RTE 1 tonight Buyer Beware - cloned and clocked cars (private and trade)

mike65

www.rte.ie/radio1

They have been talking about car cloning and now clocking, they are about to hit the forecourts looking for examples.

Absurdum

naming and shaming

smash

yea, they're naming a lot of garages

mike65

named and shamed indeed!

The programme Buyer Beware is on at 8.30 RTE 1

Fey!

Couldn't get through to ask them if:

a) the act of clocking a car was going to be made illegal
b) if, with the change of company running the NCT, if a car came in with a mileage lower on its NCT than on a previous NCT, would it be reported?

smash

SIMI are useless, 4 clocked cars at that airport garage and they let them away with saying "we wont do it again"

call d

I had dealings with SIMI on what I would class a serious matter with one of their members and I was more or less told to go away, ended up going down the legal road and getting sorted out almost instantly.
SIMI were no help what so ever.

smash

latest statistics I got from a carzone newsletter shows that only 1 in 4 people search for a SIMI/Franchised dealer yet SIMI think that they're the top of the motor industry and as such are trying to launch their own used car website. The reality is that nobody cares about them and they're as useless to the consumer as a chocolate teapot!

call d

I agree 100 per cent, when it comes to a customer complaint or a consumer issue they just don't want to know.

sparklepants

Some of the advice on the show was a bit silly imo. The presenter suggested that if you're buying a second-hand car privately and the sticker advertising the original seller isn't on the back window, you should always walk away as it's probably a cloned car. Personally, I always remove this sticker as I don't like to carry free advertising for someone else. This doesn't make a car cloned.

mike65

Agreed, the first thing I do (as my dad did before me) is remove stickers if possible.

I'm editing the title to reflect the programme this feature was previewing, on this evening - Buyer Beware RTE 1 8.30

Johnny Utah

sparklepants wrote: »

Some of the advice on the show was a bit silly imo. The presenter suggested that if you're buying a second-hand car privately and the sticker advertising the original seller isn't on the back window, you should always walk away as it's probably a cloned car. Personally, I always remove this sticker as I don't like to carry free advertising for someone else. This doesn't make a car cloned.

Yeah, I always remove the sticker on a new car too.... Bizarre advice

ResDub

Sky+ That Buyer Beware (match obviously)and just watched it now. A bit sensationalist and a lot of mixed messages. Vested interests and the NCA bloke who said everything is alright and there is no problem with clocking.....

Why people are buying cars off a dealership who if you google there name you can see what they've been at is beyond me. Not checking the service history is just mad in fairness and if it is a big purchase not getting a mechanic to give it the one over is also careless.

Obviously Motorcheck and Cartell are pushing for NCT data to be availible as it their business but why cant the mileage be recorded on the log book and be recorded in Shannon could cut out a lot of this.

With the stolen/scrapped cars it still seems that a lot of people are getting caught buying Uk cars. Again the Government announced that all imports had to be NCT'd and you'd think this would catch a lot of these motors but I haven't heard this being introduced yet. As for the bloke who bought a stolen BMW 520 from a Polish bloke for €40k Ouch !:eek:

Seth Brundle

Its because people are stupid!

galwaytt

call d wrote: »

]...SIMI were no help what so ever.

steve06 wrote: »

latest statistics I got from a carzone newsletter shows that only 1 in 4 people search for a SIMI/Franchised dealer yet SIMI think that they're the top of the motor industry and as such are trying to launch their own used car website. The reality is that nobody cares about them and they're as useless to the consumer as a chocolate teapot!

....all true, but what you need to remember is that the SIMI are not there for consumers. It is a Motor industry, trade association, whose responsibility is to it's (paying) motor trade members. Why any consumer would expect them to work for them, against one of their own members, is just..........daft. Ted.

