10% of used cars ‘clocked’

A recent study of second-hand cars in Ireland has found that one in ten currently listed for sale has a false mileage displayed. This result is even worse for cars imported from the UK where nearly one in five has an unreliable or questionable mileage reading.

The study was carried out by Cartell.ie in co-operation with AA Ireland. Over 120,000 vehicles were checked on the Cartell.ie database and the results show that “clocking” is widespread in the market locally and is worse for potential buyers of UK vehicles.

Cartell.ie and AA Ireland examined a random sample of 60,047 vehicle history checks on Irish vehicles carried out recently by potential buyers. Of those checks 11.04% returned mileage discrepancies – which would each require further investigation to establish if the vehicle had been “clocked” in a given case.

In addition, a supplementary study which examined a random sample of 64,742 vehicles which displayed at least two mileage readings on the National Mileage Register (NMR), where at least one entry was added in the last 12 months, found that 11.15% of these vehicles had a mileage discrepancy.

The supplementary study also examined a random sample of 13,026 imported vehicles (vehicles which currently display an Irish registration but previously had UK or Northern Ireland plates) which displayed at least two mileage readings on the NMR and one entry in the last 12 months. This aspect of the study found that imported vehicles were significantly more likely to have been clocked, with 18.43% of the imported cars assessed as having a mileage discrepancy.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.