Brexit vote shouldn’t stop UK government making mileage correction services illegalThe Local Government Association warns of surge in car clocking in the UK, with consumer groups warning clocking within the passenger transport industry has reached epidemic levels
Motorists have never been at a greater risk of buying a clocked vehicle in the UK, according to the Local Government Association (LGA). The LGA which represents more than 370 councils in England and Wales, is urging people to check a vehicle’s history thoroughly before buying it to avoid becoming a victim of fraud.
With the UK voting to leave the European Union, the LGA is calling on the UK government to bring forward a proposed EU ban on companies providing “mileage correction” services from the current EU planned date of May 2018. An existing legal loophole means that while knowingly selling a clocked car without disclosing it is fraud, ‘mileage correction’ services can act with impunity in the UK.
Industry experts and even the Office of Fair Trading have stated that their belief that legitimate instances of mileage adjustment appear to be rare, and were unlikely to be sufficient to keep in business the number of traders openly offering ‘mileage correction services’ throughout the UK.
As car clocking increases in the UK, gone are the days where winding the mileage back was predominantly associated with unscrupulous car dealers who passed off high-mileage vehicles as low mileage to make a fast buck. Today you are more likely to be a victim of car clocking if you buy a used vehicle from members of the public or businesses who run a fleet of vehicles.
According to the vehicle checking service HPICheck.com, latest statistics show you have a 1 in 20 chance of buying a vehicle with a mileage discrepancy. This is because car clocking has evolved over the past few years thanks in part to a combination of technology, low mileage leasing and PCP contracts.
The LGA is also calling for mileage correction devices – widely available for sale online for about £120 – to be banned to help reduce clocking. Even though this move should be welcomed why can’t the UK follow the example of the Irish and actually make the act of tampering with an odometers’ mileage a specific criminal offence?
The Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport from the Irish government told AngryPolicyholders.com: “The issue of car clocking had been under discussion for some time. In the course of passage of the Road Traffic Act 2014, the then Minister decided that there was a gap in the legislation as it currently stood, and therefore the Minister introduced the what is now section 14 of the 2014 Act.”
“Under section 14 of the Irish Road Traffic Act 2014, which came into effect as of 20 March 2014, has made it an offence to interfere or attempt to interfere with the odometer of a mechanically propelled vehicle. Previously, Ireland had dealt with clocking through the Consumer Protection Act 2007, as part of misleading commercial practices.”
The spokesman continued: “While there have been successful prosecutions against car dealerships for selling or offering the sale of motor vehicles in Ireland with altered odometer readings – clocked cars – under that law, it didn’t apply in cases of private sales, and did not make the act of clocking a vehicle in itself an offence.’
In the meantime trading standards teams across the UK have to bring cases to court using the fraud act by charging those involved in clocking with conspiracy to defraud which results in cases taking time and resources to bring to court. However, if the physical act of clocking was to become a specific criminal offence cases could result in more prosecutions and free up resources for councils and trading standards departments.
Clocking up time at her Majesty’s pleasureBut that is not stopping council trading standards teams’ nationwide bringing successful prosecution, helping to secure jail sentences for rogue car dealers and individual sellers in recent clocking prosecutions.
In October 2015, five men from the same family were jailed for a total of 18 years and three months for conspiring to clock more than four million miles off cars in a professional car clocking operation. Mileages on vehicles had been lowered by as much as 125,000 miles. The case is believed to be the biggest investigation into car clocking that Birmingham Trading Standards has carried out.
In March 2016 a used car dealer was jailed for a year after he admitted clocking, misdescribing cars and forging documents in a prosecution brought by Warwickshire County Council’s Trading Standards who received numerous complaints about his business practices. He admitted to arranging for the mileage reading to be wound back on an Audi TT from 101,369 to 72,299 before it was sold. He also admitted selling another Audi TT, knowing that the mileage was advertised incorrectly as 79,000, when it was actually 147,464. A mechanic he used was jailed for six months after he admitted fabricating or altering vehicle documents.
In May 2016, two Nottingham car dealers who clocked 13 cars by more than one million miles were each jailed for 15 months. The pair, who sold the cars with fake MOT certificates and service histories, were each ordered to pay £20,000 under the Proceeds of Crime Act. The case was sparked from a consumer complaint to Nottingham City Council Trading Standards. Their court case follows one in April 2016 when two brothers from Nottingham clocked cars, sold them on, often with fake MOTs, and used the bank accounts of their dead grandparents to get false tax discs. The pair were jailed for 18 months.
According to the LGA rogue car dealers and private sellers can increase a vehicle’s value by thousands of pounds by reducing the displayed mileage to make them look less well used and more desirable. For example, taking off 60,000 miles on a Range Rover Evoque or an Audi A3 increases their value by £4,000. Doing the same with a Nissan Qashqai and Volkswagen Golf increases their value by about £3,000 and £2,500, respectively.
The LGA warns that clocking can lead to safety problems, especially if a vehicle appears as if it isn’t due a service when it actually is. It could also disguise the need for a major mechanical repair, leaving buyers with a hefty bill if something does go wrong.
Cllr Simon Blackburn, Chair of the LGA’s Safer and Stronger Communities Board, said: “Car clocking is major fraud that can affect anyone who buys a used car with fake documents, and can have dangerous implications.
“Unsuspecting buyers can be duped into paying over the odds for a vehicle with false mileage and in poorer condition, which could put passengers’ safety at risk and lead to expensive repair bills.
“With incorrect mileage displayed, general servicing, which includes brake tests and oil changes, will not be carried out when it is due and may cause vehicle failure. The manufacturer’s warranty is also likely to be void if the car is discovered to have been clocked.
“With up to 1.7 million clocked and potentially dangerous vehicles on UK roads, anyone buying a second-hand car should make as many checks as they can to ensure that the vehicle is showing its true mileage.
“Clocking is harming both reputable used car dealers and consumers, and unless the proposed EU ban on mileage correction services is brought forward and made part of UK law, thousands more cars will continue to be clocked over the next two years, jeopardising the safety of cars on UK roads.
“The Government needs to address this and introduce legislation to ban the sale of mileage correction devices, which can only be fuelling the big rise in clocking.
“Trading Standards teams across the country often receive more complaints about used cars than anything else and spend time and resources helping traders comply with the law.
“But councils won’t hesitate to prosecute any car dealer or private seller who shows a blatant disregard for safety and consumer rights by clocking cars – they can face hefty fines and a prison sentence, as well as damaging their reputation.”
But it is not just “dodgy” garages selling clocked vehicles, according to consumer group LicensedTransportUncovered.com (LTU). An investigation by LTU has found hundreds of private hire, executive/chauffeur and limousine vehicles in the northwest of England operating with clocked mileage – estimated to have a minimum of 80 million miles removed from odometers’.
source:
https://www.angrypolicyholders.com/brex ... s-illegal/
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