Letting buyer use scanner Yes or No?

D

DMC63

Active member
Having to sell the Zed :( with great sadness but I can't afford to run it.
I have a guy who wants to have a look and has asked if he can plug in his scanner and check it out.
I'm not up to speed on scanners and I've read a lot on here about people using them to make their cars do weird and wonderful things.
Am I running any risks by letting the guy plug one in and scan the car?
I have this strange idea that he will reprogram the car and it will disappear through some
clever process of disabling the alarms and recognising another key. I feel completely stupid saying
this but better to ask a stupid question than be scammed.
I'm aware there's different scanners capable of different things.
A few pointers would be greatly appreciated.
 
Wouldnt have thought there would be a problem really... never heard of anyone attempting a scam by reprogramming a car like you say. Would have to be very audacious to openly turn up at someones house, attempt to reprogram it and then return later to nick it!

Most of the crims these days are cloning keys for keyless entry high end, nearly new cars, wouldnt have thought it worth the risk trying to clone an actual key on a car thats getting on a bit.
 
I say let him do it with you reading the scan over his shoulder... or offer to have a dealer (Indy) do it and provide a report for the buyer.
Personally I feel with you looking over his shoulder he dare not change a thing - go with it. :thumbsup:

Sorry for your loss.
 
Sad to hear.
I might be going the same way if I can’t get my business back up and running soonish :|

When I bought my car I asked if I could scan for codes and if the seller didnt agree then I jogged on Suspecting that the seller knew it was hiding issues.

The car I eventually found threw up a myriad of codes after the seller agreed to let me scan it. Either he had a false sense of security, didnt realise what the codes were or was just honest enough to let me find out if there were any ‘hidden extras’.

It was a calculated risk on my part to agree to the sale but I managed to wangle a significant chunk off the asking price due to the codes and other mechanical issues, all easily addressable as far as I was concerned and all eventually sorted by me.

So it’s a choice really, you either agree and risk it throwing up codes you didn’t know about, or you deny a potential buyer by not agreeing to let them scan it as they will suspect you of trying to hide something.

I would suggest scanning it yourself to see if it has any codes that you should address or clear.
You could use scannng as a selling tool if it isn’t throwing up any cdes. Although most bimmers I have owned have always had either false-positives or bizarre codes relating to items which werent even on the car!

Whats ur asking price out of curiosity? I think ur zed is by and large the same spec as mine. May come in handy if I ever chip mine in :roll:
Can you borrow a scanner?
 
Thanks guys. Chris D, I hear you about the codes telling the full story. I have a mate who's with the AA and he checked the codes and it's clean. A tail light bulb needed replacing and that was it. He's going to check again tomorrow and make sure it's all cool.
I hope your business picks up Chris and you keep hold of the Z. For me it was a case of hardly using it because I couldn't afford the petrol. Now it's about to come up for it's MOT in October, not that there's anything wrong with it. But put a £346 tax on that and £300 insurance and that's a lot of money to keep the car on the drive. When I think of what I paid for it and all the work and money I've spent on it it's depressing. I'm selling it for 5k with a hardtop and tons of new bits and pieces. It's virtually a new car.
 
I scanned mine when I went to see it, had a couple of codes that were things I knew I could fix plus a leaking camshaft cover gasket paid £100 less than was asked for which was lower than other cars for sale at the time. Personally I wouldn't buy a car I couldn't scan for codes.
 
Sad to hear you are having to sell your car OP. :(

I wouldn't have an issue with someone scanning a car I was selling, but like you have done I'd scan it myself first just in case!
 
It would depend on the buyer - i.e. if I got any kind of dodgy vibe, then no.

However I have all the diag gear anyway so would happily scan it for them.

When I sold my old MG ZT, the buyer used a cheap generic scan tool which flagged up a glow plug warning.
Using the right diagnostic gear, there was no such fault - I doubt the buyer believed me but I don't think it affected their valuation of the car.

The irony being if there really was a fault, I have all the gear to clear it before the buyer arrives.

Having said that, two of the last three cars I've bought have had faulty thermostats. If I'd of used my ScanGauge I would've noticed that on the test drive...

EDIT - Theres no way I'd take to the dealer. Ignoring the cost (£££ - who's going to pay if there are any problems?), if you ask a garage to look for faults, they are going to find some to cover themselves (i.e. all cars will have worn brakes, worn suspension, air con due a refresh etc). The last thing you want is to hand ther buyer a list of things to knock you down on that are probably fine.
 
Talking of scanning a car prior to purchase, what is the best generic scanner to have if I wanted to purchase one?
 
SiJar said:
by SiJar » Sat May 23, 2020 6:49 am
Click to expand...
Don't bother with generic tools, at least not the cheap ones. Unless you need to cover lots of cars your better of getting a £10 INPA cable and using proper BMW software.
 
He cant really do much with just an obd scanner and his phone. Carly gives you an idea of tasteful mods which are so minor and revert able. If he comes with a full fledged obd scanner and a laptop he doing some serious digging.

Its quite difficult to mess up or steal information like that in the first place. I would say let him plug it in if he just using an obd scanner and his phone, his just wanting to find out if there are any hidden faults the cars computer can tell him about.

If he comes with a laptop and an obd scanner, then maybe just turn around and say no.
 
Jakg said:
SiJar said:
by SiJar » Sat May 23, 2020 6:49 am
Click to expand...
Don't bother with generic tools, at least not the cheap ones. Unless you need to cover lots of cars your better of getting a £10 INPA cable and using proper BMW software.
Click to expand...

INPA for sure, for your own handy work, but you cant rock up to someones place with a laptop and expect to start scanning stuff with INPA, (unless its a mates car and hes getting you to clear/fix stuff) thats not on in my book. Generic quick little scanner, sure, anything else. nope..
:thumbsup:

Then again, i have INPA on a little tablet, so maybe you could do it that way... its just that with INPA you can actually change/damage stuff, which isnt cool to do on a car that isnt your own.
 
I don't think I would let an unqualified person plug some machine in my car, I would have no problem if he wanted a professional to check it out. Also most cars unless they have been 'cleaned' before are going to throw up many stored codes which are insignificant, to know for sure which codes need attention you need to reset them all and then drive the car for a sometime, maybe sometimes over a few days and then see which codes come back. However I guess since we all know about this, it's best to get your car scanned and corrected before sticking it up for sale.
 
I would prefer to scan it, using my own equipment, in front of them but if that is not possible I don't really see any problem with allowing them to scan it themselves.
I would be slightly wary of letting someone rock up with a laptop but a basic code reader is quite risk free.
 
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