Road User Charges and an Inaccaurate Odometer

dark_dirk, Oct 27, 8:01pm
I have an 06 Toyota Hiace Diesel, and naturally have to pay Road User Charges.
My gripe is that the Odo reads around 7.5% fast, meaning that even though the Odo says approx 204000km, the van has covered in fact nowhere near that total.
I know it is out because the GPS unit shows me that it is out by approx this amount.
Therefore in my opinion I reckon that I am about 14000km approx ahead of what I have paid, so inother words my in accurate odo is ripping me off to the tune of approx $670.
I wonder what would happen if I let them lapse for around 14000km and tried to justifiy this by the facts mentioned!
I am sure the result would be similar to pushing shite up hill.

splinter67, Oct 27, 8:11pm
Have you tested the ks or are you going off the speed! My toyota camry speedo reads fast but the odometer is on the dot

meathead_timaru, Oct 27, 9:40pm
As per splinter67. ex-factory speedometers usually read fast, odometers do not.

chebry, Oct 27, 10:39pm
Speedos all read fast one reason for the tolerance but odometers are usually accurate, Just disconnect the revenue meter untill you reckon your even

dark_dirk, Oct 27, 11:32pm
The odometer is definitely not accurate.
If I reset the trip meter on both the GPS and the odometer when I refuel by the end of a week the odometer will be showing around 520 to 540 km and the GPS something like 480km to 490km.
Unless the GPS is not accurate,{ which I would doubt, as it also shows this difference in as little as 10km}, then the odometer must be the one which is out.
I have also noticed this variance in other vans, in particular a 1999 Transit which I had a few years back which was even more inaccurate as much as around 10% to 12%, so I would be suprised if there aren't a lot more vehicles with the same problem

m16d, Oct 28, 12:39am
Put bigger wheels on.

philltauranga, Oct 28, 1:07am
I would love to see this. All the "honest" people who have a working odometers on their diesel, should get them calibrated buy the same people who calibrate the cop cars, and take the evedence of over reading to the NZTA and demand a refund for the kms covered over the recalculated reading, either since arrival in NZ or your ownership. BHahahaha "TUI"

splinter67, Oct 28, 1:13am
good point do you have original wheels on it

dark_dirk, Oct 28, 3:12am
Yes the van is running standard 15" Toyoya wheels, with the eqivilant 195 15" Tyres, therefore it is either inaccurate due to the mileage done and wear or play in the parts that record the distance, or was never accurate when it left the factory.

chebry, Oct 28, 3:24am
There nothing to wear in a speedo theyre all electronic its simply innaccurate like all the rest.

dark_dirk, Oct 28, 3:41am
You would think in this day with modern technolog that it would be rather simple to make the speedo/odo accurate, but this doens't appear to be quite so simple after all then!

sr2, Oct 28, 4:08am

a.woodrow, Oct 29, 3:30am
Toyota's specifications for speedo acccuracy in a new vehicle are +/- 10%

raymond00001, Oct 29, 3:43am
Do you go off highway! forestry, farms etc. Wonder if you can get an E-road installed like some trucks have.

pico42, Oct 29, 4:18am
1) GPS speeds and distances are straight lines between observed points.
2) Around curves this means that the distance travelled will be a series of chords and not the true arc distance as measured by your odometer.
3) "Nowhere near that total" At 7.5% difference, your van will have travelled 189767km as opposed to 204000. Different, but not that much.
4) The onus is on you to ensure your odometer is reading correctly - if it isn't, get it repaired.

fryan1962, Oct 29, 4:45am
get speedo calibrated,the cost will be caught up in no time if what you say is true