The current shortage of new cars, coupled with steadily rising prices, have led many Malaysians to turn to used vehicles as a cheaper, more readily available alternative. But the used market has its own pitfalls, as one buyer recently found out.
Melvin, a member of the Prius Club Malaysia Facebook group, made a post saying he was looking to purchase a facelifted third-generation Toyota Prius and scoured several online classifieds. Going above and beyond the typical used car buyer, he asked the sellers for the cars’ plate numbers then cross-referenced them with UMW Toyota Motor to verify the claimed mileage based on their last service.
The eight units that Melvin checked were 2012 and 2013 units and all claimed to have mileage under the 120,000 mark, with the lowest being around 68,000 km. That figure, as it turned out, was make believe – the car was noted to have travelled 197,066 km by the time it underwent its 200,000 km service in November.
Two other Prii had their mileage tampered with, the most egregious example being a 2013 unit with a listed mileage of around 93,000 km that had actually logged a whopping 316,056 km. It isn’t surprising for a nine-year-old car to log high six-digit mileage but that’s more than 35,000 km a year! That vehicle was probably well taken care of, at least – it was last serviced at an authorised Toyota dealer in March.
Only one car on the list had mileage that was anywhere close to what was claimed – a 2013 unit with around 69,000 km listed mileage and a verified 66,831 km when it was last serviced in 2021. That car, however, wasn’t the desirable Luxury variant, so Melvin decided not to purchase a Prius after all.
Mileage tampering isn’t new, of course – it’s common practice with reconditioned car dealers, and in fact it’s rare for a Japanese-market vehicle to be sold in Malaysia with its actual mileage. But the fact that secondhand car dealers are doing it too (and with an official Toyota product at that) is another sign of unscrupulous parties doing whatever it takes to get a sale in this new normal.
It’s not all doom and gloom, however. One user chimed in to say that he bought one of the tampered cars – a 2012 unit with a claimed 80,000 km on the clock but an actual mileage of 171,877 km. He said he was happy with his purchase, having gone to a hybrid specialist workshop and found that the hybrid battery was estimated to still be at 75% health. That’s not bad going for a ten-year-old car.
The main takeaway is that you always need to be wary of mileage claims on used cars and not assume that tampering only occurs in “recond” vehicles – even those brought in through official channels are susceptible to this issue. If the stated figure is too good to be true, it probably is.
And there really is no shame in buying a high-mileage car. Just because a vehicle has travelled hundreds of thousands of kilometres does not always mean it is in a bad condition, not if it’s been maintained properly and had its wear-and-tear components replaced as necessary. In fact, in most cases – especially if it’s not a highly-prized collectable – it’s better to buy a well-used car than one with a low mileage, as the latter means it has probably sat for extended periods of time. That comes with its own Pandora’s box of problems.
You can also take heart in the fact that Toyota has offered an eight-year, unlimited-mileage warranty for hybrid batteries since 2009. This would’ve lapsed on most (if not all) Prius models sold here, but it does mean that many owners would’ve taken up a replacement and thus have batteries that are four years old at most.
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Car manufacturers should installed a cloud base or blockchain mileage/condition recorder so that buyers could verify the used car condition. That would actually increase the resell value. All these cheating should stop.
Yes, something need to be done but who is liable enough to do it? Only organization that should do it is JPJ and they have other better things to do like selling plate numbers online which generate income for them. No manufacturers will do it as it does not benefit them.
JPJ can’t do it as the cars are proprietary with the brandholders and to acquire such data would need to dig the OBD system and they would not freely give that access to JPJ. Never. The onus for such is the brandholders themselves, not JPJ. In any case buying used is really about buyers beware, if something is too good to be true it usually is, and not having your trusted mechanic to give a thorough check on that car is really asking for it.
In short, don’t buy 2nd-hand hybrid
Wishful thoughts buy hybrid
1st OWNER keep at home?
More components to worry
Battery aging by the days
RON95 so cheap lagi…
Go TURBO laa
They won’t do it.. no benefit to them. Unless Gomen backup ur idea n enforce it compulsory to the manufacturer..
What a good way as an indirect advertisement for myTukar, Carsome and other other used car selling platform.
Alternatively is to buy directly from car owners.
Or like myself, bid and import directly from Japan with the help of local agents, and comes with original inspection document from Japan.
I know some owners got jalan to temper before they sell to used car shop,kena them back, because used car won’t take the trouble to check with dealers.
Used car don’t care the millage unless you have a full-service record with very low mileage! Legally, if you tempered the millage, they can pull you in
, in case the buyer really sues them.. they still escape!
Sometimes direct owner also can cheap… I personally witness my ex-neighbour change his 180K KM 5 years old camry millage to 80k KM. He claimed that all wear and tear has been changed and the car should be no problem to look as 80k km and next major service is 120K km…
WHAT THE… 316k km to 90k km!
