So, I have just sold my Vespa GTS in preparation for picking a new (to me) Kymco Xciting 400i tomorrow (the dealer wouldn't take it part exchange unfortunately).

Anyway, I had a agreed a price for the GTS and it was all going smoothly until the chap buying it says that it’s been flagged with a red warning on the vehicle check due to suspicious mileage!

After much bafflement and proclaiming of my innocence, it turns out that when the MOT checks have been done, some checkers recorded the odometer reading in Kilometres (correctly), while others record it in Miles (incorrectly), which resulted in the milage history for the bike being all over the shop. So as a result I ended up being haggled down a further 200 notes. Needless to say, I’m a bit peeved off.

I was really taken aback by this and I can’t believe I never spotted it before now. I was wondering if anyone else (especially Vespa owners) have come across this themselves?

Feel free to take a look on the government MOT checker at FJ08TLV and you will see what I mean.

a genuine mistake, if he was a Haggler and he didn't flag this, I'm sure he would find something else to chip at. Dont beat yourself up about it.

horobags wrote: ↑Fri Sep 27, 2024 5:51 pm a genuine mistake, if he was a Haggler and he didn't flag this, I'm sure he would find something else to chip at. Dont beat yourself up about it.

It wasn't so much as being haggle down that bothered me, I have sold enough vehicles in my time that I know this is par for the course. I was more annoyed about the people doing the MOTs being so incompetent, and me not noticing.

Had it with MZ's years ago. Some testers would cross out miles and write KM after the number , some would pull out the pocket calculator and enter in miles, some would just write down the number next to where it said miles. This was before it was computerised which helped, but I had a couple of MOT certs that looked dodgy with crossings-out. Just a case of querying before leaving the test station, but that's hindsight for you.

I really think your buyer was a haggler too. Head would say drop the price and go enjoy the new scoot. Heart would say point out he saw the correct kilometreage on the ad and how it's split up over the years doesn't matter, and bid him *******s according. How does £200 change what he's getting?

Andy