Buyer Beware - 2004 Nissan Stagea

[dodgyimports]

Images and documents have been re-hosted to protect their origin - happy to confirm the origin of the originals via PM from community members of good standing.

http://www.tradingpost.com.au/Automotive/Used-Cars/AdNumber=D1028602536543

Only 64,077 km's!!!

Here are the same photos - taken 'in the light-tube timemachine' by an exporter in Tokyo, Japan:

Full collection of Tokyo photo's per the trading-post ad plus a few extra that didn't make it:

Confirming the chassis # matches should be pretty simple if someone is to visit/call the dealer.

Edited July 8, 2013 by dodgyimports

[Daleo]

This is a disappointing but sadly, not uncommon occurrence.

While ever there's an opportunity to make a quick buck; there will always be people ready and willing to fleece the uninformed.

Good on you for doing the detective work; hopefully people will arm themselves with this information, and only choose to deal with a reputable importer or dealer, that has nothing to hide.

This just highlights the need to support guys like Iron Chef; who clearly have scruples and a conscience, and supply only the best cars; regardless of what type of vehicle customers are looking for.

[Jetwreck]

Comes with a flux capacitor I see.

[numleg]

1st rule of imports. It is clocked or has had a dash swap.

Unless you are have access to Japanese de-reg paper, auction reports, import paper etc. the car will be clocked. Even then the original owner may have clocked the car to sell it.

[chef_stagea]

How do they get away with it?

Is it done in aus? I just dont get how it works

What will happen if i change the dash on my car? Not that i will but where do u get picked up?

[dodgyimports]

Most likely it happens when the car is in "no-mans land" -

the Australian dealer pays the exporter for the car and requests the new mileage, the japanese exporter gets a de-registration/export certificate for the car, still with original mileage. after this official document has been issued they get the odometer changed, just prior to the vehicle being shipped. so when the car arrives in Australia it magically has a different number!

[PN-Mad]

Or a person in Japan can do it, because they put their car on consignment. So it's just an individual selling a car, through a business face.

Check the r34 GTR thread in general auto discussion.

Within aust, it's perfectly acceptable to change instrument clusters. You have to notify the state authority of the Kms when you changed it, and the Kms on the new cluster as I understand it. And have a valid reason, which is, it broke.

How many people would check prior to purchase? I know of a work mate that knocked 150k off his Getz prior to selling. Not that I condone this behaviour.

[PN-Mad]

Oh, and how do they get away with it?

Some dealers are well known through the legal system. They find themselves in front of the law 3 times a month. But the number of cars they sell far exceeds the cost of ones people make claims on.

[scotty nm35]

My car only has 50,000k's on the clock thanks to the Nismo cluster...

[Daleo]

I was at a workshop recently, and noticed that they had 3 Stagea instrument clusters on a bench;

What could be the possible reason for having that many clusters? I've never seen, or heard of one failing.

Perhaps they were changing the globes? Yes, I'm sure that's it.

[scotty nm35]

I have 3 clusters... Perhaps I am trying to sell them to the wrong people...

[PN-Mad]

Anyone remember that link posted to a YAJ ad, that was like $100 to put whatever kms on the clock you wanted?

[Commsman]

My solution even cheaper. I used a label machine to print out the desired km's & stuck it on the front plastic.

It doesn't change, but gives me the fuzzies when I see my car's only done 26K !

[533 RYC]

From memory, not sure if it's changed recently, dealers, by law, are allowed to alter km readings, without notifying prospective buyers, don't have the time at the moment to find it, but I wil.....

[chef_stagea]

I was bored and emailed the seller lol. Played dumb

But did openly admit that he didnt think they were origional ks b4 i showed him the above lol

[dodgyimports]

You showed him what??? No doubt he'll find his way to this post - putting us all in the spotlight, very clever.

I was bored and emailed the seller lol. Played dumb

But did openly admit that he didnt think they were origional ks b4 i showed him the above lol

Sounds like he played dumb a lot better than you did. He got some handy information on who he should keep an eye on.

[Angus Smart]

it happens here, its not exactly rocket science to do it.

it would happen when the car lands and is taken away to the dealer/importer shop.

dash removed and thus taken to a instrument calibration place who asks how many km's

[Trex]

Just a but of theory:

K's are noted when you receive a pink slip and sent to the rta each year. Take out the k counter cog and wind in a small amount if k's for that year when receiving a new pink slip. <--- that is untraceable. Yes it's f**king rediculous but there is nothing the rta can do about it and I know it would happen to a lot of people.

My brother bought an '02 wrx for a good price with 130k on the clock. He had a phone call from the police regarding the real k's that were on the car. It had a speculated over 250k's. the owner of the dealership was sent to gaol for defrauding a lot of his customers. God knows what else he had done.

If something is too good to be true, it probably is.

Buying any car is a gamble regardless of the year made and how good of condition it is in. So when you find something good, hold onto it because you never know what troubles you're paying for.

My girlfriend bought an '06 Holden with 120k on it, everything seemed fine and had all the paperwork. When I tried to do a plug change I noticed the head was threaded and it was burning 3L of oil every 1000k's. yes I'm furious, no she won't give me the address of the seller. I called the mechanic who had done the services and he played dumb and blamed the owner but he wouldn't give me an address or phone number. He went from knowing the previous owners quite well, to not knowing who they are and has never seen them again.

[chef_stagea]

But a new car and run it to the floor... A new commy will last a good 20 years ha... Few grand a year. Happy days!

Support iron chef is what i think