Hi Folks,

As mentioned before, dad died earlier this year, we were using his car, but just not using it enough so going down the motorway/WBAC route to get mum a nice lump of cash.

Motorway just refused the sale (after weeks of chasing Mercedes for the digital service records, getting all dad’s dents and scuffs fixed etc.), as there is a MOT mileage discrepancy. Service record shows a consistent mileage build up, but the MOT in 2017 clearly had mileage captured incorrectly. He didn’t suddenly drive to Africa & back 4x in that year.

Can’t get anyone on the DVSA on the phone – go figure – and really pretty frustrated for mum about this.

Any one got any ideas as to:
a) likelihood of solving the issue if I get through to DVSA? How long this might take?
b) other avenues for sale given that it now looks like a dog overripe lemon?

FFS!

I would suspect you’ve got a much better chance of talking to someone at Motorway/WBAC to accept that’s obviously a mistake than getting the record changed. A person would probably understand, this sounds like a case of computer says NO!

It’s doable, but it doesn’t sound easy.

https://www.gov.uk/getting-an-mot/correcting-mot-certificate-mistakes

Frankly with the way the market is at the moment, I’d sell it privately, or perhaps to a physical dealer who can use their discretion / common sense.

Perhaps they’ll accept the service history as proof, but it doesn’t seem to match up with their requirements.

Go and see a local car dealer. Most will buy cars for cash.

My daughters car jumps from 12,932 in 2013 to 227,778 in 2014 then back to 30,095 in 2015. 2014 was clearly a typo when entering.

WBAC presumably just price their cars on age * mileage * spec +/- a quick look at the paint condition.

If the mileage is in doubt, then the car could be worth a lot less to them, and they’re probably aware that digital ‘corrections’ happen often. They’re probably just trying to avoid headaches.

Sounds sucky, but if they don’t want it, there’s not much you can do. A private buyer might be more inclined to believe you.

Sister in law had similar I suspect the mileage in KM was recorded as opposed to imperial, as was hers. She sold hers privately in the end with no issue. The garage who messed up wrote a letter to acknowledge the error but I suspect that’s not an option to you. Do you have a service history showing the mileage which would show the true picture?

I’ll bet they accidentally swapped it into kms, as 43k is about 27k miles, which is roughly what the real mileage would have been.

^just as kilo said

Dad insisted, in his elderly years and due to a false sense of loyalty, on using a dodgy local backstreet garage for MOTs, so we’ll get nothing from them, and I fear for my life if I complain/raise the issue.

Yes, we have the full Mercedes digital service record that shows a very normal mileage progression in line with what the graph should look like without the blip.

F’ing pain in the…

Is it an error with the MOT history online, or through a search that WBAC have done? I was selling a car recently and HPI check threw up a mileage discrepancy like yours. I was advised to contact the National Mileage Register and one call to them and some photos of my service history/MOT paperwork later they very quickly corrected a transposing error from when the car had been serviced by a dealer.

Frankly with the way the market is at the moment, I’d sell it privately, or perhaps to a physical dealer who can use their discretion / common sense.

+1

For all the “WBAC are offering more than I paid for it 3 years ago”, it’s still going to be eventually sold for 20% more than that. If it’s anything remotely average then just stick it on facebook marketplace for the WBAC price. You’ll probably have enough interest to be able to just ignore the obvious timewasters.

Fair dos, thanks folks, I’ve calmed down a bit now. Agree that private selling or direct to local dealer should be OK.

Appreciate the input. Have also reached out to DVSA, one never knows!

“I’ve been having a look at your daily mileage reports for December. According to this you did sixty-three miles on Wednesday the fourth, sixty-three miles on Thursday the fifth, and on Friday the sixth, one million, twelve thousand and twenty-two miles. Where did you go that day?”

“That should say sixty-three miles,” I said. “Sorry, must have put it down wrong.”

[Unhelpful, sorry, but it’s been a long day. From The Scheme For Full Employment by Magnus Mills.]

Yes, we have the full Mercedes digital service record that shows a very normal mileage progression in line with what the graph should look like without the blip.

I’d have thought that a proper full service history from a recognised dealership would carry more weight than some mot certificates from Honest Bert’s little lockup down some dodgy backstreet.

I’d have thought that a proper full service history from a recognised dealership would carry more weight than some mot certificates from Honest Bert’s little lockup down some dodgy backstreet.

It certainly should, but WBAC are pretty ‘efficient’ if there’s a discrepancy they’re not interested because there’s a thousand cars coming behind it. They’re far from the only place.

I’d imagine a well maintained, low mileage Mercedes owned by a older guy before he passed would go pride of place in a lot of small indie dealers.

I doubt its worth it.

Just sell it privately for more wonga.

I once had a golf that was incorrectly recorded as CAT-D when i went to trade in. That was a nightmare to sort out, even though HPI had it down as a completely different car.

join mercedes owners fora and facebook groups, it will shift in no time for what WBAC offer

Practically you can’t get it changed after the event. You have a month where the testing station can change but after that you need other proof from the same date to get a correction and it’s not guaranteed then.

Well, things all had a happy ending (no, not that kind…), so thought I would update.

Motorway were the original focus as they were offering the highest price, but had a wobble about the MOT mileage discrepancy.

In the meantime, we went down the WBAC route as they had a branch close to Mum in Greenock. They offered damn near what Motorway did, no qualms about the mileage history as they indeed were happy with the Merc digital service record. Deal was done very quickly and we were all happy, mum with a nice wedge of cash which helps to soften the impact of how many bills she has to deal with after dad’s death (and the wind up of the business).

For both mum and I, this was the easiest and fastest route, and it worked out well.

Today, I get an email from the DVSA saying that they cannot change the mileage historically, but that they can change that measure to KM as that was what was recorded in error. Huh, go figure.

Alls well that ends well, thanks all.

If it’s a Mercedes – sell it to Molgrips – he’s after some parts I understand…😉