Here's an update of where I am with the VW dealership.
I have documented the evidence that I have collated that points towards some form of clocking taking place with the mileage, as follows:
- Carista live data - engine mileage ~32k miles vs Transmission mileage ~64k miles
- OBDEleven (purchased to see if that showed similar figures) - same figures seen for Mileage and Transmission as Carista
- OBDEleven - total infotainment run time of 3337 hours (would only be an average of 10mph driving when that system has been on, if the instrument odometer of 32k-ish was accurate)
- Independent local garage who focus on VW (I believe a former VW Master Technician) - also connected to an OBD and saw same figues on the Transmission ECU)
- Other wear and tear that I'm aware of which may indicate higher mileage - very worn steering wheel which they repaired/refurbished (to average standard) prior to my purchase), partially worn DSG gear knob, noticed that they replaced a seat belt in pre-sale inspection, heavily stone-chipped front bumper which they sorted/resprayed prior to my purchase.
- During phone call, advised that it had been driven 11k miles in first 10 months that previous owner had it. He had it a total of 53 months, which at that rate, would give rough mileage of 59k. They try to explain this due to Covid/lockdown, but even assuming it wasn't used for 6 months, that still seems a big discrepancy.
- Finally, after some further driving of the van, I have rechecked the engine and transmission mileage figures in Carista - all had gone up by the same amount after driving 180km, give or take a km on one figure, so that rules out the possibility that the transmission mileage was just going up more quikcly than the others.
In trying to work out how this could have happened, I also stumbled across a website selling a mileage blocker for "vehicle testing". Basically, a device that connects behind the instrument panel and allows the driver to turn of the odometer from recording, or only record 25% or 50% of the actual mileage. The website selling this even indicates that it would highlight a mileage discrepancy if the vehicle was connected to an ODB, unless the user also purchases a similar device to connect to the Transmission. Stunned that it could be this easy, but gives a plausible explanation as to how it could have happened.
The sales manager got back to me today (by phone) and has advised that he has spoken with his Master Technician. He said that the Master Technician said that he has used both Carista and OBDEleven and that they have a tendency to give out inaccurate data/figures and that they can't read into this. I feel that they are basically trying to downplay the clear discrepancy in the data as well as all of the other indicators that the van may have been clocked or fitted with a mileage blocker at some point.
I live 300 miles away from the dealership, so it's not easy to return it to them to let them check, but their company have a dealership/service centre around 50 miles away from me, where they will try and arrange for me to take it to be checked. I also asked if I could try and get my local VW Van Service Centre to examine it and they are open to that, though I believe that they only have one Van engineer, so it may not be possible to arrange this very quickly.
Tomorrow is day 30 (from day of purchase), but he has told me that I will be OK as I have raised this within the first 30 days of ownership. They also appear to have escalated it within their company as I received an email indicating that it is a "complaint". The Sales Manager does say he is being "open minded", though does seem sceptical.
Thoughts? Am I wrong in thinking that it is far more likely than not that my van has either been clocked or had a mileage blocker used?
