IMN Content - Lifestyle and Consumer Content

Car Clocking Costs British Consumers £580 Million a Year

False mileage costs British consumers around £580 million a year. In 2010 nearly 700,000 cars recorded a lower mileage than they did in previous MOTs.
Fashion & Retail - 20 April 2011   Download IconContent available for download:  
Audio | Interview with Nicola Johnson| Login to Download

You are missing some Flash content that should appear here! Perhaps your browser cannot display it, or maybe it did not initialize correctly.
  News Hooks:

The rising threat of car clocking has become a very real and worrying problem in the UK. False mileage costs British consumers around £580 million a year. Unscrupulous sellers see the clocking of a vehicle as an easy way to raise its price and make some extra cash by putting thousands of pounds onto the price tag.

In 2010 681,211 cars recorded a lower mileage than they did in the previous year’s MOT, which equates to nearly 1 in 39 cars. However, vehicle information experts reveal that this figure is actually closer to 1 in 17. Buying a clocked vehicle will cost you more than it is really worth, and serious mechanical failures could occur if the correct servicing schedule has not been maintained.

Car clocking is not illegal and there are even many online companies who publically offer ‘mileage correction services’. However, it is illegal to sell a car that’s known to have been clocked without declaring it.

. Introduction:

Vehicle fraud is a growing public problem in the UK, especially when it comes to altering a vehicle’s mileage to add extra value to the selling price. There are more than 600,000 cars in the UK which have been clocked, and false mileage costs are costing British consumers around £580 million a year. There is no law against clocking – in fact there are many online and on-the-street garages, that advertise this service – but it is illegal to sell a car without declaring its altered mileage.

So what can be done to tackle the threat of car clocking?

Joining us to discuss this further is Nicola Johnson, a Vehicle Fraud Expert from HPI.

. Suggested Questions:

So what does the research reveal about vehicle fraud in our

Why has car clocking become so popular amongst unscrupulous sellers?

What are the dangers of car clocking for people buying second hand cars?

Why is there no law against clocking?

What advice have you got for car buyers?

Where can we find out more information?