Dear Nairalanders, correct me if am wrong but why do people here consistently ask about mileage when we are all fully aware that it can be change(tuned) to suit any buyers mind.I believe there is no point decieving ourselves most cars brought from cotonou has their mileage tampered with already.If there is a way to know cars that their mileage has been tampered with please anyone with that knowledge can share it with us but if there isnt i strongly believe there is no point with the whole Mileage issue.Thanks

Thanks Siena for sharing your own view and experience.

@poster if you want to know the milleage has been change,just ask for the VIN and check it online its very easy to check

Can u tamper with Digital odometers?, i fell its d manual counters dat can be rolled bac

anything is possible under the sun!!,
digital odometers can be tampered with,
but i disagree wit sienna, mileage is an important factor in a cars life, but it shudnt be the most important, it shud just b used as a double chk,
most cars are rated to last upto 300k miles, thats the toyota standard b4 u talk of changing the engine, but i hv heard of cars with less than 8k miles hving engine troubles, it all depends on how the engine was broken in/maintainance

Siena, bottomline is that re-programming digital odometer ain't easy.

I totally disagree that mileage is not important. It is not everything but it is very, very important. If not, why do people re-set odometer?

Secondly, let's agree that it is not mandatory to service your car in a garage that is connected to the odometer recording system, why would you want to buy a car that's being serviced by quacks who are not connected to such system? Do you know how much it costs to do just basic service of a car like toyota corolla with a registered dealer in the US.? About $30!! So, is it then wise to to leave genuine dealership and service your car with quacks to save some money? I don't think so.

Basically, a seller that is not willing to provide VIN number should be viewed  with suspicion. Mileage and service history of a vehicle can be tracked via the VIN. By the way, in the US, it is a criminal offence for a car dealer to advertize a car for sale without VIN number. That tells you how important the VIN number is.

ummm. i strogly beleif what seun has said about Digital odometre. I have xperienced one

mileage should not be over-emphasised, but still is a very important criterion in buying a used vehicle.

Manufacturers recommend major services such as changing of timing belts, struts, wheel bearings and the like after specific mileages have been reached. Now If I was interested in buying a car and using it for a year and its mileage was high enough that it might require major items of service in the next few months, then it might be a bad buy for me.

In addition, mileage cannot just be taken at face value - 100,000miles in Japan means a car is completely finished, since they don't do much highway driving, but in the US, 100k is still pretty good, given the larger proportion of highway driving. The 'nature' of the miles is also something to consider if you can get much info on that - if the greater proportion of the car mileage was on the highway, then less wear and tear is likely to have been exerted on the car, compared to if all that mileage was racked up by city driving.

look at all features of a vehicle before making a decision.