Technical assessment to get a real mileage check of a vehicle

caesarprime · March 25, 2023

Is there a way or a place where I can get a real mileage assessment technically of a vehicle.

iRage · March 26, 2023

There is no way to do this. If anyone says they can..tey are lying. Save your money and go treat yourself and family to a good hopper treat or something.

1. You can't look at a car (carpet wear, upholstery condition, body panel condition, engine condition, etc...) and determine the mileage. There are plenty of cars that are 3 or 4 year old cars with 30,000 on the clock but look like it has gone to the moon and back with a 1000 people in it with a couple of tigers making love in the back; whilst you can find 20+ year old cars with 200K+ on it that looks like it just rolled off the production line.

All one can do is look at the mileage on the clock and the general condition of the car and see if the "feel" is right (e.g. if you come across a car with 50,000km on it and has completely worn out seats, carpets, rattling interior, misaligned body panels...you know something is not right, it has either had a very harsh 50,000km life or it has done a lot more and the mileage has been turned back..which one it is..you never know...just that it doesn't feel right). Whilst looking at a car, someone who is diligent will also look at things like if the screws to the meter panel, dash, etc...have lost paint or show other signs of removal because it could indicate that someone has been mucking around; or even look for things like maintenance stickers.

2. Some cars have their odo meter reading recorded in the ECU....but that too can be changed now so that really doesn't help either....

3. If your car was imported to SL form Japan within the last few years, you can get someone to do a shaken record check or an auction report check against the chassis number. But that would only show what the known mileage was when the car was deregistered.

So....what you actually need is someone who can give a comprehensive assessment of the car. Not someone who can verify the mile

Twin Turbo · March 30, 2023

In a nutshell, Anything with a meter can be adjusted.

mazdaspeed · March 31, 2023

ask for maintenance history or least the emission test reports..... if they are not available - best to avid .

Most car seller guys don't given the reports - for the simple fact the millage has been changed ....

A good check up with a reputed company e,g C** C***k will be able to confirm in many cases... and if the seller is refusing ... then be careful...

CNX · March 31, 2023

Mileage is just a number. Go by the condition of the car and make sure all the preventive maintenance is done on time.

Imagine two identical brand new cars bought by two executives living in Kottawa. One works in Galle and the other works in Colombo Fort. If both use the car to travel to work daily on weekdays for 2 years, the car travelling to Galle will have 100000 mostly expressway miles while the other car will have only 20000 miles. If both were maintained according to the schedule, used for its intended purpose and no major accidents, guess which one will have less wear and tear (other than the tires) and be in better overall condition.

amsandun · March 31, 2023

On 3/26/2023 at 6:16 AM, iRage said:

3. If your car was imported to SL form Japan within the last few years, you can get someone to do a shaken record check or an auction report check against the chassis number. But that would only show what the known mileage was when the car was deregistered.

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this is correct, There was a website to check this for the cost of 10USD. I did it a couple of years back just to check what I would get 😉. It only gave what was already known to me from the Auction sheet.

kush · March 31, 2023

I was told that you can check the mileage from the ECU and that it cannot be tampered

Unless of cause you change the ECU it self

I may be wrong any thoughts on this.

In my case I go by the condition and the service records etc.

And I always keep records of my vehicles including any accident repairs

I tell the truth to the buyer and had no issues selling any of my cars at market rates or slightly above.

Even emission test cannot be trusted these days as I have heard of vehicles that do large annual mileage (hire/rent) being clocked annually prior to emission test

iRage · April 1, 2023

On 3/31/2023 at 2:38 PM, kush said:

I was told that you can check the mileage from the ECU and that it cannot be tampered

Unless of cause you change the ECU it self

I may be wrong any thoughts on this

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This has been the case with Euros for a while and now even the Japanese cars now record the mileage in the ECU. However, this is not 100% tamper proof. Yes...back in the day when the Euro cars first came out with these, tech know-how was limited so not may people knew how to much around with it. Not the case these days.