Low mileage trucks...really?

Hey all,

I HATE when a person is advertising their early 1990s trucks that has less than 30k miles on it Really????? Since the odometers on most pre-1995 trucks (I don't know when the switch was made) are only up to 99,999kms, one can't claim the truck has only 30,000kms on it. Let's face it, a 1991 is a 16 year old truck and I seriously doubt it would have such low kms. I tell people that while the odometer may be 30,000kms, I think its at least 130,000kms. That would still be only less than 8200kms/year. That could be possible, but no way just 30,000kms. That would be less than 1900kms (1100miles) a year.

Let's be real about it people!!!

 

Thanks, Steven.

Your honest approach speaks volumes.

gbrad

 

Steven,

Very good point. I believe the same thing, a vehicle that is over 15 years old is going to have over 30,000km on it. Check for service stickers in the door or on the engine, sometimes these give clues about the actual mileage based on dates and recorded km.

We had a similar discussion awile back. Check out http://www.minitrucktalk.com/showthread.php?t=14 for other opinions.

 

While I do agree with Steve that mileage is misrepresented, there are a lot of actual low mileage vehicles coming from Japan. It's not hard to tell if a minitruck has travelled that extra 100,000 kms. Steering wheel and shifter get polished, the corners of the rubber pads on the pedals get worn down as well as other things. I know it's possible to cover these things up but it's not worthwhile to do to a minitruck. I also think that when used as utility vehicle around a farm or other jobsite it would take a long time to accumulate significant mileage. While the minitruck that got grandpa Miyagi to the pacinko parlour down the road every evening might accumulate mileage without apparent wear, you will be able to see the extra wear and tear on a working truck. Average distances driven anually in Japan are already 1/4 the average in North America. Why are so few of these trucks with suspect mileage not caught by auction inspectors? This misrepresentation actually falls more squarely on the Japanese auctions in my opinion. They could require anyone bringing a vehicle to auction supply the paperwork (shaken inspections) to verify mileage.

I'm currently driving a 1989 Isuzu Elf dumptruck that had 13,000kms when we got it! That is 500 km per year! It is legit as evidenced by the impossibly immaculate interior and it has a full 7 digit odometer. I'll assess my trucks as they come in as to the actual mileage and disclose accordingly.

 

I recently bought a truck showing low 30's. From all my years as a gearhead, this one seems to be actual. However, if it isn't, I'm tickled to own this 130something truck. And if it is, all the 100,000km units I've seen must really be a million! The truck was better in person than the photos I was sent pre-sale. Since bringing it home I've also found 2 sticker things showing work done before I got it and they were in the 20's. However, I suppose the speedo could've been tampered with a few months or years before I got it so 20's could still be 120's. Bottom line is I'll likely never know and I love this thing regardless.

Also, the guy I bought from was laughing at all those who claim to have large selections of mint trucks in stock. He said his goal is to buy one a month/12 year that are VERY nice. He said he looks at thousands and finds it hard to find one a month that he thinks are VERY nice.

As always, though, I agree. Buyer beware.

BLES

 

Hey all,

I do agree with Frostback, some trucks do come in with low kms. One way we can kinda tell is by looking at the accelerator pedel. Most people don't think about replacing a pedel to hide the true kms (or maybe I'm just naive). If its really worn, that should tell you if the 20,000kms on the odometer is telling the truth (well, it is, but its really 120,000kms).

There are companies here in Japan who check odometers. This check is required for shipping to New Zealand (Japan supplies New Zealand with nearly 100% of their used cars). With the analog odometers the check is simple (according to a rugby buddy of mine who worked for one of these companies in Nagoya). But, its only going to tell if its been tampered with. So, if anyone is really worried, the odometer could be checked but we could only tell if its been rolled back.

So, here's a good question: What other signs could consumers/exporters be aware of to tell if the odometer is show true kms, or its been been over the 100k mark at least once?

 

original miles

i just got a load of trucks in. i have a 91 model shows 13000km. it is buy far the best looking truck i have ever gotten. body, paint,interior, everything on this truck is perfect. i looked at this truck for 30 min. and cuold not find anything that showed any more kms than indicated. tell tell signs will let you know if miles are incorrect, pads on foot pedals, paint under floor mats, rust under and around frame, air cleaner, screw head with marks, ignition key hole,
paint on knobs wore off, ect ect ect. not saying some of them dont get popped. just saying if you have a good buyer he knows what to look for. my buyer has been in the haevy equip. export buss. for many years. i have seen some of his 10,15, year old dump trucks, bull dozers, ect. that have never seen a paint gun that are almost new looking. when i call my man in japan to tell him to put a load of trucks together sometimes it takes him a month to buy them. i am picky and he is picky for me. bottom line low mileage trucks are out there. he cant wake up and say ill go to the auction today and buy 7 trucks with less than 20000kms on them. but if he goes 2 times a week for 4 weeks his odds increase a bunch. just my thought.

 

I just wanted to make a point about people posting low kms trucks for sale. You can find trucks with low kms, however, let's face it, they are work trucks and most of them are painted. They can come from auction that way too. I'm just staying that people have to be real about this sort of thing.

Really, the only way to know for sure is to track its service history or through its re-registrations that are done every 2 years (after the initial 3-year period). We've seen that even though the odometer may say 30,000kms, 5 years ago it said 90,000kms.

We view auctions 6 days a week. The low ones are there, and they are generally refurbished. But, even with 113,000kms, they are still tough trucks!

 

94' Hijet... 4800 original miles as of yesturday.



Registered and insured for street use in Califorina. Very rare indeed.

