Odometer changed by theieves

Hi
My 2013 Discovery 4 was stolen in Birmingham and recovered by the police 6 days later. It had been 'cloned' to a 2010 model (theives changed VIN etc). They even changed the odometer from 40,000 to 180,000 to match their cloned choice MoT document (which was left in the vehicle when it was recovered. Big giveaway was that my vehicle is black and their chosen one was silver.

Does anyone know how to get the odometer back to my mileage (40,000). Landrover tell me that either the ECU has been swapped for one from the cloned vehicle or 'something else illegal' has been done (really? something illegal...never!). I should take it back to a dealer who can 'probably' sort it.

I dont want to take the car back from the insurers with that mileage on it. Does anyone know whether only a Landrover dealer can sort it? My insurers are at a loss....

Roadstechno said:

My insurers are at a loss....

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Aye, in more ways than one

Your insurers will want to minimise their exposure, so they will try ignoring you.... Do you have legal cover ?- do they have an advice line ? Are you a member of a motoring organisation ?

Before I took the vehicle back, I'd be wanting the reasonable costs of returning the vehicle to its pre-incident condition covered - and an undertaking in writing that this will be done.....

Do all of this in writing, and keep records of your time etc. .....

Thanks for the response.
Yes indeed. I have done most of the ‘running around’ for the insurer and liaison with the police etc. They have handed me over to their authorised repairers who are sorting out some minor stuff on the bodywork and replacing VIN etc but they are at a loss to know what to do about odometer - that’s why I thought I would do some of my own investigation. Land Rover in Coventry were less than helpful ... as were their nearest main dealer!

If it is anything like the logic of the P38 Range Rover the Mileage is held in 2 places (The BeCM AND the Console Unit).
If you swap either of them the entire system defaults and updates to the HIGHER of the two figures.
You might try Non JLR places like www.callrova.com for advice on what your options are.

Callrova is operated by @Rick-the-Pick on here, so tagging him to see if he can comment.

DanClarke said:

If it is anything like the logic of the P38 Range Rover the Mileage is held in 2 places (The BeCM AND the Console Unit).
If you swap either of them the entire system defaults and updates to the HIGHER of the two figures.
You might try Non JLR places like www.callrova.com for advice on what your options are.

Callrova is operated by @Rick-the-Pick on here, so tagging him to see if he can comment.

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Iirc on the D3/4 when you read any of the ecus it quotes the cars mileage to you, whether each ecu keeps a record or just references the main ecu I have no idea.

I am not sure i would want my car back after it was stolen and all that done to it, unless I bought it back real cheap?

Which possibly also tells me they may have changed all the ECUs from donor.
So maybe VINs in them won’t be right either, which may bring further problems with codes, keys etc down the line.
Maybe they just changed instrument pack and that’s what happens as Dan said.
But I am not familiar with the D4. Shouldn't the insurance pay to have JLR put it on diagnostics and check everything is original to your VIN.

I am am sure I have seen somewhere, where mileage can be changed too. As ^^^^^ suggestion of who to ask.

Good luck.
And may the thieving git’s rot from the inside

J

Hi Everyone

Impressive......thanks for the replies.
I have told insurers that I wont take it with 180k miles on clock. Apart from a new nearside front passenger window (which they smashed) and a broken trim to the nearside A frame to expose the cabling (plus the changed VIN) everything seems OK. They had a cheap ebay key with it when it was recovered from the person who 'bought it' (allegedly). I will chat to an independent ECU specialist to check my options. Ultimately insurers will be responsible but I wanted to have more or same info as them so not fobbed off with their rubbish excuses.

Have you actually been able to try one of your original keys?

May give a few clues too.

J

marjon said:

Have you actually been able to try one of your original keys?
May give a few clues too.

J

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Hi,
Yes, was at the insurers garage yesterday - my original keys worked and so did the key they took from the guy they recovered the car from.

Roadstechno said:

Hi,
Yes, was at the insurers garage yesterday - my original keys worked and so did the key they took from the guy they recovered the car from.

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Ok that’s perhaps a good sign.

How did they actually nick it? Did they break the window and get it on a trailer. Or clone your key.

I would certainly take the advice earlier and speak with the guys at callrova about the mileage.

J

marjon said:

Ok that’s perhaps a good sign.

How did they actually nick it? Did they break the window and get it on a trailer. Or clone your key.

I would certainly take the advice earlier and speak with the guys at callrova about the mileage.

J

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Hi

Spoke to Rick at Callrova - he was very helpful.
They broke nearside passenger window and drove off! CCTV at hotel car park saw 'dark figures' approach vehicle. Took about a minute or two before the vehicle was seen driving off.
We had only bought it 4 months ago and didn't know it was fitted with a Vodafone tracker (police told us) - that's how it was traced and recovered. Stolen on a Thursday night, police picked it up on the following Tuesday evening after it had been 'sold' to someone else. Good purchase on the surface - £8k for a £32k vehicle.

Roadstechno said:

Land Rover in Coventry were less than helpful ... as were their nearest main dealer!

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Charming. NOT. I am familiar with this, from nearly ten years ago now, but still.... it's good to know their customer service ethos is as good as ever ( OMO ). This is why I won't have a modern vehicle.

