What is considered a reasonable delivery mileage? I ask as a car I bought some time ago had 78 miles on the clock. Should new cars be delivered on a transporter only only as some I believe get driven to a dealership as mine was. I personally think anything over 10 miles on the clock after that it becomes a used car.


Your thoughts???? Ex 2010 Freelander2 GS-e Diesel manual Silver owner

I spoke to my salesman about this as I have ordered a new car . He says my car is going to have between 15 & 20 miles on it. The dealership like to "shake" down a car before it is handed over .

78 does seem a little excessive for a new car.

Sounds like it had been used for a few test drives for prospective customers before being handed over to you.

Last new car I bought had 12 miles on the clock which I considered to be acceptable. Previous one to that had 37 miles on it, which I was a bit peeved about!!

All a bit weird since the supplying dealer has all the kit needed to reset the mileage to whatever they like. Given that there will be no service history for a brand new vehicle, it would be impossible to trace.......

If you have a car for 50,000 miles 78 miles is something like 0.15% of its total

Is it really worth worrying about? End of the day, garages often have to drive in between garage, workshop, wash bay, road test, bodyshop before they put the silk sheet on it and unveil to you as if you didn't know what you have bought

Or hand it back and see if you can get a used price  Former Mod/Member, with the most post & Chicken George Arch nemesis

I picked up my first FL2 with 15 miles on the clock, and the 2015 with 5 miles... of course, it was ordered for me, so nobody else go to anything with it other than the pre-delivery inspection!

Mine came with 7 miles and drove it to 68miles and the DPF went and had to get it recovered on a low loader. I would say its nicely tested!!  

Given the massive discrepancy in what "delivery mileage" actually means (some are 10-15 miles, others seem to be upwards of 50) the fact that dealers have to take the car for a test drive, wash, clean, fit accessories etc., doesn't seem to stack up - if this were the reason, the amount of miles should be much similar from one car to the next.

In any event, even if this IS the reason, I still don't understand, given the dealer has all the necessary equipment, why they don't reset the mileage to zero (or some other number - maybe "10") irrespective of the amount of miles they actually did in the car whilst preparing it/taking delivery.

If I were a salesman, and I was delivering a new car to a customer with 78 miles on it as "delivery mileage", I would be very embarrassed.

Isn't it illegal to tamper with the odometer for any reason?

Nope. Modifying the mileage on a car is perfectly legal.

Only becomes a problem if you then try to sell the car with an incorrect mileage without declaring it to the purchaser.

Which, I admit probably explains why they don't do it.

However, given that it would be utterly untraceable, I don't know why they don't. In fact, thinking about it, I bet some dealers DO do it to cover up "excessive" delivery mileage.....

Freelanders are fitted with a 'black box type' data recorder, I would be highly surprised if that could be reset by anyone, therefore any mileage would be traceable.

'New' cars should never really be over 10 miles, anything more suggests something has gone on, either a road test for a prospective client or a road test following a fault found pre delivery. I would certainly be asking questions.

Back in the '80s many BMW's were moved around the UK, crawl under the car, pull the electrical connection on the rear diff and voila, no mileage recorded, not as easy these days.

I seem to remember reading somewhere the mileage can only be reset upto 16 miles after it reaches this it is locked in.

If the "16 mile rule" is true, then that suggests that dealers do indeed have the capability to reset the mileage so as to conceal excessive delivery mileage. Otherwise, why have that capability?

I also don't believe that LR, along with any other marque, don't have the ability to modify mileage on their own vehicle if they so choose, and do it in such a way so as to be undetectable.

Would it be difficult? Possibly. Would it involve the changing of parts? Possibly. Is it worth it? Arguable. Is it impossible? No chance.

I don't know about the 16 mile rule, seems an odd figure and in reality the car could only have done 16 miles more than displayed, not worth re setting if it can only be done once, unless I am reading it wrong.

LR will be able to do what they want with the software and make it undetectable but the dealers are not Land Rover.

Certainly not impossible but no one said it was.

I think we are getting away from the OP, who asked if 78 miles was excessive, in my view yes, it's around 70 miles more than most 'brand new' ones.

Agreed that the "16 mile rule" sounds odd, and not very likely.

I was simply making the point that IF the dealer really wanted to, I am pretty sure they could tweak the mileage of one of their cars to whatever they choose, with no trace.

Further, that given this capability exists, I'd be gobsmacked if the odd dealer (Land Rover or otherwise) haven't had the "need" to do this once in a while.

However, I do also agree that given that cars are indeed seemingly sometimes delivered with mileages up around 80, then it must be more difficult than first imagined (perhaps needing manufacturer support) - otherwise the OP's car would be a prime candidate.

I also agree we are wandering off topic, and that 78 miles is too high for delivery miles - I would want an explanation from the dealer.

Had my car a month and it had 7 miles on the clock when I picked it up and I wondered why so many miles when it was delivered on a wagon but 78 miles definitely be asking some questians at the dealers Freelander Se Tech Orkney grey td4 manual 2014