The Trading Standards Institute has become the latest authority to call for the practice of ‘car clocking’ to be made illegal, as it emerged that around a million people in the UK could be driving cars that have been ‘clocked’.
Has this one been clocked?
New data from used car information expert, HPI, suggests that as many as one in every 20 cars checked by the group had a discrepant mileage – a figure that has increased by ten per cent over the past five years.
But, the problem is ‘clocking cars’ is not an illegal practice – only selling them without stating their real mileage is against the law.
Andy Foster, operations and policy manager at the Trading Standards Institute, said: “Illegal car clocking is an old fraud. It is clear that better controls are needed to stop criminals freely rolling back the miles on vehicles to considerably increase their resale value.
“We cannot see the justification for car clocking to be legal as it currently is as there are far more illegal reasons to adjust an odometer than legal. We would like to see a ban on mileage correction services – unless for very specific legitimate reasons – to better protect consumers who are buying second hand cars.”
Trading Standards recently busted a prolific mileage correction operation in Nottingham which wiped millions of miles off over 100 vans, including a staggering 275,000 of one Mercedes Sprinter alone which was sold with a mileage reading of just 89,000 when its correct reading was closing in on 400,000!
Consumer organisations offer the following advice on checking true mileage readings;
Ask yourself: “does the mileage seem to be correct for the age and model of the car? How about the price?” If it’s too good to be true, it probably is.
Check around the odometer for signs of tampering, including badly aligned numbers, damaged screw heads or fingerprints inside the casing.
Be on the lookout for abnormal levels of wear and tear. Does your car’s mileage say it’s done 10,000 miles but the bodywork suggest otherwise?
Ask to see the car’s service history and previous MOT certificates – these should show a steadily increasing mileage.
You can also check previous MOT’s if you have the vehicle’s Registration number and the Document reference number from the V5. This government website shows the record of MOT’s for a particular vehicle including the mileage recorded at the time of the MOT previous MOT Failures and advisory notices issued.
MOT Check Website
Author: Paul Wilkinson
Filed under automotive, Automotive News
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Could Motorways Cope at 80MPH
As the government prepares to launch a consultation on proposals to raise the motorway speed limit from 70 to 80mph later in the year, the Road Safety Foundation (RSF) have claimed Britain’s motorway network is “unsuitable” for the rise! (more…)
Filed under automotive, Automotive News, Car News
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The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) has revised its forecast for 2012 sales after revealing a strong set of figures for April which showed new car sales in the UK rose to 142,322 last month, up 3.3% from April 2011.
The increase was down to a 14.8% rise in private sales, with fleet sales down 3.4% and business sales dropping 11.2%.
As a result, the SMMT has revised its forecast for 2012 sales up 0.4% to 1.95 million vehicles, which would take it above the level seen in 2011.
“We are seeing a steady increase in consumer confidence with growth in private demand, boosted by the arrival of a raft of new products,” said SMMT chief executive Paul Everitt.
“A strong April new car market has raised confidence across the UK motor industry.”
Once again, the best-selling car in the month was the Ford Fiesta with 8,780 sold, and the ever-popular hatchback retains its position as the best-selling car of the year to date, ahead of the Vauxhall Corsa and Ford Focus.
Once again, notable losers amongst the monthly sales stats are Renault and Alfa Romeo whose year-to-date figures are down 47% and 34% respectively compared with 2011.
Author: Paul Wilkinson
Filed under automotive, Automotive News, Car Sales
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Ford has reached a phenomenal new landmark with sales of its ever-popular family hatchback, the Focus.
1,500,000 cars later
The American giants recently revealed it had reached 1.5 million sales of the model in the UK, with Essex cricketer Jaik Mickleburgh the lucky recipient of the landmark model, no doubt as part of the company’s ongoing sponsorship of Essex cricket. (more…)
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Use your indicators!
A ground breaking study in the USA has claimed that failure to indicate is the biggest cause of road accidents.
The research from the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) reports that the effect of ‘indicator-neglect’ is even worse than ‘distracted driving’ which includes using a mobile phone behind a wheel. (more…)
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A new survey from the AA has revealed what Britain’s motorists do in their car when driving alone – and it seems our age makes us do different things!
Driven to Sing!
Singing seems particularly popular, with about 60 per cent of 18 to 24-year-olds own up to singing as they drive, though that figure declines markedly with just 13 per cent of over 65s exercising their tonsils! (more…)
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An award-winning doctor of research in America has published a study which concludes that ‘holding a wee’ is equivalent to driving under the influence of alcohol!
In studying cognitive behaviour in healthy adults, Dr. Peter Snyder, the VP of Research at Rhode Island Hospital, concluded that when we are at the top of our ‘desperation threshold’, “the level of impairment on reason and problem solving is equivalent to about a 0.05 blood alcohol level.”
The research reveals that the areas of the brain used to withhold urine intentionally, to keep muscles contracted, are very close to the areas used for online reason and problem solving, causing interference on a physiological basis.
Dr Snyder said the pain in needing to urinate differs from other other types of pain in the way that humans need to physically and consciously hold it. He said: “With urination, it’s a very active process. It takes lots of concentration.”
The research has caused a big stir on talk show radio stations across America and the subject has particularly resonated with long distance truckers, many whom have revealed they keep bottles in the vehicle for that reason!
When asked in an online magazine interview whether he would recommend drivers “wet themselves” when they really need to wee and are impaired, Dr Snyder replied: “If it were me, I’d say I’d just look for the widest point on the side of the road I could get over to without getting hit.”
Author: Paul Wilkinson
Filed under automotive, Automotive News
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Toyota is apparently close to rolling out a piece of in-car technology which can read a driver’s mood!
What would your car do?
Yes, that’s right. The Japanese giant have revealed that the revolutionary safety feature will have the capability to react to a driver’s mood and adjust how the car behaves when faced with a hazard. (more…)
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They are more used to decorating the covers of trashy American tabloid magazines, but it’s hard to keep those damned Beckhams off motoring sites and blogs these days too! (more…)
Filed under automotive, Automotive News, Car Valuations
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Porsche 911 - Built for Speed
Road safety groups were up in arms last week after the Earl of Normanton, escaped a driving ban despite having been clocked doing 106 mph in his turbo-powered Porsche 911 on the M27 in Hampshire. (more…)
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