ResDub wrote: »

Sky+ That Buyer Beware (match obviously)and just watched it now. A bit sensationalist and a lot of mixed messages. Vested interests and the NCA bloke who said everything is alright and there is no problem with clocking.....Obviously Motorcheck and Cartell are pushing for NCT data to be availible as it their business but why cant the mileage be recorded on the log book and be recorded in Shannon could cut out a lot of this. ........With the stolen/scrapped cars it still seems that a lot of people are getting caught buying Uk cars. Again the Government announced that all imports had to be NCT'd and you'd think this would catch a lot of these motors but I haven't heard this being introduced yet. As for the bloke who bought a stolen BMW 520 from a Polish bloke for €40k Ouch !:eek:

Yes, things brings up a few things: The Passat had a valid NCT showing 78k miles, which obviously was a false reading. So, what function that on the NCT paperwork at all, if it's not verified, or verifiable ?

It's interesting to note that the introduction of digital odometer's, far from making it more difficult to tamper with, has in fact made it easier. LOL, you don't even need a screwdriver now, or to take anything apart: VW have a nice convenient access port for you to do it, sitting down - the OBD port.

The clocked car thing is one level, the stolen stuff is just pure scary.

Absurdum

galwaytt wrote: »

....all true, but what you need to remember is that the SIMI are not there for consumers. It is a Motor industry, trade association, whose responsibility is to it's (paying) motor trade members. Why any consumer would expect them to work for them, against one of their own members, is just..........daft. Ted.

Don't they also have a vested interest in ensuring that their industry is rid of clocking and all these other issues that those pesky consumers keep annoying them with?

Seth Brundle

Absurdum wrote: »

Don't they also have a vested interest in ensuring that their industry is rid of clocking and all these other issues that those pesky consumers keep annoying them with?

One would think so.
They also seem to condone price fixing given that some of their members were convicted of it and yet are still members.
The SIMI are not there for the benefit of the consumer!

Big Nasty

kbannon wrote: »

One would think so.
They also seem to condone price fixing given that some of their members were convicted of it and yet are still members.
The SIMI are not there for the benefit of the consumer!

What about the new SIMI website? One big Cartell!:rolleyes:

robtri

IMO.... SIMI are worthless, lets be honest they are a paid membership organisation, that no body pays atttention too.... Even if they expelled members from the organisation for wrong doing.... what difference would it make, the dealer can still keep trading and selling dodgy cars.

The issue is with the govenment, if you cuaught selling dodgy cars, you need to have your business closed down... fined ( and I mean a severe fine) and possible jailed.

nogoodnamesleft

I thought the investigation into the Passat left a lot to be desired and the guy driving the diagnostic computer didnt seem to be aware or knowledgable of how it works. They mentioned that there were fault codes present on different systems on the car but couldnt elaborate on what they were:rolleyes:

Most licensed versions of VCDS (VAG COM) allow you to interrogate the ECU for fault codes as well as identifying what they are (or give you good clues). The ECU also records the mileage independant to what is displayed on the dash. The ECU calculates it using engine paramaters. So if they knew what they were doing the could get a very good estimate to what the actual mileage the car covered to date.

Edit: Just realised that the car uses CAN Bus so the ECU mileage option is not available on this model.

http://www.ross-tech.com/vag-com/tour/applications_screen.html#mileage

I wonder what action is going to be taken against airport cars? a small fine and another slap on the wrist.


Personally I thought that they didnt paint UK imports in a very good light last nite. considering that evidence that they produced to prove the cars were clocked consisted of a HPI report.

Barr

Is this on the rte player , I cant find the replay ?

Seth Brundle

I don't see it listed on their player - here is the BB page:
http://www.rte.ie/tv/programmes/buyer_beware.html

BostonB

I have no idea what SIMI are for. I've never seen them do anything useful.

JHMEG

They're like any other society, eg the Law Society - for the betterment of their members.

JHMEG

kbannon wrote: »

I don't see it listed on their player - here is the BB page:
http://www.rte.ie/tv/programmes/buyer_beware.html

It doesn't seem to be on the Player at all. Maybe the presenter doesn't have a face for TV?

mike65

I checked the player earlier myself (was watching le Match), then checked the programmes web page and it says Not on Player. I would e-mail RTE but don't know who to send a message to.

BostonB

JHMEG wrote: »

They're like any other society, eg the Law Society - for the betterment of their members.

Do they even do that?