Genuine mileage??? - The Unofficial BMW M5 Messageboard (m5board.com)

bandit · 18th March 2002, 22:01

Howdy there.

These cars are full of surprises, and they have always been the good sort.

Today I found out that the owner who imported the M5 to Iceland was the son of the owner of BMW in Iceland www.bmw.is

I knew the names of the owners but I had no idea who the original importer was. This is of course very good news for me as this is good for the record since the car was maintained without cost and not driven much and has genuine mileage of 129.000 kilometers which is about 80.000 miles. I will be posting pictures soon, its black, with black full leather interiour and shadow line including black kidneys, the rims are 17" BBS 8" in the front and 9" in the rear.

However this wasn't the reason I posted. The salesman in BMW new cars told me that most of the M5's which where imported had been tampered with in order to show lower than actual mileage. I was a bit baffled because I thought this was not easy to do. He veryfied the mileage on my car and the work carried out on it (he had also driven four years ago when it was imported).

The question is, is it common for inscrupilous people to tamper with the mileage of these cars to your knowledge? And how easy is it?

Greetings
Bandit

Alan Archer · 18th March 2002, 23:46

As ever for the "right " people with the "right" tools,

ie the laptop and the software it is very straightfoward
(easy)

If i look in a large UK car publication i'll find adverts
for "mileage corrections" as they word it !

The answer to your question is YES....

there are people out there doing it !

Regards,

Alan Archer

JetBoy · 19th March 2002, 00:50

It is piece of cake. You remove instrument cluster and then the old coding plug that is behind. You put the new coding plug on it and the mileage is ta-ta-ta-taaa: 000000 miles.

I think the old coding plug has a little sticker with the VIN nunber on it. The new one doesn't. Things nobody should play with.

JetBoy · 19th March 2002, 00:52

Ah, I know this because because I have seen doing this in OFFICIAL BMW DEALERSHIPS. Isn't incredible ?

BigMac · 19th March 2002, 01:47

Though only on a BMW 525, I heard to-day the story of an owner who having decided to sell his car, opened it up to turn the milometer back, only to find a little note inside that said: "Oh no, not again!"

Of course, he turned it back anyway, but left the note...

jimmy01 · 21st March 2002, 01:41

I know of someone that can do it in a matter of secs. just pop the bonnet and bobs your uncle, always thought the main ECU kept genuine miles safely stored???

bandit · 21st March 2002, 11:42

This is fraud and nothing else.... must be really disappointing if you find this out. Especially after you've sold it and the next owner find out!

Greetings
Bandit

M5 powered · 25th March 2002, 02:39

Does the computer keep a genuine record of the miles on the M5. Would be useful to know?? If so how do you get it read?

Regards

m5 powered

jimmy01 · 25th March 2002, 03:08

That was what a bmw tech said to me when we was speaking about mileage on my e36, if true then I would have thought the M5 to be the same, I am sure someone will correct me if I am wrong!!