Motorhome odometer reading?? (1 Viewer)

[graham_bell]

Hi all,

I require your expertise here..We've been looking at Motorhomes for sale, some adverts state:-

"The odometer readings on all motorhomes are not to be taken as actual miles travelled"

I understand the sentence, but I'm not sure what it actually means? I mean without stating the obvious. Why would the mileage not be actual miles travelled?

Many thanks
Graham
(Not the skier, and not the inventor of telephone)

 

[andyman]

It is the dealers way of saying, they cannot guarantee the milage is genuine. If they buy the M/H in how can they be 100% certain that the milage has not been tamperede with.

Andy

 

[david price]

I take it this is on secondhand motors?I think this is some sort of legal obligation but may be wroung,im sure someone will be along to confirm or not as the case maybe.
Dave

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Peter JohnsCross MH]

It is a way of covering a dealers back in some ways. Unless one supplied and serviced the van from new it is hard work guaranteeing that the odometer is 100% correct. With a ten year old van.......................

A van with full service history and all the MOT's and bills is one reasonable way.

Personally if we sold a van and the buyer proved that the mileage was substantially incorrect, we would just take the van back and take the matter up with the previous owners.

Peter

 

[hailman]

I have had a recent experience with this. I bought a motorhome from a dealer towards the end of last year that was advertised as having done 48k, I HPI`d before I went to view and as no alarms were ringing off we duly went. The van was pretty much exactly what I was looking for but had no history or manuals etc, which I thought strange. I struck a deal and collected the van 2 weeks later.
Some weeks later, after going through the van fixing small niggles, I find a folder with all the manuals etc buried in the bottom of a locker, Great! I thought, until I found all the previous MOT`s showing at least double the stated mileage. I had a friend redo the HPI and it now showed a mileage alert.
Long story short, after a few words (not all calm!) with the dealer they agreed a full refund and paid for some work required to the brakes.

All I can say is, dealers don`t always do their homework when they buy a van in, so it pays to do your own if possible. Lesson learned.:Blush:

 

[Diabalo]

If it's Fiat based it's covered more miles on the back of a lowloader

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[graham_bell]

Yes, secondhand (preloved) 'vans. Thanks for the replies, very helpful. I thought it was an odd thing to put on an add, I don't recall seeing it on car adverts.

Good point about checking service history and MOT's.

We currently have a car and caravan we plan to sell both and buy a cheaper car and a used MH with the proceeds. Of course, there's a load of hassle to come selling privately! We would look to part-ex the caravan (2006 German van - Knaus). I was looking at the new Elddis at the NEC yesterday (just out of interest rather than buying one) and was approached by a salesman. I mentioned we had a Knaus - he said they would "underwrite" the value of our caravan - but I'm not entirely sure what that meant? Maybe you could help there with an explanation Peter? I sort of read it as we wouldn't give you a great deal...

Our original plan was later this year, however, the NEC and reading some posts hear have made us decided we'll do this sooner rather than later!

Graham

 

[Peter JohnsCross MH]

Hi Graham,

Underwrite generally means getting a price from another dealer who specialises in that particular type of vehicle and just move it on.

A Knaus caravan we would just take in part exchange for stock, I think we already have one coming in.

Your welcome to have a word with Lawrence or Andy.

Peter

 

[bobandjanie]

When we put a deposit on our motorhome from a large dealer up near one of the showgrounds it had done just over 4000 miles. When we paid for and collected the van a couple of weeks later, from exactly the same place we had seen it, it had done a further 476 miles yet it had 'never left the yard.' Explain that. Other than that fairly sure the overall miles were correct. Jane
P.S. I was looking at a car once at a dealers and was able to see the log book. I called the previous owners who confirmed my suspicions that the mileage was far in excess of what was on the clock.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Mick H]

As others have already said, the dealer is only covering his back, by stating that the mileage isn't necessarily genuine. It could have been "clocked", or a new speedometer fitted, or ran for some time with the odometer not working etc.

In addition, just like speedometers, the odometers are NOT 100% accurate. That is just one reason that checking your mpg will NOT give an accurate check, it could be way out even carrying out checks over a long period, but people still do it and will continue to.

 

[Douglas]

I have had a recent experience with this. I bought a motorhome from a dealer towards the end of last year that was advertised as having done 48k, I HPI`d before I went to view and as no alarms were ringing off we duly went. The van was pretty much exactly what I was looking for but had no history or manuals etc, which I thought strange. I struck a deal and collected the van 2 weeks later.
Some weeks later, after going through the van fixing small niggles, I find a folder with all the manuals etc buried in the bottom of a locker, Great! I thought, until I found all the previous MOT`s showing at least double the stated mileage. I had a friend redo the HPI and it now showed a mileage alert.
Long story short, after a few words (not all calm!) with the dealer they agreed a full refund and paid for some work required to the brakes.

All I can say is, dealers don`t always do their homework when they buy a van in, so it pays to do your own if possible. Lesson learned.:Blush:

Would you describe this as a "Ripoff"?


Doug...

 

[hailman]

I wouldn`t say ripoff. I think it was more a case of the dealer not doing his job properly. I am sure they would not have advertised the van at that mileage had they known the paperwork was actually in the van to confirm otherwise, and there were no mileage disclaimers on the speedo. The HPI alert didn`t appear until the van had been MOT`d, which was after I agreed to buy it. The price was right for the van had the mileage been correct.
You could say I hadn`t done my homework either, but I went to them as an innocent buyer trusting them to sell me a genuine item, having done what I could to determine that the vehicle had no finance outstanding or major accidents.
They were not prepared to offset the hit I would take on the future resale of the van if I kept it, and seemed confident that they could sell it again, so I got a refund.

I have since purchased another van and the experience couldn`t have been more different. The dealer was infinitely more professional, and the van was so obviously `right`.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}