Verifying actual mileage

[Calcifer]

Good morning,

A friend of mine has seen a relatively low mileage at a dealers in Madrid. The car was imported to Spain from Taiwan.

An SG 2003 CSL with 26000 KM.

Given the low mileage and the mandarin paperwork actually tallying up. Are there are checks that can be done to assure the mileage being so low?

Thanks for any help

[select]

Yes, but it isn't easy and you need a specific software todo this. I am not aware of an easy way to check it. And if the guys who tampered with the mileage did an thorough job it will get tough.
Perhaps NZ_M3 will chime in, he knows all the bits and bytes on the csl

[Calcifer]

Maybe a noob question but is it even possible the mileage could be tampered with?!

When you say thorough job of tampering with the mileage what do you mean? Is it's stored elsewhere on the car?

Thanks again.

[select]

No problem about the "noob" question.
Yes of course its possible. The same holds true for virtually every car there is.
CSL's are just more prone to it, because when you can earn 30k $ with a few mouse clicks.. alot of people get greedy.

Yes, the mileage gets stored in various modules and cross-checked at startup. If they mis-match a indicator lights up. See Tamper Dot.

If you don't have the tools you can also ask your local bmw dealership to do a "used-car-check" for you. They can also look up the cars repair history, if its been serviced by a bmw dealer in the past.
You can cross check the BMW Repair History with the cars service book if they match. Also if there are any MOT/TÜV Records where the mileage gets recorded, check those too.

[Calcifer]

Thank you for your advice and taking the time to write up. Yes, the search for a low mileage CSL is not easy!

[select]

No Problem mate, good luck!