Hello all,

I'm new to the Mini world, having just purchased a 2005 Mini Cooper S with 81,374 miles...or so I thought. I bought it two hours away from where I live and drove it home, half way I noticed the miles were damn near where they were when I left. After pulling the car up on my phone I realized it was!

However, it will go from 81,371 to 81,377 then right back to 81,371. Stuck in a loop. I automatically assumed it was clocked, but after speaking to the dealer they reassured me it was a sensor or something. I was not very successful in finding this sensor online to confirm, but they are going to send it to me, apparently.

Can anyone confirm this or shed some light? Thanks!

 

I do not know if it is a sensor or not. However, I would be real suspicious now of the actual mileage. You do not know how long it has been like this. It could have been a week, a year. Who knows how long? You can only guess. Give any options some serious thought.
Good luck.

 

Your MINI apparently came with the very rare and quite valuable Increase Your Resale Value Odometer.

 

So they knew the odometer was not rolling correctly, but sold you the car anyways? So the paperwork that you signed shows the odometer may not be correct right? I think they have to disclose that at lease in CA they do.
Also now when you sell the car if they ask you if the odometer reflects actual mileage you will have to sign saying no it does not refelect actual mileage. I would really talk to the dealer that sold it to you. Was it a mom and pop store or a big store?

 

The dealer claims that the paperwork that came with the car when they bought it from Carmax states the same mileage and that wasnt driven but a few time up till I bought it. So they are claiming they had no idea there was an issue with the Odo. The place is a small Euro car lot with a pretty good reputation so I dont know if they knew or not.

Id rather just have it fixed and actually see what the mileage is. If its not off by much, not fault and Ill move on. If it is, then Ill speak to my bank and take legal action as needed. I dont see it being very easy to alter that, and its more of a glitch than anything.

And Im sure they have to disclose that anywhere, altering the odometer reading is illegal no matter how you twist it. Im in TX anyway where everything needs to be justified and can rectified.

 

right if it can be fixed great, but just know that when you sell or trade in the car you legally have to disclose that the odometer is not reflective of the actual mileage on the car. Even if it is fixed and the odometer does start to roll you will NEVER know how long or how many miles it was not working for.

If you were trading that car in or selling it the car will be significantly devalued.

If carmax took the car in trade they HAD to know that the odometer doesnt work. it is something they would have had to find it in a saftey inspection.

 

The carfax says it had the mileage it currently shows on 09/14/2012 so yeah there's def a good bit more on it. Close to 10k more as a guess. Just wish I knew how that's fixed...

 

I dont think it can be. Thats the bad part.. you should really talk to the dealership that sold it to you.

I mean that car could have anywhere from 50 miles more than the odo said up to 30000 you never know.

And keep in mind carfax will point out the mileage difference and will effect trade value

 

That sucks and could void the sale if you wanted to.

 

Ryoak,
This is a serious issue on a few different levels. It does not mean that you can’t like the car. It does not mean that you can't enjoy the car. It does however mean that you were sold something that is not what it was represented to be. Mileage absolutely affects value directly. You paid for a 81,xxx mile cooper. You got a cooper with god knows how many miles.
In the car business, it is a very serious offense.

You have a case, period.

Look very closely at your title and there should be a phrase somewhere that states it is NOT the actual miles on the car. For the whole deal to be legit that should have been represented TO carmax when they acquired it as well as FROM carmax to your dealer when that transaction went down as well as FROM your dealer to you. If it was not, then someone is on the hook for AT LEAST the value that you overpaid.

I know you would like to just fix it and roll on and enjoy but no, odometers on cars are not to be tampered with period.

BTW- the bank would also have a problem with this because they loaned money based on the value of the car and may have leant too much money.

