MOT certificate says miles not km

[ktsok]

Hi there,
I'm picking up Bongo Bill later today. The dealer said the odometer was in km, so that's about 85k miles. But the MOT certificates going back years give the reading in miles. Is it more likely the dealer has made a mistake/giving me wrong info or that the MOT certificate just automatically puts the odometer as miles?
Thanks guys,
KT

[g8dhe]

The most recent forms just give the reading alone, without a unit. The reading may be Kms or a mixture of the two if conversion chip has been added. The reason for the reading is normally to ensure that it increments upwards overtime and that someone hasn't been changing / altering it! Unless you have some documentation on import that gives the reading then its difficult to be sure what the number is!

[ktsok]

It's in miles on the MOT certificates from when it first entered the country, but says km on the odometer. I'm paying for it today, would be nice to be sure it's the mileage the dealer claims it is!

[ktsok]

P.s. I was looking at the gov.uk MOT checker, perhaps that automatically translates odometer readings to miles? Or perhaps I am being optimistic...

[Simon Jones]

P.s. I was looking at the gov.uk MOT checker, perhaps that automatically translates odometer readings to miles? Or perhaps I am being optimistic...

You are . Unfortunately you're at the mercy of the MOT tester & what ever he decides to type into the system but by default it will be assumed to be miles. As previously mentioned, they seemed to have dropped miles/Km off the more recent tests so as long as the number is correct you should be fine. Twice in the last few years I have to request the paperwork is re-issued due to putting miles instead of Km & in another instance, they entered the reading wrong which showed it has having done more miles than it had actually done.

[cmm303]

My MOT odo readings have right numbers but wrong units throughout. I didn't know it could be changed so never had it corrected.

[ktsok]

Thanks for that. So I need to have a chat with the dealer and double check the odometer units, or its done 57,000 miles more than the dealer claims! Since the entire MOT history is recorded in miles, I imagine it would be difficult to convince them of a unit change - I think there is limited service history so no paperwork from when it was imported. What a bummer, casting a bit of a cloud over my excitement!

[rita]

The MOTT details are recorded as Miles , if you want them in KM you have to inform the Tester before the test ..

[jimmo62]

SImplest thing would be to go for a short drive - say a few miles - and check the distance on something like google maps or with a GPS. Then you can be sure if it's currently reading km or miles. If it's still reading km it's safe to assume the reading is in km throughout. If it's now reading miles then worst case assume it was switched to miles on import, find out the km when imported and work it out from there

[ktsok]

Will do, will let you know how it pans out. In love with my Billie already so...

[Scooby2004]

Hi there,
I'm picking up Bongo Bill later today. The dealer said the odometer was in km, so that's about 85k miles. But the MOT certificates going back years give the reading in miles. Is it more likely the dealer has made a mistake/giving me wrong info or that the MOT certificate just automatically puts the odometer as miles?
Thanks guys,
KT

Did you get any joy? We too are picking our Bongo up next week and the DVLA mot details says miles...but this does not tally with forecourt advert....I did convert it into miles and looks about right...88,000+ miles..but like you 140, 404 K would be scary if that was 140, 404 miles....

Cheers

[weebrian]

There seems to be no rhyme nor reason. My first three say km and then change to miles and the latest two weeks ago says miles on the fail certificate and kms on the retest. It seems to be whatever button the examiner presses when he enters the data. I'd say that if it's a newly imported car, it'll probably be km on the first certificate, otherwise a quick drive with the satnav will tell you whether the speedo has been chipped. Most just have a new mph dial fitted with the odometer still reading kms.