I was getting a bit worried when I read your email and came to the part about the VIN number not being legible. Any interference with a VIN is not good and should be double checked. Were you able to access the VIN in any other part of the car? There are a number of places to check depending on the make / model but you can always hook up a diagnostic to the ECU and check that.

Make sure you compare it against the VIN number using the update feature on Motorcheck. This will confirm that the VIN you have is the same as the VIN on the national vehicle file.

I’m not sure why it would fail the NCT though. I’ve had a look through the NCT manual and can’t find any section that requires the VIN to be legible on the vehicle. Did they give you any particular reason?

Wondering if you can help me. I bought a car from a delaer in Dublin last week.He told me it had been cosmetically damaged (no chassis damage) in an accident.

I could see the repair job when I looked under the bonnet on the driver’s side valance. When I brought it home to Longford my mechanic/panal beater checked it and was worried because the stamped chasis number couldn’t be fully read because of the repair job. The last few numbers are grinded off. I checked out the car’s details with a full report on motorcheck.ie before I purchased and chassis number and all else checked out fine, albeit a high number of owners. Although it has an NCT test, I checked today and they said it would fail the next one because of that.

They advised if I could get customs or a Garda verification letter it would pass when due. Can you please help as I am very worried and not sure what to do?

It’s likely that this was a genuine mistake on the part of the garage. In our experience a car clocker will reverse the display by tens of thousands of miles in order to maximise their illegitimate profits. Anything under 10,000 is usually an administrative error. It can be quite common for dealers to advertise their cars online and forget to update the mileage readings as time goes by.

As long as you’re happy with the car and all mechanical problems have been addressed I’d consider taking the cash offered and ask for a 12 month warranty as a demonstration of the garage’s faith in the car. Just be sure that all the relevant records for the car are corrected so it doesn’t show up as clocked if you try to sell it again further down the line.

I’ve run a report for you on the registration number and sent it directly to your email address. Hopefully this one will work out okay for you.

Shane.

Was stuck with car, but did manage to get some compensation, which I am still waiting for full payment of 4 years on!!! I was totally fooled, the guy looked honest and produced (albeit fake) a service history book, and I thought I knew what to look out for, my partner was fooled aswell. Being an honest person, I feel its only right to admit the cars history. Never mind, learnt my lesson!!!
I am currently thinking of buying.. FE02 SYU. Any comments on the car’s performance etc; greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time…..

I’m surprised that you didn’t return the car to the dealer and sue for compensation! Car clocking continues to be a series problem in Ireland and the UK. The office of fair trading issued a report recently and indicated that they think it’s could be costing UK buyers as much as 580 Million Pounds a year! Unfortunately it looks like you’re one of the unlucky ones.

If you can’t get any satisfaction from the dealer who sold you the car I would encourage you to be as honest as possible with any potential buyer. Explain that you’re not sure what the correct mileage is on the car and advise them that they purchase it on the basis that it’s mechanically sound and not to make any assumptions from the odometer reading. That way you can’t be held liable for any future problems that the car may have.

Give yourself a pat on the back for being honest your car. Too many people would take a chance and sell it on ‘as is’ which only perpetuates the problem. If you’re being another car in the UK or Ireland drop me a line with the registration number. I’d be happy to give you a couple of free motorcheck reports as a small reward.

Thank in advance.

Phil

No bias here against UK Cars! I agree with you – there is a great deal more data available on the UK registered vehicle than the Irish one, in fact we report on thousands of UK cars every year.

The problem is that car history check’s are not routinely performed in Ireland so a car that may have a colourful history in the UK could escape unnoticed in Ireland. That’s why some unscrupulous sellers are able to get away with selling dodgy UK cars here in Ireland.

Thanks for your comment.