Have I been duped?

[Gilly74]

I picked up my VYII Calais a few weeks ago and have beenvery happy with it, but while mucking around with the trip computer settings I notice that the trip B setting has 99,469km on it....so what you say....well the thing is, the odometer is only reading 93460km.

Given that I bought this car from a holden dealer and the car has had only one owner before me (a local doctor) could it be possible that the used car department modified the odometer and wrote off 6,000 km? Is this even possible.

After reading the owners manual, apparantly the trip B setting continues to read trip distance even when it has been hidden via the custom settings or the hide function.

So what do people think?:confused:

[BigJim]

As far as i know knocking back the kays for dealers if very easy and straight forward. Some well known dealers in Brisbane were caught not to long ago doing this.

[Covert]

You sure the Trip B isn't reading 9946.9 or something like that?

[6.2L.Club]

You have mail !

[mustanger]

Surely they would have knocked off more than 6k if it was deliberate.:eyes:

[xplosv57]

How can you find the overall km reading, just wanna check mine if its been tampered with cos i bought mine with fairly low k's???? I got a VX btw, if its different to finding it than a VY as stated above!!!!!

[Gilly74]

Im not really worried about about the km's, just a principle thing - they originally advertised the car with 88550 and told me the car only just arrived on the lot. The car hadn't been serviced or cleaned yet so it seemed believable. When i went to sign up - i made sure I checked the ODO and it read 91550 (3000km out). I made them change all the paperwork, particuarly the warranty and now this? Something smells fishy and I really hate the feeling that I was cheated - even out something a small as this. I think I'd like to calmly discuss the matter with the dealer principle just to see what they say...


You sure the Trip B isn't reading 9946.9 or something like that?

Nope, definite had a double look - took awhile to register though..


Surely they would have knocked off more than 6k if it was deliberate.

I suppose your right - but perhaps they just wanted to knock it back from the 100K figure without drawing attention to the service manual ( which is poorly filled out and only up to the 60K service mark


How can you find the overall km reading, just wanna check mine if its been tampered with cos i bought mine with fairly low k's???? I got a VX btw, if its different to finding it than a VY as stated above!!!!!

This was by accident xplosv - the calias has a triple screen trip meter and can hide or reveal either trip a and b or just trip a. While mucking around i turned the trip A/B setting back on revealling the extra kay's probably because no one has bothered to change the setting from the factory.

The strange thing is if they turned back the ODO why didn't the trip meter follow?

[XLR8 V8]

If trip B has 99469 then my theory is that someone has dropped the ODO back to get it under the "Magic 100,000km" mark (value seems to drop markedly once 100K is passed). They would not have wound it back any further as the car would have a service history showing the 90K service was completed, so they had to put beleivable kms on it

[VQST80]

Maybe a warranty cluster was fitted at 6000kms ..??

Other wise I thought they were tamperproof..??

[TUFFIE]

Maybe a warranty cluster was fitted at 6000kms ..??

Other wise I thought they were tamperproof..??

I can vouch for the fact they are NOT tamperproof...

[Gilly74]

I can vouch for the fact they are NOT tamperproof...

Does anyone know how this is physically achieved?

[mustanger]

A speedometer and calibration specialist can do it .:hmmm:google

[EL SLAMO]

If trip B has 99469 then my theory is that someone has dropped the ODO back to get it under the "Magic 100,000km" mark (value seems to drop markedly once 100K is passed). They would not have wound it back any further as the car would have a service history showing the 90K service was completed, so they had to put beleivable kms on it

Spot on! my theory exactly!:jester:

[Gilly74]

Decided that 6000km is not enough to worry about and the service history seems to indicate that it is not anymore extensive than this. It drives nice and everything seems normal - if anything they've given me extra kms on the warranty so suppose the slate is somewhat even - I squeezed them pretty hard on price anyway.

[ROGUE]

Decided that 6000km is not enough to worry about and the service history seems to indicate that it is not anymore extensive than this. It drives nice and everything seems normal - if anything they've given me extra kms on the warranty so suppose the slate is somewhat even - I squeezed them pretty hard on price anyway.

i'd still be having a go at the cheating bastards. you might not be worried about it, but other customers will be getting duped with the same scheme...

tell them to give you 12 months free fuel, or you'll be coming back with the today/tonight crew :)

[JezzaB]

...........

[Satansfist]

Man I love the word "duped"!

Had me laughing when I read the thread title...just picture a villain in a black top hat, cane and cape, big hook nose and twiddling a handlebar moustache and laughing maniacally as you drove away in the car...

Mwahahahahaaaaaa....:evil:

[`redoctober]

Man I love the word "duped"!

Had me laughing when I read the thread title...just picture a villain in a black top hat, cane and cape, big hook nose and twiddling a handlebar moustache and laughing maniacally as you drove away in the car...

Mwahahahahaaaaaa....:evil:
Mate, you definitely have issues. But they're hilarious issues :lmao: :lol:

I'm with XLR8 V8 on this one, cars drop in price significantly after the 100,000km mark, they were just trying to make a few extra $$.

