my car's mileage... it's of no interest to me (it's already higher than average anyway as per the service file) but got me wondering if it could have already been done to the car? Are there any ways of checking? On my 997 it wasn't easy to do as the milage was recorded by a few modules, also you could check the engine run time, average speed and see if they concur... what abut on the GT though?
 
Any car can be clocked before an MOT or service so it can appear true.

I had heard the distance in each gear is recorded by the transmission ecu on some models, not sure about the maser though?

Best to have a high mile one then there is more chance of being genuine! and much cheaper to buy in the first place!
 
There's nothing to stop someone clocking it every year though before service / MOT to shave say 70% of the miles driven before it gets recorded on the certificate / service book is there... It seems that these cars' values are very milage sensitive (more so than Porsche which is more of an every day car).
So can I fond out by looking at any modules etc? Or if it was done, is that it?
 
This is a big problem in the F430 market - a lot of these cars were bought on finance with mileage limitations so many have had annual haircuts in the past. If you know what you're looking for there are clues in various ECUs that can allow one to make a judgement if the mileage is genuine or not.
 
Though you would imagine most F430 do a relatively low mileage anyway, as not many people use them as a daily. Whereas I could imagine a GranTourismo being a daily and therefore becoming a good candidate for regular hair cutting.
 
This is something that I've been concerned about,
Some I've viewed have not "aged" well for their displayed mileage,
Just could be not being looked after tho I guess,
DW
 
This is something that I've been concerned about,
Some I've viewed have not "aged" well for their displayed mileage,
Just could be not being looked after tho I guess,
DW
 
Gp79 said:
Any car can be clocked before an MOT or service so it can appear true.

I had heard the distance in each gear is recorded by the transmission ecu on some models, not sure about the maser though?

Best to have a high mile one then there is more chance of being genuine! and much cheaper to buy in the first place!
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This!
When I'm shopping for my daily driver I always run away from cars with less than 10.000km per year on average as those are most likely clocked and expensive
 
I've always been far more worried about cars with genuine low mileage than ones with high mileage. Cars are not designed to sit around 'unused', and from my experience, it was always low mileage cars that had expensive issues. I think people are still 'trapped' in the mindset of 50 years ago when high mileage was a genuine worry . With modern engines, gearboxes, oils, fuel etc there is far less wear and tear on mechanical components, and it seems that lack of use is more detrimental now.

However, I'm very grateful for this mindset, because I bought most of my cars with high mileage and saved a fortune :)
 
I also buy cars that have been used, and have a reasonable mileage under their belt. It seems a strange UK mindset the low mileage thing, more than other European countries.
 
Agreed, most of the cars I've owned in the past have had 80,000+ miles on them , usually ex company cars so it's usually motorway mileage which is the best kind as everything is running at the design temperature
 
Exactly, all of my recent cars had high motorway mileage when I bought them - 97K on my Alfa 166 which was supremely reliable for 7 or 8 years until I sold it, and similar mileage on both Audi RS6 and S8 - oh and the Prius, which I'm sure will outlive every car I've ever owned, hahah!!

I bought the Maserati with 74K and would personally be worried about buying an 'exotic' car that was 12 years old with only 30K miles...
 
As mine is a 2008 GT with only 28,000 when I bought it last August, I was suspicious. Had it checked at a main dealer as part of building a snag-list to get sorted, which thankfully wasn't much.

Although suspicious, it had a full record of HR Owen, and a high profile media Lord as it's owner so not short of a bob or two.

Despite this the dealer took the trouble to crawl over the records (both paper and Maserati dealership records). Mileage at each stage checked against documented history, internal electronics and visual condition of components. She'd only done a couple of thousand miles in the recent years.

She was declared a gud 'un.

I was impressed with the thoroughness of the dealer's checks, they walked me through what they'd found; their view was that it was difficult to hide clocking.

Uncle Dick's in Swindon. They've been entrusted with the care ever since, found to be fair and reasonable costs.

Any doubt, go get her health checked at a Lovett's. They like doing it, they don't charge since they'll get momentum business from the goodwill.

If they find something, you'll have redress with the purchase, and possible prosecution
 
It's not components like the engine that bother me on higher mileage cars. It's the fact that more miles and more journeys mean more wear and tear on everything - leather, carpets, paint, etc. I like a used car that looks new, not that looks like it's spent years hacking up and down the motorway, to the shops, to school, etc. And if a Maserati is used as a daily over the winter, and kept outside, the underside will suffer and become rusty pretty quickly. They are not cars that like rain or salt. Garage queen every time for me (when possible).
 
Ewan said:
It's not components like the engine that bother me on higher mileage cars. It's the fact that more miles and more journeys mean more wear and tear on everything - leather, carpets, paint, etc. I like a used car that looks new, not that looks like it's spent years hacking up and down the motorway, to the shops, to school, etc. And if a Maserati is used as a daily over the winter, and kept outside, the underside will suffer and become rusty pretty quickly. They are not cars that like rain or salt. Garage queen every time for me (when possible).
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Sure, a garage queen that was very well maintained and driven regularly is a good choice, as is a well maintained motorway car. No one believes my QP is 12 years old. The private plate disguises that fact and the bodywork and interior are in excellent condition.
 
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