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Factory test miles?

Discussion in 'Prius c Main Forum' started by Ubu the Tech Guru, Aug 16, 2013.

  1. Ubu the Tech Guru

    Ubu the Tech Guru Junior Member

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    Hi guys. I recently noticed I could enter information after putting gas in my brand new Prius C2. I entered the price per gallon and also my old cars mpg. It allowed me to add additional information to the display like 5 minute usage, past records, and best (or something like that). To my surpise the previous records were done in April of 2013. I have a picture i'd attach but I can't while posting this because I am at work on lunch and I don't have access to my picasa web albums. Anyway, 1 of the tank records is for 141+ miles and 50 some mpg but as I said it was done in April of 2013.

    The kicker is that I just purchased the car this past monday and the Odometer had around 6 miles on it only. Are the mpg records taken from April from factory testing? Does the dealership reset the odometer on every car they receive? The dealership didn't lie to me have they? Is it possible this car isn't new at all and there was a lot of miles erased from the odometer?
     
  2. Fluxuated

    Fluxuated Member

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    The cars come from the factory with a very small amount on the Odometer. This is because the vehicles are factory tested, and the engines need to be run. They are also driven out of the plant to the factories parking lot, and again to transport. 30 Miles is high for a new car pickup. Sounds to me like they've test drove it a bit.

    As for resetting the Odometer. Not likely, as it's a big deal, and requires the removal of the instrument cluster.
     
  3. ztanos

    ztanos All-around Geek!

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    When I picked up my '01 Saturn it had 4 miles on it. I test drove it 6 miles before agreeing to the purchase. Pepper Bomb had 347 miles. :cautious:
     
  4. Ubu the Tech Guru

    Ubu the Tech Guru Junior Member

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    maybe i didn't explian it correctly. The cars display has previous trip records dating back to april 2013, 1 containing 141 miles. I got the car with around 6 miles on the odometer. Obviously the odometer had to be reset since there is a record dating back to april of 2013 which was for 141 miles which the cars odometer did NOT have on it when I got it.
     
  5. nklb

    nklb Member

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    Are you sure you aren't confusing the trip odometers, with the actual odometer of the vehicle?

    There are temporary trip odometers that can be easily reset. The main odometer for the vehicle, however, would not be trivial to reset, and is EXTREMELY unlikely that it would have been tampered with.
     
  6. Ubu the Tech Guru

    Ubu the Tech Guru Junior Member

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    I am aware there is a Trip A, a Trip B and an Odometer. I don't think anyone is reading my thread in it's entirety and understanding what I am saying so I guess when I post the picture it will be worth a thousand words. lol

    Heck, maybe I am not reading the 3 old tank records correctly? I know for certain 1 states 141 miles and it occurred back in April of 2013. I recevied the car in August and it only had 6miles on the Odometer so how could there be a trip record for 141 miles which occured in April?
     
  7. ztanos

    ztanos All-around Geek!

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    As long as you are reading the gauges correctly, there shouldn't be anything like what you are describing.
     
  8. Really? Huh... all the cars my folks bought new had like 50-80 miles on them, so I figure that is typical.

    Mine had 150 something because I had it delivered from out of state.
     
  9. winnertakesteve

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    Mine had 360km on it at pickup from being driven in from a dealership 200 km away. Trivial as it might be, it's always bugged me a bit, being my first car, bought new, but some random guy got to take it on its first long-ish road trip, and likely 100km of test drives prior to that :(

    Anyway, I know your situation is different (and a bit sketchy), but I totally sympathize with a little bit of new car mileage angst! Best of luck getting it sorted!
     
  10. Fluxuated

    Fluxuated Member

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    Absolutely. My last 3 Cars (2005 Corolla 2011 Prius Liftback and 2013 Price C) all had less than 20KM. 2 of them came from other dealerships, and they were transported on a flatbed. I wouldn't accept delivery of a car that had more than 50KM on it. Period. And I told that to the salesperson when I bought my Prius.

    You want to sell it as new, then I expect it to be delivered as new.
     
  11. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    o/p, this seems very odd, but i don't have a 'c', and i don't think the pip has a tank record screen. i would go back to the dealer and ask. i doubt they could reset the odometer, but i don't see how they could develop that record without actually driving it. maybe send your email to toyota and see what they have to say. all the best!(y)
     
  12. Whirldy

    Whirldy Junior Member

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    Exactly! Hmm.
     
