Odometers

I going to be car shopping for a used car.

Scanning the car web sites I see what looks like suspiciously low mileage on two or three year old cars for a city as big as Guadalajara.

Can our friendly used car dealers turn back the digital odometers on todays cars? How could they? (that Pedro is rhetorical).

TIA

SunFan

When it come to computers (which the new odometers are) anything is possible. If they can hack into Homeland Security I'm sure they can hack automobile software.....jaja.

Driving habits in Mexico are totally different than in the States.  In Texas, folks will drive 30 miles to go out to breakfast after Sunday church and 30 miles back home.  That doesn't happen in Mexico.

I buy USA plated cars.  Most all the cars I buy have been here for years and have low mileage.  Expats pick up the same local habits and that is to stay local.

So finding low mileage cars is very realistic.

Can you change your odometer?  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11MtfMqg4ko

There are many things I look at besides mileage to tell how "used" a car is.

Sometimes the odometer may have passed 100,000 miles/km and is on it's second childhood.

SunFan wrote:I going to be car shopping for a used car.

Scanning the car web sites I see what looks like suspiciously low mileage on two or three year old cars for a city as big as Guadalajara.

Can our friendly used car dealers turn back the digital odometers on todays cars? How could they? (that Pedro is rhetorical).

TIA

SunFan

Odometer "read outs" can easily be changed these days with the proper tools (see playboy's post). However, as far as I know, the actual mileage inside the computer can't. For an accurate account of what is on the vehicle, find a mechanic with a OBDII reader!!!

We entered Mexico in our SUV in 2001, with just over 45,000 miles on the odometer. We lived in Chapala until October, 2015 and are now in Tucson with the same SUV.  The odometer now reads 82,160 miles. So, in almost 14 years, we drove just over 37,000 miles, including a trip back to the USA for a visit in 2006, touring in Mexico and monthly sopping in Guadalajara. Our average: A miserly 2600 miles per year, or less than 8 miles per day.
Playaboy is absolutely correct: Driving habits are different in Mexico.

I also think driving habits are different when we retire and get older. I don't imagine retired seniors in the US or Canada drive many miles per year either. Driving to a job everyday is what usually racks up the miles as I'm sure anyone living in Chapala and working in Guadalajara would testify to.

Very, very true; as is the fact that we had a second car in Chapala and also had to park the SUV when we became Residente Permanente. Then, to move north, we had to get a Retorno Seguro to fire it up again for our trip. At sweet 16, it still acts and feels almost as good as new, and we are very glad that we kept it; although we almost sent it north with another expat headed that way before we realized that we were not immortal and needed VA and Medicare.

Odometer rollbacks are common, we advise people to bring the VIN number to a dealer to see the service record as they have the mileage recorded, had one case where a guy bought a used truck off a lot on Lazaro Cardenas with 70,000 km on it but then the Toyota dealer said same truck was in there a year earlier with more than 80,000km

Thanks Spencer.

I'm inclined to be suspicious when I see low mileage. I'll make sure to check for wear signs such as pedals and brakes

and for Bob.......

Remember the car that had been owned by "The Little Old Lady From Pasadena"!

LOL

SunFan

SunFan wrote:Thanks Spencer.

I'm inclined to be suspicious when I see low mileage. I'll make sure to check for wear signs such as pedals and brakes

and for Bob.......

Remember the car that had been owned by "The Little Old Lady From Pasadena"!

LOL

SunFan

You don't always have to be suspicious, SunFan! Before I moved here from Canada last October, I sold my 2007 Hyundai Tiburon, because it was in excellent condition and I knew it would get beat up too easily here. Because I worked as a consultant from my home office, I had extremely low mileage on it. Can you picture a seven and a half year old vehicle with only 32,000 km (approx 20,000 miles) on the odometer? The Hyundai dealership and salespeople would come running to me every time I took it in for service, begging to have the chance to resell it! The person that bought it got the deal of a lifetime!

Playaboy wrote:Driving habits in Mexico are totally different than in the States.  In Texas, folks will drive 30 miles to go out to breakfast after Sunday church and 30 miles back home.  That doesn't happen in Mexico.

.

It certainly does happen in Mexico.