 

My Hijet, listed on eBay as 1995 but later proven to be 1993, is supposed to have about 50,000 miles. I thought this figure was more believable than 150,000 miles, but I could be wrong. My 1991 Ranger, which I bought new in that year, has about 90,000 miles on it. I have usually had two vehicles at any given time since 1991 and have used the Ranger primarily around town, almost no long trips.

The Hijet seems to be old, a bit worn, but not worn out. I have not noticed any fluid leaks and it starts and runs nicely. Once the vehicle got to the U.S., it is probable that the miles being put on it slowed way down since it was used for hunting and mudding in GA, so far as I know, and not run on the road as a standard commuter.

I am putting almost no miles on the Hijet, which is kept in the country and used sparingly around my property. So the figure on the odometer is getting increasingly hard to believe, although I will not monkey with it.

Just my opinion.

Sam

 

Excellent find. I assume the condition, mechanical and otherwise, is first class.

Sam

 

Of course... everything works. Even smells new. Only flaw is that it's missing the cig lighter assy. and ash tray.
I should really put a nice stereo into it... and after that probably an alarm.

 

Most other things would be difficult to check. Clutch, engine dry belts... things that would look warn out on the inside of the cab are usually the best indicators.

 

If that tucks looks as good as the photos, belive in it. I bought 2 Daihatsus, one from Fort Mason National Park, San Fran, Ca. and one from Yosimite National park . Both were 93 models, left hand drive, in good condition. One truck had 10500 miles the other one had 8000 miles. The one from San Fran. had a little surface rust and the other was as good looking as the one above. Both were 2 wheel drive, 25 mph limited,, and they had the yellow light aswell.
Compliments of the U.S. Gov.

 

By the way if you need parts for the US marketed Daihatsu, left hand drive, call Jones Equipment in Ft. Worth,Tx.(800)578-7278. They still supply parts for these usa marketed trucks because these trucks are still in use by our military bases and national park services.

 

Mine was originally from Yosemite... a 94'. It has 4860 miles as of today... what is something like this worth on these forums? I'm planning on keeping it for a while, but it's nice to know the street value if I decide to sell it.

 

Another thing is tire wear, ALL tires have date codes in the serial numbers. If you learn how to read these then the 30k truck with wore out tires made last year don't look so good.

 

Strange, but all the sambars I've seen have 6 digit speedometers, (even 92 models), so they go well over 100,000 km in tracking, so they don't flip over at 99,999.
So most can be trusted. Plus, Japan isn't quite the same as comparing a vehicle that is 15 yrs old from america as far as the average miles driven per year.

 

Here is something else to look for. Odometer numbers that don't line up properly, i.e. go up and down in relation to each other.http://www.minitruckoutlet.com/images/SUZ681LK/SUZ681LK.htm
This may be an indication of roll back.
Randy

 

The truck in the previous post shows 90k kms on it. If we (the dealer for the truck) were going to play games with odometers, why only go back to 90? This truck is one of the higher mileage units we've had, it looks like a 90k truck, and it's priced like a 90k truck. It's also located on my hunting property in upstate NY, I prefer to use the less expensive units for my own pursuits.

It's a valid observation, and a good point about the digits being misaligned. I regret being the one representing the truck now that you point it out. I can only say that we didn't f*** with the odometer, and frankly, I don't care if anyone ever buys that particular truck. It serves us well.

I welcome any advice or critique I can get on this forum, but don't question our integrity, not knowing the history of this truck prior to it's arrival in the US, I'd say it's fair to question the truck.

Thanks
Jim
www.minitruckoutlet.com

 

I apologize if it looked like I was questioning your integrity. That was not my goal. I was only trying commenting about something that buyers should pay attention to.

Randy

 

No that's cool. My integrity could be in question as a by product of your example. Like I said, good point and folks should pay attention to stuff like that. I never noticed it, the truck seems right for 90k.

Jim

www.minitruckoutlet.com

 

i can't say that just because the numbers aren't in perfect alignment that someone has "tinkered" with the odometer. i have seen this a lot in high milage vehicles... especially the less sophisticated ones. lets face it, these trucks are economical transportation not a swiss time piece. so they don't put the best speedo's in them... big deal. here's a picture of my speedo and it's numbers have come out of alignment the the higher the mileage.



it's an "action" shot... lol.. i was haulin' *** down the freeway... not bad for not having a turbo or supercharger ... and no, i wasn't going downhill

 

LGC, Way to wind that baby up.
To bad your more than a day's drive away or I'd come cruze with you.

 

Our 1996 "Sambar" has a 5 diget speedo.
Tmikewww
(tom)

By the way, atta boy Jim!!

 

As does my '91 as well

 

The reason that 90K truck is mis-aligned is because it just turned 90K 674 miles ago. It takes awhile for it to aligne back up after the 89 digits roll over to make 90. ALL CARS do this, both import and domestic. Another example of this is LGC's odo. His is not aligned because it is getting ready to roll to 99K.

Jeff

 

almost all older odometers I see are misaligned. They're old and cheap.

A better thing to look at than the odometer is the condition of the vehicle. Even 99,999KM isn't really all that many, it's about 62,500 miles.

I have a 1992 Nissan Skyline that came from japan with 160,000KM and it was in far better shape than any 1992 car I've ever seen. Zero rust anywhere, minimal interior wear, had been painted once but it looked good and was well done, etc.

Age is just as big of a factor as mileage. Tires and etc oxidize, coastal vehicles (and there's a lot of coast in japan) get rusted by the air, etc.

I've seen a ton of super low milage vehicles come from japan as well, my nissan is about the highest milage one I've ever seen. Most are 60-90,000KM and some are much much lower.