When the used car is 10 years old, 10×30,000km annually=300,000km is understood.Unless got physical service record with UMW for 10 years.
Or one buys direct from seller,who is unlikely to tamper with the mileage.
The biggest problem,a nightmare ..the hidden “admin charges” which can start from $800 to $4500.This is daylight robbery,but no Kementerian is tackling this scam.NOw,if u sell ayam at $15/kg,u can be charged,but this “football fee” is treated as not overcharging.
Ever noticed that people who cheat , steal, rob, lie seem to be getting away with it and rolling in cash? What is the root cause? corruption , lack of enforcement or sheer moral bankruptcy? this clocking business is so easy to trace back yet here we are accepting it like everything biasalah. Pathetic
When they want to take your car, saying high mileage lah, no on time service lah, suspensions not good lah, not original paint lah & etc. Once they took it, next week you see the advertisement says low mileage, lady’s owner, owner maintain very well, all original, car king!
Yeaahhh, this is everywhere mostly by 2nd car seller in Malaysia. The gomen need to do something to prevent false advertising.
We need car maintenance policy for car beyond warranty.
Car within warranty is bear by Manufacturer, they have absorbed partial cost, so parts replacement is under thier scrutiny.
Since Malaysia also ha many cars up to 20 years old.
Aged car are needed to be verified to be safe. Japan has Shaken (車検), vehicle inspection program in Japan. Gomen can give FOC for retired person/OKU, etc.
“Officially, the Japanese Shaken inspection system is in place @ Japan to ensure that vehicles on Japanese roads are properly maintained and are safe to be on the road. Another reason is to determine if a vehicle has been illegally modified. Illegally modified vehicles and vehicles deemed unsafe will have a red sticker with the following: fuseikaizousha (不正改造車) (Illegal Vehicle) in yellow and the date the vehicle was declared not fit to be on the street.”
Under this quality Shaken, exported old used car also has good value, bank valuation and loan also approved. Heheee
So, why not Malaysia do this? We need to find way to export more for RM Naik.
Actually we also have a similar program here which is Puspakom inspection whenever there is car transference between parties. Altho it is paid but a necessary to ensure your used car is roadworthy.
60k km pun ada, careful lady owner, and still with “new car smell” :) :) :)
all those used car dealers that tamper with the mileage should be made to compensate the buyer and put to jail for fraud.
I bought a car with low mileage, but found out actually is triple when I when t Toyota Service Centre.
Wanted to go back to dealer but he just passed away soon after sold car to me…….
Karma?
Prolly now burning in hell
This problem will never happen to Proton newer cars because they rarely hit high mileage. Why? How to go high mileage when the cars spend at the service centre waiting for parts most of the time.
not this model all model tipu mileage banyak sudah jual
What this about shortage of 2nd hand cars?. I have a 2017 Honda City hybrid with real milage of 75,000km that 2nd hand dealer offer only RM51k. For my 2011 Grand Livina 1.6 litre have <60,000km real milage the offer is only RM19k.
In USA 2nd hand cars selling jump price up 20% to 30% compared to 2020 price. .
Years ago the 2nd cars on any dealer's lot have large sticker price posted inside every car that can be easily be seen even from 100ft away. I though regulation is that itemsfor sale must have displayed price!. . But nowdays no need to display of car's price.
Yeah its not that bad John, but then hey we could have a great discount would ya agree
u see a snake and u see a used car salesman, u whack the used car salesman first
Frankly I prefer high mileage cars if the foot pedal and driver’s seat isn’t very worn. This means the car is used for long distance and that is a good thing. Engine is more durable. Those with lower mileage that keep stop and go in the city succumbs to very bad damage usually. I bought a pickup with 400k km on the meter and have no problems at all. I see many with 120+k km with so many problems.
Tip top, well maintained, owner switching to bigger car, car king!
Mileage tampering has become a culture for used car dealers. One of my personal experience which the shop themself also laugh at what they has done.. I bought an 5 years old 2013 Peugeot 308THP back in Dec2018. the car is just 2 months after warranty, with millage showed as 75K KM. I check with Peugeot the service record as I am aware that I can get 2 years warranty extension by sending it back for a full-service package (cost around 2.5K). Well… i found out that the actual millage, the service record with Peugeot in Sep 2018, was 88k KM….I request the used car dealer to reset it back to 90k km and asked them.. why you need to spend tampering 13k km millage? is that make any different? He laugh and cannot answer, just told me that all their car carry around 70+K KM … they also don’t notice they only set down by 13K…he told me that since I know millage not an issue.. can they not set it back to 90K? I insist and only told them the reason after signing the agreement. The shop did not know the car can be extended warranty till 7 years… he feel he could sell for another 5K if he know it is under! Well, it is true that Peugeot has a lot of problems…I claimed more than MYR20K worth of warranty in that 2 years! This 308 has been with me for more than 4 years, with no maintenance cost as it has been claimed before end of year 7…hihihih