Ask an expert
I notice a lot of imported vehicles being sold by car dealers for the first time in NZ, state that the Km's have been verified by the AA.
What is involved in doing this?
Gary
From the "Ask Jack" archives - 18 March 2011
The fresh imports you see on used car yards which display the AA Certified label have all undergone a very thorough and at times invasive inspection to help determine their odometer accuracy. These checks are carried out in Japan prior to the vehicles being shipped to NZ.
What the inspectors look for initially are signs of the odometer cluster security seal (located behind the dash board) being tampered with or removed completely or, any evidence that may suggest the electronic circuit board holding the odo information has been breached. If this is the case the odometer assembly is removed for closer inspection.
More and more vehicles are now fitted with digital rather than traditional analogue odometers which means any tampering is carried out via the circuit board and chip holding the odometer information.
Each vehicles specific details including the current odometer reading are also cross referenced via national databases in Japan as an additional check prior to issuing the AA odometer passed sticker and Certificate of Inspection.
There is never a total guarantee that every vehicle inspected is totally clean however, it is a very thorough and detailed process which can in most cases, very quickly help identify a vehicle with a tampered odometer.
Buyers need to be aware that vehicles which have been in NZ for some time and still carry the AA odometer label should be checked to ensure no tampering has taken place during the cars life in NZ.
One easy way to do this is to purchase a vehicle history report which will track the vehicles odometer history since first registration in NZ. Any discrepancies should be investigated to satisfy potential buyers of either a genuine mistake (at WoF inspection possibly) or a deliberate attempt at altering the odometer reading has been made.