Clock mileage, daft question!

[Steve95]

I am new to imports, and i have what is probably an obvious question, but i need to put my mind at rest!
If the Speedo is showing mph, then will the odometer will be reading in miles? When it was converted, does the odometer from that point onwards display miles? Do without any documentation i should assume that from the first mot the mileage will be in miles?
Hope this makes sense! I have seen a few local cars and the garages are just converting the displayed odometer reading into miles even though the Speedo is reading in mph? No paperwork either to give a clue as to when it was converted.
Thanks guys!

 

[Johngreen537]

Basically depends who imported it unfortunately.

If it's been converted properly you should get a bitma certificate for verification. The Speedo is just a plug in box on the speed sensor to adapt the signal. All odometer readings after the box is installed click up in miles.

Unfortunately there's no concrete way of knowing without a bitma certificate. That said tho, buy these on condition and not mileage. Service history is nice, but most JDM service history is either lost or near impossible to work out.

Best bet is to post the advert here and someone usually knows the car, owner or can offer advice based on advert.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

 

[beastgtir]

Hard to say with digital clocks.
If clocks read 100k. Take it as 100k miles as they may have read 140k in kms but when converted and delimited they probably put the 140k to 100k miles already (or whatever it works out to be just using those figures as example)..

 

[ep3itrdc5]

dont understand why everyone is so hung up on mileage of these cars, they are so easy to change, clock, correct, or whatever you want to call it, i bet only a very small percentage are true...

 

[Chrismartin]

dont understand why everyone is so hung up on mileage of these cars, they are so easy to change, clock, correct, or whatever you want to call it, i bet only a very small percentage are true...

What's wrong with the guy wanting to know abit more about what's hed likely getting himself into? He didnt say for him mileage was the be all and end all but what's the problem with him wanting to clarify in his head what the usual procedure is????

 

[Chrismartin]

I am new to imports, and i have what is probably an obvious question, but i need to put my mind at rest!
If the Speedo is showing mph, then will the odometer will be reading in miles? When it was converted, does the odometer from that point onwards display miles? Do without any documentation i should assume that from the first mot the mileage will be in miles?
Hope this makes sense! I have seen a few local cars and the garages are just converting the displayed odometer reading into miles even though the Speedo is reading in mph? No paperwork either to give a clue as to when it was converted.
Thanks guys!

Essentially as John says. Every importer is different.

Torque GT as standard (although you can request otherwise) get the BITMA certificate (which just confirms that the last known mileage in Japan is consistent with the mileage when it arrives in the UK), and they then fit the speedo converter to start the cars speedometer reading in miles from then on out. What they also do is convert the existing odo reading into the correct miles figure (the odo will always show the KMs until the algorithm is overwritten).

Other importers sometimes leave the cars odometer in KMs and also the speedo to increase in increments of KMs (ie dont fit a converter, however from my limited knowledge is rare). This means the whole car mileage will still be in KMs. Similar to what an Irish car may say as they count in KMs too.

The third option is some import companies fit the speedo converter so the car starts registering in miles but leave the original odometer reading on the clocks (ie. Odometer will read 102,000km rather than say 62,000 miles).

On paper it's easy to work out whichever scenario. Its when you get sellers trying to pull the wool over people's eyes (or just dont have the understanding) and they claim the car is something it's not. Often they just take the clocks reading and convert that to miles. Or the cars been odometer reading has bene converted after sometime in the UK and paperwork isn't retained for record.

This is often wrong as 9 times out of 10 a speedo converter has been fitted indicating that at least some of the numbers on the odometer have been miles.

As above also, generally do buy on condition but it doesn't hurt to have a look for a car like Torque GT's for example where the mileage is fairly straight forward.

But also above you'll always run the risk of clocking regardless of what you buy.

Hopefully that helps abit. Lastly, try to buy a forum owners car 😁

 

[CW05TEG]

Not much help on the OP but this this the reason mine is still running in kms. I have even bought a converter to effectively delimit it but have not fitted it due to the ambiguity it will put on the odometer. I'm considering buying an HKS Defencer which was recommended to me on here, as this apparently removes the limiter without affecting the clocks.

 

[ian.herm01]

You need to ask for the original auctions sheet, this will give you the mileage in kms at the point of sale. The auction sheet has the chassis number on so it will check out. Things are definitely more honest in Japan. If someone cant provide the auction sheet something is wrong.

If you test drive car easy to see if it is running kms or miles, just ask the right questions and all should be clear.

 

[GIBLETS]

You need to ask for the original auctions sheet, this will give you the mileage in kms at the point of sale. The auction sheet has the chassis number on so it will check out. Things are definitely more honest in Japan. If someone cant provide the auction sheet something is wrong.

If you test drive car easy to see if it is running kms or miles, just ask the right questions and all should be clear.

This on every occasion, even if it has a bimta cert, absolutely no reason whatsoever to detach a Japanese Import car from its auction sheet unless either markings/grade are being hidden for a reason or mileage is being covered up.

Even if it is missing I believe the auction sheet can still be obtained, I had BHP Imports (formerly 200bhp cars) run an independent report on my car a year after I bought it from another private importer before i sank a chunk of money into it, the report came with the exact auction sheet I have embedded into it along with photos of my car going through the auction and lots of other useful information, so it is possible to dig history up for a small price.

 

[ian.herm01]

Absolutely......Andy and Barry are great honest people at BHP Imports. If you can wait you will find exactly what you are looking for with no hidden issues, they actually have a guy in Japan who goes to the auction to validate the auction sheet and check the car out. There is a section in teh Japanese auctions where you can trace the history via the chassis number.

There are a lot of DC5s out there which have a hidden history and not what they say they are.

I have all the Japanese paperwork with my car, including the service book and Auction sheet and other info proving it is what is says on the tin. Actually 27k miles on the tin....