[QUOTE="lynall, post: 4669352, member: 62401] I am not sure i would want my car back after it was stolen and all that done to it, unless I bought it back real cheap?[/QUOTE]

Agreed. Given the complexities how could "one" ever know the full extent of the damage?

( Edit - don't know why the quote bit has gone awry, but hey ho

Hi

good to hear u at least got ur disco back

ref the odometer , vin , mileage etc is all stored in the ipac instrument cluster , sounds like that will have to be replaced and all re synced at the dealer

plus also ensure u have ur keys replaced at the same time

u can also get an OBD2 lock to cover ur diagnostic socket

when replacing instrument clusters u normally do a back up file from ur old one and transfer it over to the new one but alas ur original one has been altered, think I read somewhere u cant reduce mileage , only increase it, therefore I’m pretty sure ur need a new instrument cluster inc re programming

ur dealer should know how to do all of this

hope that helps

Odometer reset or calibration is certainly possible - engines, BCUs, ICs are commonly replaced and often require adjustments to the odometer. Obviously it is an offence to hack an odometer without prior authorisation from the local authorities but in your case, you will have no trouble in getting the required approval. There are tools specifically for this purpose (such as the OBDSTAR X300M - ) and general Windows software that can access and modify the EEPROMs directly or even interface with the counter circuitry.

What is really disconcerting though is how easy it was for them to carry out the operation. I don't know anything about D4s but are these vehicles really that vulnerable ? Or could it be a case that there's another key in circulation ? As for trackers, I think they're a good idea but I'm also wary that I could be tracked by the wrong guy, if you know what I mean. Strange that you weren't told about the tracking device (which is probably just a SIM modem) but surely someone is paying Vodafone for the service.

Glad you have have got your car back, but two things are baffling me.
1- why are you running round doing all this for your insurance company. It should be returned to you as it was before it was stolen.
2- if it is fitted with a tracker, why did it take 5 days to recover it.

gstuart said:

Hi

good to hear u at least got ur disco back

ref the odometer , vin , mileage etc is all stored in the ipac instrument cluster , sounds like that will have to be replaced and all re synced at the dealer

plus also ensure u have ur keys replaced at the same time

u can also get an OBD2 lock to cover ur diagnostic socket

when replacing instrument clusters u normally do a back up file from ur old one and transfer it over to the new one but alas ur original one has been altered, think I read somewhere u cant reduce mileage , only increase it, therefore I’m pretty sure ur need a new instrument cluster inc re programming

ur dealer should know how to do all of this

hope that helps

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Hi
Yes, haven’t actually got it back yet. It’s still with insurers repairer. They are costing up repair before making that final decision. It is a concern since in some respects the thieves were a bit amateurish - putting VIN for silver vehicle on black vehicle - but in others they were pretty professional like changing majority of identity.
Still also can’t understand why an ‘innocent’ member of the public would pay £8k for a vehicle that is clearly not a 2010 and in pristine condition - no way having done 180000 miles. Hmmmm. Police said he was ‘a person of interest’. Bet he is!

Roadstechno said:

Hi
Yes, haven’t actually got it back yet. It’s still with insurers repairer. They are costing up repair before making that final decision. It is a concern since in some respects the thieves were a bit amateurish - putting VIN for silver vehicle on black vehicle - but in others they were pretty professional like changing majority of identity.
Still also can’t understand why an ‘innocent’ member of the public would pay £8k for a vehicle that is clearly not a 2010 and in pristine condition - no way having done 180000 miles. Hmmmm. Police said he was ‘a person of interest’. Bet he is!

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hi

wonder if it’s worth getting an independent inspection done on the disco before accepting it back

surely they’ll also replace the keys which I assume the insurance company would insist on, just in case someone still has an old key

maybe they were in a rush to get it out the country but wrong colour might be a clue , lol, also amazes me when I think if a deal is to good to be true it will be, still there are some dense people out there

Plse keep us updated and plenty here to always help where we can

gstuart said:

hi

wonder if it’s worth getting an independent inspection done on the disco before accepting it back

surely they’ll also replace the keys which I assume the insurance company would insist on, just in case someone still has an old key

maybe they were in a rush to get it out the country but wrong colour might be a clue , lol, also amazes me when I think if a deal is to good to be true it will be, still there are some dense people out there

Plse keep us updated and plenty here to always help where we can

Click to expand...

Hi
Thanks I will.
Insurers say they will take it to a dealer next week. Most of the body panels need respray according to body shop - looks like it’s been driven through a thorn hedge.
I want it checked mechanically and also the VIN and electrics need checking/replacing which alone could be £4K according to one main dealer.
Vehicle is insured for £30k so I am not sure there will be an issue but engineers say they will have the vehicle for at least another 3 weeks or more.

NPG said:

What is really disconcerting though is how easy it was for them to carry out the operation. I don't know anything about D4s but are these vehicles really that vulnerable ? Or could it be a case that there's another key in circulation ?

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That would be my concern too. There must have been other key, or there's a vulnerability in the security system that is being hushed up?

Think the best thing is to get an OBD2 lock, at least then they can’t program new keys, seen many move the obd2 socket behind a panel along with a lock

Keyless entry being the most venerable unless keys are kept in a Feraday bag or keyless entry turned off

also believe there’s an update now done by the dealer , Also a side note the D4 keys can be reprogrammed multiple times, the older D3 keys can’t