  13. mahout

    mahout Active Member

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    Cars are driven from the exit of the production line (where a battery of readings are taken from the car to insure it runs OK) to the parking lot which often contains hundreds of cars; then to the loading docks to the boat or transporter, the unloading docks, to the parking lot where often several hundred cars are placed and then to the car carrier and off the carrier at the dealer. Its not unusual for any car to arrive at a dealer with even 20 miles on the odometer. If the car was driven on test rides with prospective buyers or to check dealer prep there can be more miles. If the car was obained from another daler on trading cars and driven, not hauled, there can be more, at much as a couple hundred miles. As your sales contract indicates, your warranty mileage starts at the delivered mileage, not zero. Make sure your sales contract states that mileage. Its unlikely the dealer mis-stated but there could be a unintended mistake.
    No, dealers do not legally change odometer readings and almost none would even think of restting the odometer. Trip miieage, sure. But its a very unlikely possibility your car's odometer was reset especially since its not neccessary.
    have a good time with your prius.
     
  14. mahout

    mahout Active Member

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    Perhaps thats it. Tell us which display you are getting this from and where on the display. I can easily see that the car was manufactured in April, and you can verify that on the label in the door jamb. And if the car was obtained in a dealer trade, that is when one dealer trades cars with another dealer to get desired models or to deliver a model one dealer hass sold based on another dealer inventory, there could be a 141 mile trip but I don't see how they could disguise that. If thats true, and they did disquise it there is a evere penalty from the feds and the state. Are ou sure your initial readsing was on trip A or B and not odometer? Check your sales agreement; the delivered odometer reading should be there.
     
  15. The Electric Me

    The Electric Me Go Speed Go!

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    To the OP. Everyone telling you the story of what mileage they had on their vehicle when they got theirs doesn't really help you. Nor does exclaiming what your new vehicle mileage philosophy and approach is with dealerships.
    I wouldn't worry. I'm "guessing" your vehicle is indeed new, and does indeed reflect the mileage the odometer reads. The scenario you are worried about would constitute fraud on the behalf of whomever reset the odometer. Something dealerships and Toyota would avoid like the plague.

    If you found some entered trip records and data that reflects a different reality, I'd suspect erroneous information being entered to test the computer system, before I would suspect your vehicle actually had 141+ miles put on it, and then someone tried to erase that information.

    And listen, even if I'm wrong? Well, when you first get a new car, any hint of discovery that something might be different or wrong can be devastating. But after you put your own 5000, 10,000 and 15,000 miles on it, it will become real easy to not worry about 140+ miles, that showed up as pre-delivery miles on the trip computer. I'm assuming your purchase contract reflected the mileage at the time of purchase. So from everyones perspective the vehicle had 6 miles on it.

    I'd take a picture of the display in question, in case you ever had any other problems or other "discoveries" ever arised. I suppose you could further go to the trouble of driving to the dealership and getting the display looked at and the fact that it existed documented. BUT...I think I'd reset everything and simply NOT worry about it.

    Legally, it cannot be either Toyota's policy to misrepresent mileage on new vehicles, nor is it the policy of dealerships.

    I'm not exactly sure HOW you somehow ended up with trip records reflective of more mileage than exists on your vehicle, and that pre-date the actual delivery of your vehicle, but I'd be much more suspicious that your computer system might of been run through some test, and records accidentally not erased, as opposed to believing 140+ miles were put on your vehicle and then Toyota or the dealership tried to cover this up.
     
    minkus, Erinmarie424 and xpcman like this.
  16. Rob.au

    Rob.au Active Member

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    I think posting the pics of the offending displays here is a much better idea. More than likely, we'll collectively figure it out.
     
  17. Phil 29 Palms CA

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    When I purchased my 2012 Prius C 2 from Toyota of the Desert in Palm Desert CA. I informed then I did not want a car from their stock inventory on the dealer lot. Instead, I was willing to wait 6 weeks and get a new car right of the ship from Japan. This was my way of not getting a driven demo used by others test driving a Prius on the lot. It took 6 weeks but I got a car with 6 miles on the odometer and that all important new car smell! I am very happy with my moonglow that I call ROADRUNNER. I live in the desert..
     
  18. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    have you checked the past records for any data?
     
  19. Clearwater Blue PIP

    Clearwater Blue PIP Junior Member

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    I had this happen on my brand new PIP. Miles were inexplicably recorded on the "Monthly Fuel Consumption Record" for a month proir to delivery. I realized that the date/time setting was incorrect on the MFD and that had caused MY newly accumulated miles to record incorrectly for the wrong month. I'm not familiar with the C's dispaly, but you may want to check on the date/time setting. It all made sense once I corrected that.
     
  20. mahout

    mahout Active Member

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    Verrrry interesting. Could you have more detail on just where that data is found. I don't disagree, its educating.