This is at least a serious State offense if not a Federal offense.
At the very least, I would feel like I paid too much and would simply want to be "made whole again". If it turns out to be a 100k mile cooper, fine, I just would have wanted to have only paid for a 100k mile cooper. If it were 150k mile cooper, then I would only have wanted to pay for a 150k mile cooper. Not pay for a 81,xxx mile cooper. Plug the mileage into any car value website like edmunds or NADA and you can see what a given mileage will do to value.

And at the worse side of this, as long as people take this crap from the auto industry, they will continue to screw the public with our pants on.

I'm sure you don’t want the hassle but you have a case my friend.

 

Very well stated, JDPaddle.

 

Thats precisely my issue, over paying. The dealer has been working with me thus far and assured me it will be fixed and credit will be given where due. So at this point Im trusting them. They know its serious so Im sure theyd rather just avoid it.

On top of that, I spoke to a few Euro techs in my area, what little info they gave me without a few I was able to piece together it may be something as simple as a faulty odometer, which would need to be replaced. If its that simple Ill be happy, and still collect whats owed back to me. They dealer knows there more than 81k miles on it since it was last checked with Carfax(almost a year.) Ill keep digging because I want to keep this car, its for my wife. I appreciate the feedback so far!

 

i would seriously look into it. I mean honestly it will come back in the end. As I said legally the odo cannot be tampered with, which would be something you HAVE to disclose to the next owner or next party. when the car is traded in or sold thye ask you if the odometer is correct so someone somewhere wasnt honest. Not saying it was carmax, or the dealership, but maybe the previous customer.

It is a serious issue not something small.

 

Ah, I missed the part where the dealer IS working with you to give credit where credit is due. Glad to hear that.

If memory serves, you can fix or replace an odometer but you are left with the disclosure of " Mileage is unknown" with any subsequent sale.

It did occur to me to mention- you could look in the drivers side door jamb for a sticker that is used when an odometer gets replaced and the mileage IS known. If memory serves, this is done when an Odometer gets replaced and they start it again at zero miles. They used to record the old mileage and post it in the door jamb. Then you would add the two to get the true mileage. Not exactly your situation now because there seems to have been a gap in time but still as an FYI...

And that is old school info. I suppose it is possible that in a case where the mileage is known, they "may" have a way to set the mileage in a new digital odometer but only if the mileage is known. As in it broke, you hit the dealer quickly and they go with the repair. Again- all supposition and going from what "used" to be back in the day.

Anyway, it sounds like you have the situation well in hand. That's great news. Stay on them. I think you have some money coming your way.

 

I am not entirely sure about the 1st gen car, but I am nearly positive the vehicle mileage is stored in the DME (engine) module as well as the KOMBI (cluster computer). When your shop replaces the cluster, the mileage stored in the engine computer will copy over to the replacement cluster (it needs to have a lower mileage if they use a used on).

A BMW/MINI dealer or shop equipped with a GT1 or DIS or ISTA can pull the mileage stored in the different vehicle computers.

I would get this checked ASAP!

On a complete side note: A friend about ten years ago bought a used 2001 Celica at a Toyota dealer with like 7k miles. After a couple of weeks, she noticed the mileage was revolving just like you noticed, it wasn't accumulating mileage! Taking the car to an independent, they determined the car had at least 50k miles with wear on the pedals and shifter.

Sounds like your cluster has suffered a random failure or it has been tampered with. There are methods for doing this on BMW clusters I found floating around the internet. I would be very suspicious of the mileage.

 

I was wondering if the problem with your odometer was rectified? Having same problem with my 2006 mini.

 

Sure haven't. They replaced the odometer with a used one and it's been clocking ever since. I still don't know what the mileage is and the seatbelt light remains on. I've given up....and sued the lot and won haha.

 

Haha, maybe I should go that route too. Waiting for our new odometer cause the first time the part that came was the wrong one now we have to wait another six weeks, grrrr. So if you dont mind me asking, what did you get from sueing the dealership?

 

I was awarded $1500 which is about what I'd pay for a new odometer coded to our VIN. That was almost a year ago and I've yet to see payment. They will likely never pay. But I won!