New research has found that car clocking is leading UK consumers to overpay a staggering amount for used vehicles each year.
Clocking, also known as odometer tampering or mileage fraud, is when the recorded mileage of a car is illegally adjusted downwards.
Digital odometers have created new ways for mileages to be fraudulently adjusted. And restricted mileage agreements on car finance packages are likely to increase the temptation.
Vehicle history reporting company CarVertical has crunched the numbers. It estimates the cost of clocking to be £4.5 billion across 17 European countries.
Rolling back the years
CarVertical’s investigation discovered that the UK is the worst-affected country for clocking, accounting for £1.2 billion of the total cost to consumers. Buyers will typically overpay by 48.8 percent for a clocked car.
This comes from buyers unwittingly purchasing a clocked car at a higher price. In other words, paying more than it would be worth based on its actual mileage.
Given the impact mileage can have on a car’s value, CarVertical says luxury vehicle buyers will be more adversely affected, given the higher prices paid.
Western Europe suffers the most
The study found France loses £1 billion each year to odometer tampering. It is followed by Germany on £900 million, then Italy with losses of £400 million.
Car owners in Eastern European countries such as Serbia and Romania were found to give less consideration to vehicle mileages, and therefore be less likely to clock a car.
Matas Buzelis, automotive market expert at carVertical, said: “Proving that a car’s mileage has been falsified is extremely difficult. Without digitised records and data sharing between countries, odometer fraud remains easy to hide.
“It’s no secret that buyers prefer cars with lower mileage. Unfortunately, this makes them prime targets for fraud. When the mileage is rolled back, it creates the illusion of a better car condition than it is. Fraudsters target both economy and premium vehicles.”
Checking the MOT history of a used vehicle, along with obtaining a vehicle history report, can help to protect against buying a clocked car.
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