Who would have thought that car clocking would be back on the rise, as we thought this was a thing of the past. Not so my friends, so beware when buying a used car. HPI are the vehicle history experts and according to them, there could be as many as 486,000 vehicles on the roads of the UK with a false mileage.
Car clocking has been around a long time now and it was made easier for the criminals with the introduction of digital odometers. As modern cars are lasting longer than their predecessors and hide their age better, there is a big market for car clocking. In 2013 alone there was more than 6.8 million used cars sold across the UK and it is reckoned that as many as 7.7% of these cars had an altered mileage.
This is what Shane Teskey the Senior consumer services manager at HPI has to say about the matter: “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 as the VW Golf can double in value if they have 60,000 miles wound down.”
On older cars it was rather easy to determine when the mileage had been altered with such signs as exposed screw heads and misaligned digits. It is not so easy to notice on modern cars but there are still some precautions you should take.
An HPI check is not only for checking that you are not buying a car that has been previously written off or if you are purchasing a stolen car, but can also be useful for checking for a clocked mileage. There are over 160 million mileage readings on their records so have a check done if you are going to buy a used car.
What are your thoughts on this subject and have you recently bought a used car which had 'low mileage'? Share your views in our comments box below.
