Rise in illegal 'clocking'

MORE ‘CLOCKED’ cars are on the UK’s roads now after a rise in 2013 of cars with discrepancies in their recorded mileages.

Experts say this signals a worrying trend of more dishonest car sellers ‘clocking’, or falsifying, a car’s mileage to make more money when the sell it.

There had been a drop in the number of recorded incidences of clocking. However, 2013 saw a rise in numbers and there could be as many as 486,000 cars on the road in Britain with false mileage showing.

Shane Teskey, Senior Consumer Services Manager for HPI, the car history check company, said: ‘These are really shocking statistics and represent a worrying trend. Dodgy sellers will take advantage of any angle they can when offloading a car and clocking is one of the easiest ways they can make a fatter profit. In fact, research we conducted with CAP last year found that popular models such the VW Golf can double in value if they have 60,000 miles wound down.

‘It’s not just an issue of money with clocked cars, there is also a safety concern. Any vehicle that has done a lot more miles than the owner realises could have components that have been excessively worn, even if it looks okay to the naked eye. Plus these cars are likely to have missed out on their scheduled servicing, meaning a mechanic missing vital signs of wear and tear.’

By Press Association reporters