Ford Fiesta - MOT History

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Mon 19 Sep 2016 00:24
Ford Fiesta - MOT History - GazKaz

Hi everyone!

I recently helped the mother in law buy a tidy 2008/2009 Ford Fiesta as her runabout. Bought the car in good faith from a private trader who operates from his own home.

Car is in great overall condition and we're really pleased with it. I downloaded the MOT app a few days ago and typed in the reg to bring up the MOT history and this is where it gets a bit confusing. 1st MOT was done July 2012 with 30,470 miles, 2nd MOT was done early March 2013 with 12,437 recorded mileage! How is this possible? It's considerably less than the previous MOT! Have a been done? 3rd MOT was done Dec 2013 with 38,967 recorded. Latter MOTs follow a more normal increase in mileage.

Hoping I haven't been done over here. Anyone had any ideas.

Cheers in advance.

Gary.

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Mon 19 Sep 2016 00:41
Ford Fiesta - MOT History - Galaxy

Possible explanations are:

1. The mileage has been "adjusted"

2. The speedometer has been changed

3. The MOT tester has incorrectly entered the mileage

Don't you have the car's service history which would verify the correct mileage?

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Mon 19 Sep 2016 00:47
Ford Fiesta - MOT History - RobJP

Why on earth do people not look up his sort of thing BEFORE buying a car ?

As Galaxy says, there are a few possibilities.

As to whether you have been 'done over' or not, it depends : if the garage sold the car as 'mileage warranted' or other such, then yes, you'd have a claim against them. But if the mileage was just down as 'xx,xxx recorded miles', then you don't have any grounds.

Bear in mind that, as you've proved, the 'problem' with the mileage discrepancy was easy to find out. So it wasn't concealed from you.

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Mon 19 Sep 2016 00:47
Ford Fiesta - MOT History - Falkirk Bairn

12,437was maybe a typo and should have been 32,437

or maybe it was a new speedo head or maybe clocked.

Did you het any old receipts for repairs etc - they may cast some light!

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Mon 19 Sep 2016 01:03
Ford Fiesta - MOT History - Metropolis.

The way it rises between the first and second, before normalising again on the third looks to me like an MOT centre error tbh.

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Mon 19 Sep 2016 01:05
Ford Fiesta - MOT History - SLO76
Wouldn't worry about it, it's almost certainly a typo. Highly unlikely that it's done 26,500 miles between March and Dec 2013 and the rest of the mileages stack up. Dealer wouldn't even have noticed it as it's not something he'd check. Plus it wouldn't add much value to this type of car so what would be the point on fiddling the mileage by less than 20k? Wee car is fine...
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Mon 19 Sep 2016 11:09
Ford Fiesta - MOT History - FoxyJukebox

Yes-as others have pointed out--it is wise to check these things before buying. The MOT history site is one of the best ways of alerting you and checking out a whole load of trouble before you buy.

Not only should it show the mileage oddities, but it will also display the advisories( if any)-which is a very useful guide to roadworthy condition.

As for odd dates-that would interest me more than the mileage confusion,since the vehicle was put through MOTs after only 9 months on 2 separate occasions. Was it sold "on", change of ownership? maybe special deal of a major service which included free mot ? all that is probably trackable via the site, the MOT certificate, service slips and log book?

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Fri 23 Sep 2016 10:38
Ford Fiesta - MOT History - sellmycar

There three possibilities here Gary, one is a simple typo, two is the dealer clocked the car three is the car has had a new speedo. the second in my opinion is unlikely.

Take the car to trading standards or a local garage and ask them to put it on a diagnostics machine, they will be able to everything that has happened to the car in its life.

Edited by Avant on 24/09/2016 at 18:30

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Fri 23 Sep 2016 12:34
Ford Fiesta - MOT History - RaineMan

When I was looking for a sub-£3k car I checked the MOT history on every car I viewed. A couple had irregularities like yours but I put them down on typos – one in particular had a service history where the annual miles remained much the same but the mileage written up in service history (next to dealer stamp) was different to the MOT history and looked as he had typed 86 when he meant 68’. My main reason was to check the reasons for any failure. To me repeat presenting a car with failure items such as worn tyres, blown bulbs, etc. is the sign of a person who does not look after their car. If they can’t be bothered to replace worn tyres would they check things like oil level and tyre pressures. I started my motoring career on sub-£100 cars (seventies) and got into the habit of checking levels/pressures/lights on a weekly basis as a minimum. I joined the RAC when I brought my first car and had one breakdown (points) in the first year and the next over 25 years later. Sadly with modern technology (mainly sensors) call outs have become rather more common.

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