XK/R Odometer Reprogramming
 

Long post.

I'm interested in car #2 as a new toy, likely a recent Jag XK or XKR. A couple of years in gets a huge amount of depreciation off, and often low mileage since they're often a wealthy person's second/third car.

Always wanted one, but very cautious about the accuracy of any car that reads a low mileage. This forum is great for learning the car.

So: how much can you believe a Jag odometer nowadays?

There's a bunch of tools out that purport to allow rapid odometer reprogramming on a Jag, with video of doing it in less than a minute:


Also many vids of rapid reprogramming of Jags, BMW and so forth, without triggering tampering indicators.

So, here's the questions:

1. Do these things actually work? Has anyone actually seen one being used?

2. If they do, is there any secondary way to check mileage on the car (other than the usual physical wear and tear items that we always use)? Any electronic tools that can check the odometer Eprom for a rewrite history, for example?

2a. Several postings on trusted Bimmer boards (I'm a BMW owner by background) say that mileage is stored in several locations, such as keys, the DME and so on, and can be read to confirm. True on Jags? Also, some say that newer cars require desoldering of certain eeproms and recoding in an external device -- so it's a lot more difficult to do than just plugging in to the maintenance port.

3. Or, is a reasonable carfax accumulation history the only way to "confirm" the mileage is accurate?

Anyone here have history with recent XK/R's (say, after 2007) that can share their knowledge?

Thanks--

I think the risk of running into a car with a severely tampered odometer is relatively small. Usually there are other indications of wear and tear (miles) on the car other than just the odometer reading!

In the early 70s, well before digital odometers, I was a public defender assigned to defend a man charged with resetting odometers. He pled guilty to a negotiated plea that did not require him to name his customers. He told me confidentially that his customer base was most of the used car dealers in the area; and that virtually all used cars sold through dealers (excluding sales from original owners) had had their odometers altered. He was amused at the public's belief that cars wore out at 100K miles. In his opinion most of these cars actually had well over 200K miles before wearing out. I have been out of criminal law for many years now, but have not heard of an odometer tampering case/conviction since well before 1980. Nevertheless, these digital odometers are vulnerable.
I assume you are looking for a low mileage Jaguar. They abound as many Jaguars are seen as "toys" and not driven much. Do confirm low mileage with a Carfax report. Then check tires closely. A low mileage Jaguar of less than 20K miles moderate driving should still have original tires. Check the build date on the tires.

Thanks, Rey and amcdonal86.

The tip on the tires is a great one. On BMW's, the stock tires are very sticky and thus have a low wear rating -- you can get about 30K of the Conti Touring they use. (Of course, it's worth a note that a tire that hits the wear bars just before the end of a typical 36K lease results in the owner picking up the tab for a new set just as he returns the car.)

That said, what's the typical stock rubber on an XK?

Another item I check is the brake pads, but as you note the date on the tires gives you a great reference to work from.

Again, thanks--

I would in all cases take a hard look at the drivers seat. On high mileage cars you will see significant wear to surfaces/seating.

It would seem, based on the car computers ability to store information, that if someone altered the mileage it would leave a detectable "footprint"?

My '07 XK was built on 08/06 as per the label on the driver's door. It now has 16.5K miles on OEM Dunlop SP Sport tries. I think it will take another 4K miles to reach the wear bars. The car is driven mostly by my wife, so figure it is driven "moderately."
Note, these OEM tires are 35 aspect ratio, an uncommon ratio, so brand selection in this ratio is somewhat limited and tends to be more expensive (but not always). Hence individual owners may be more likely to replace the OEM tires with more common aspect ratio tires, 40 or even 45.

I recently been made aware that a Lamborghini that I previously owned was just sold at a popular auction. I looked up the listing and, besides a bunch of false claims, the posted odometer mileage was about half of what I sold the car with many years ago.

Albert

Any service records will track a general history on the car. Oil change receipts, dealer service receipts. You could also call a few dealers in the vicinity of the car you are looking at to see if it has been in for service. They typically will go by the "last 6" digits of the VIN. If you find a servicing agent, they may be persuaded to give you the last known mileage. A CarFax will also show any recorded mileages when the vehicle was serviced, but they can miss a lot if the car was serviced by an indy or by the owner. Also, has the car been emission tested by your state? The emissions receipts over the course of time should show progressively more miles. This info might be available from your MVD.

Great thoughts, thanks--

Will Jaguar USA provide a vehicle maintenance history when requested, since its all online under the VIN?

Not my dealer. They claim that they don't see maintenance records of work done by other dealerships--only their own.

Just after I bought my car from my local Jag Dealer they let me see the service records on their computer as much as I wanted, but wouldn't print it out for me. Apparently they used to do that, but had to stop as someone abused it somehow... I wish I'd have thought to ask for a printout of the service history as a pre-condition of the sale.