Hi. My first post here...iwas after some advice please. I bought a Japanese import car a week ago. It was advertised as 80k miles but when I went to see it, it was approx 129k on the odometer. I was told the odometer was on km, so converting miles it makes sense. Fast forward a week or so and I've used the car a bit and notice the mileage is going up in miles, not km! All the paperwork including MOT, import papers etc all show km and shows the vehicle came into the country at around the same amount of km as shown on the clock. I've asked for a refund as to me the car is in miles not km as I was told, and according to the clock it is 50k more than advertised mileage of 79k. Question is, is there any way that the car could have been changed here (by UK seller - who is a small trader/garage) from km to miles and if that was the case wouldn't it show up as 79k not 129? We paid a fair bit around 10k for the car so considering taking the issue to court! Any advice on how to prove the issue (cheaply). We have already done a drive with the sat nav on and its definitely miles not km (eg done a 260mile trip and it clocked 260, not 418 which it would have dine if in km) thanks for any help here!
Advise
- Thread starter SidneyP
- Start date
My understanding is that JDM cars import with KM and they are then converted to miles, I don't think this converts the already existing KM on the clock to miles, but it will then start to increment in miles.
This certainly would describe the exact situation you are in wouldn't it? And makes sense when imported cars are sold with a mixture of KM and miles
This certainly would describe the exact situation you are in wouldn't it? And makes sense when imported cars are sold with a mixture of KM and miles
That's how I thought it worked, the conversion won't 'correct' already accrued km but from the conversion point onwards it'll increment in miles.
Thank you. So would the conversion be carried out by the person buying the import (the trader who sold to me) as they are adamant the car is in km still or by the Japanese sellers?
Also any idea what chance I have to return the car under 'not as described' consumer protection laws? Surely I should have been told its been converted and will clock in miles now? Something doesnt sit right with me about the whole thing!
Also any idea what chance I have to return the car under 'not as described' consumer protection laws? Surely I should have been told its been converted and will clock in miles now? Something doesnt sit right with me about the whole thing!
It's generally done by the importer as far as I am aware in my limited understanding.
Honestly it seems they have described the exact state of the car and perhaps it may have been down to your misunderstanding of the situation rather than any ploy to mislead you so you might struggle.
As I said above it's unlikely that the clocks would be reversed from 129k KM to whatever the miles conversion comes to, and additional distance will be added as miles.
Soldato
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129k km = 80k miles. Might this have something to do with the confusion about total mileage?
Caporegime
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They often convert the speedo etc otherwise it would be annoying to mentally check 70mph on your clocks reading kmph etc...
Or they could just have clocked it in japan before exporting it.
Trick is to always see the Japanese auction sheet first.
Or they could just have clocked it in japan before exporting it.
Trick is to always see the Japanese auction sheet first.
That yes - if you want to subsequently resell the car and preserve it's value don't you need a formal record..
I drive an EU car which has always clocked up just km's - sometimes when they are doing the MOT they do not realise and record it, wrongly, as miles, on the hand-written sheet;
I've never investigated, but, do the dvla expect all cars to be converted to miles.
All options are on the table with this. Ive imported quite a few cars and sometimes left in KM, sometimes converted and sometimes converted and redone the ODO.
What car is it?
If it was imported by the seller, you could always get a JEVIC/BITMA cert to prove the mileage. Or ask the seller to give you a copy of the auction sheet (they probably wont want to, but worth a try)
To me, it sounds fine, its accumulated its ODO in KM's until it was converted and now its doing it in miles.
What car is it?
If it was imported by the seller, you could always get a JEVIC/BITMA cert to prove the mileage. Or ask the seller to give you a copy of the auction sheet (they probably wont want to, but worth a try)
To me, it sounds fine, its accumulated its ODO in KM's until it was converted and now its doing it in miles.
Thanks for your replies. It's a nissan serena any experience with those - were struggling with finding service parts! We've got evidence of mileage at landing so seems it might just be the clock hasn't been turned back when setting to miles.
If it’s any use in the case of my two imports the digital odo switched from km to miles, but the old type with the turning numbers just started counting in miles.
carvx can do a check online - auction history and so on. £25 and takes roughly a day.
carvx can do a check online - auction history and so on. £25 and takes roughly a day.
Great, thats what we expected. Some people dont like changing the ODO, its common for this to happen with an import.
In terms of parts, Im not completely up to speed with the Serena but it should share parts with other Nissan models for servicing. I wouldnt worry at all.
Ive never had issues with service items, but you may need to order rarer parts from Amayama or similar. I use this: Japanese cars online catalogs (epc-data.com)