Ask an expert

Hello

I would appreciate your help with my problem with a car dealer ( BMW agent )

I bought from them a second hand BMW car in 30/3/2010
I was told it had had 3 owners When I asked to see the ownership papers I was told it would be posted to me
When I received the Certificate of Registration I noted there had been 5 owners including me

What I did not like was the Odometer reading dropping in 2004 from 23384 KM to 7540 KM
I purchased a Certificate of Particulars to try and get a background to the previous owners
I found that this BMW dealer had also had the car in 2004 till 17/5/2004 on 23384 KM when it was sold to someone who when they sold on 1/6/2004 the mileage had dropped to 7540KM
I wrote an email to the car salesman who sold me the car for answers but he did not reply
So I wrote to the son of the founder of the Company who was the Manager of the used car section for answers
He phoned and told me the discrepancy in the drop in Kilometers was probably due to when the car was in for a WOF and it was noted incorrectly
I find that hard to believe and so would the person who was buying the car of me when I go to sell it
I can only go back to the same dealer I bought it from when I go to sell it but what price would they give me?
How can I get to the answer of reduced mileage ? It is illegal to wind mileage back so there has to be another reason
What can I do now? The dealer is not helpful
Your assistance would be appreciated
I have paperwork should you need to look at it
Many thanks
Vlad

The first part of your question relating to the number of owners requires some clarification. Obviously, when the vehicle was advertised for sale, you didn't own it so you can't count yourself, therefore it was 4 not 5 owners. If the 4th was the dealer, then it was a 3 owner car so the dealer is correct.
Regarding the mileage, obviously, it is illegal to wind back an odometer and pass it off as genuine. However, it would be almost unheard of for a new car franchised dealer to be involved in something like this and they would be in very serious trouble if found guilty of such practise.
In our experience, 99% of odometer discrepencies are as a result of an error by a WOF inspector when entering the information on the land data system. Usually, it's not hard to tell as you will see a pattern of mileage steadily increasing at each WOF, then falling dramatically at one WOF, only to rise sharply back up, in keeping with the previous pattern at the next WOF.
If you want to email your registration number to us at carstories@aa.co.nz we should be able to give you an opinion.