[SPECTRE]

tell them to give you 12 months free fuel, or you'll be coming back with the today/tonight crew :)


That would get a reaction of some sort... :)

Wondering whether the previous owner has done it, as you guys say, to get it under the magic 100k... being a doctor doesn't make them a saint, or

if it WAS the dealer, how many times they have done that to some other poor bugger and cranked it back more than 6k

My 2 cents...

just another thought... you could always make an appoinment with the doctor and discreetly ask how many Ks were on his car when he traded it :)

Hmmmm better check what he/she specialises in... wouldn't recommend it if the are a proctologist... somehow it doesn't seem a fair trade :rofl:

[WhiteLion]

6000 km is about the distance any technician can remove from the odo using Tech 2. Could be genuine (such as odo out of calibration) or maicious, as discussed.
Larger changes in odo readings need a "higher level access".

Use search to find relevent threads.

Steve

[markone2]

If trip B has 99469 then my theory is that someone has dropped the ODO back to get it under the "Magic 100,000km" mark (value seems to drop markedly once 100K is passed).



Here'in lies the answer....the theory is quite sound

[Cobalt]

It is done so often in the industry it even has a name....

Just taken it out the back for a "Haircut"

ODO is no way to judge a what a car has been subjected to.
I have seen cars with genuine 50,000k's that are absolutely wrecked and ones with 200,000 that you would buy over the 50,000 k car.

Cheers

Chad

[Ausmartin1]

With a Tech 2 - can't you interigate the engine ECU / PCM and obtain the true km?
I heard the PCM also stores km driven ans is more accurate than the played with ODO cluster

[vxssgurl]

If this was my pride and joy, I would be significantly pissed off.

I would not be happy until I walked out of that dealer with cash for the difference in the price for the value of an 88K ODO and a 100K ODO... no matter how much squeezing went into the original purchase price...

And if you can prove that you would not have even bothered looking at the car for it's "original" kms, then the dealer has to realise that you could be seeking remedy through Fair Trading... let alone worrying about TT...

You are right, it IS the principle of the thing... so what that they have "given" you a warranty for an additional 6000 kms? What else is that car full of to disguise it's true wear and tear... and those precious 6000 kms of warranty are useless for things that actually wear out - like all your electrical stuff for instance... used car warranties are pretty specific in their exclusions - and electrical stuff is one of them.

In my opinion, letting this drop is not just doing you a dis-service. You have a chance to straighten out a dodgy dealership and stop their trade in haircuts.

[BlackCalaisVVE]

IF you where also to sell it in the future it could also been seen by the future owner unless you can reset trip b then your going to get yourself in to trouble
I would go back to the dealer

[Vulture]

Take it up with the relevant authorities. Might save the next poor bastard.

[WhiteLion]

I checked mine last night. Trip B was 2km more than the odometer reading (48,500km).
Maybe one of the tuning gurus can fill us in on whether these numbers are generated by the same routine in the ECM?

Steve

[Carrots]

Had a similar problem in a new VE Calais purchased late last year. I happened to notice the Tripmeters (both A & B) were reading a few kilometres higher than the odometer, by the time it went in for the initial 3500km service it had gone from being about 3kms out to being about 5kms out. Apparently there are 2 sensors in the driveline that read the speed etc. One sensor's readings are recorded to the odometer, whilst the other is designed to be 2kmh out and records to the tripmeters and also shows your speed. Its what they apparently call a safety feature, so in theory at 100kmh on the dash you'd be doing 98kmh on a GPS. Should test it one day if i remember to put the sat nav into that particular car.

Apparently not many people notice this as people obviously reset the trip computers a fair bit usually. But it seems seeing how there is trip A and B now people may not reset them both - and thus it gets noticed.

Whether this rings true to the VYs, i don't know. And whether it'd add upto 6000kms over 93-99000kms, who knows!

[SSZ Ute]

Perhaps I have another explanation...

I am in the process of doing a fuel calibration on my VZ Adventra. This is achieved by recording how much fuel according to the bowser you have put in over a minimum of 5 tanks. Once you have this figure you go into the menu at startup and there is a fuel calibration menu (and a distance calibration menu). In this window it has 100% and the total fuel used according to the car (you don't reset either trip between refuels). Then it is a simple matter of using the up/down keys to change the % - there is a plus or minus 10% or something allowed.

There is a note in the owners manual about this not chaging the fuel guage and the distance calibration not changing the odometer, the calibration just makes some of the other trip computer functions more accurate.

Basically, if you went into the distance calibration menu and changed this value to 110% for example then your trip would read 10% more than your odometer.

Just food for thought and maybe it won't be as bad as you think? I mean a 6000k difference over 100000k is only 6%?

[Gilly74]

Thanks Guys,

Alot of interesting points of view.

Ive decided on the following course of action:
1. Contact the good doctor and ask him what kms were on the car when he delivered it to the dealer and the date he delivered it.
2. If its different to what on the ODO then ask if he would be willing to provide a stat dec to that effect.
3. Approach the dealer with the stat dec and and trip B info. and suggest that he provides compensation for the disception and start at $5,000 as the figure for compensation.
4. Failing a positive response from the dealer, send him a letter to the same effect and provide him two weeks to resolve the matter before I refer the matter to the Department of Fair Trading and the RTA.

5. Failing all else I be naming the offending supplier on this and other forums and offer the story for a quality beat up on current affair or today tonight.

let the negotations begin!

[ssgirl2]

Go hard son ;) Just remember, you catch more flies with honey.

SS :)

[SPECTRE]

Will be interesting to see the end result... keep us posted Gilly...

Neil

[Crispy]

take it bak and say wtf guys u "DUPED" me heheheheh complain loudly they will do something they always do if u make a big deal about it

[mmciau]

What would your State Office of Consumer Affairs say about MVD licences?

Mike