Brits could be due £1,000s as used car dealer ordered to pay out over increasingly common scam – check your motor now
A USED car dealer has been ordered to pay £8,000 to customers over a scam that experts warn is becoming more common.
SMC Cars & Commercials has been hauled before the courts on five counts of fraud - after winding back the clocks on motors and selling them at a higher rate.
The charges came after a probe found the dealers had been "clocking" vehicles and selling them with reduced mileage on their odometers.
Experts say this is a long-standing issue with second-hand cars, and that customers needed to be cautious.
reported SMC Cars & Commercials director Samuel McConnell and sales executive Ryan McKittrick appeared in Northern Ireland's Newry Crown Court on Friday.
The pair pleaded guilty to five charges under the Fraud Act of 2006.
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The charges came after a customer complained that the firm was selling clocked vehicles.
This sparked a probe by the Department for the Economy’s Trading Standards Service (TSS).
It quickly found that it had sold four people vehicles with reduced mileage.
One of the motor's odometers had been clocked back by a whopping 52,000 miles.
It was found that one of the cars, which had a false service history, was a write-off and had been readvertised with fake mileage after a customer brought it back.
After the case, the TSS’s Eavan Dunlop said: "The number of vehicles uncovered by this investigation and the degree by which their mileages had been altered points to a systematic 'clocking' operation by the two individuals.
"Cars were purchased with high mileages and subsequently sold to unsuspecting consumers with lower mileages.
"With the rising prices of second-hand cars, it is vitally important that consumers have confidence in local car dealerships.
"Car traders have a legal responsibility to ensure that all descriptions applied to vehicles are accurate and not misleading to consumers.
"The Trading Standards Service remains committed to investigating those car traders that attempt to take advantage of consumers."
Cars involved in probe
- A Peugeot 208 bought by a customer who saw it advertised by the car dealer on Gumtree with 89,000 miles. However, evidence obtained by the TSS revealed that it had travelled at least 120,597 miles
- A Mercedes advertised on Gumtree with 92,000 miles when it had a previous recorded mileage of 120,178 miles. It was also a Category N write-off, which the customer wasn’t told about before buying the car
- A VW Scirocco with a previous mileage of 172,980 miles reduced to 121,180 miles – a discrepancy of 51,800 miles
- An Audi A3 sold with 125,000 miles on the clock, having previously travelled 148,028 miles
The dealership was ordered to pay £7,920 in compensation to the customers, and had to be paid within 12 weeks.
McConnell, 28, was also ordered to carry out 240 hours of community service within 12 months.
McKittrick, 24, was told he had to do 240 hours of community service, to be completed within a year.
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In 2020, that 6.32% of the seven million cars tested for mileage discrepancies failed.
According to the official , there were 41.2 million licensed vehicles in the UK at the end of June 2023. If we used the same 6.32% fail rate here, that means that there could be as many as 2.6 million clocked cars in the UK today.
But there are ways to spot and avoid clocking so that you can protect yourself and your wallet when shopping around for a used car.
How to spot car clocking
The MOT certificate mileage and odometer don’t match
If the mileage shown on the odometer of the car you’re thinking of buying and its most recent MOT certificate don’t match, this could be a red flag.
You can also check the car’s service history documents to check the mileage it had on its last service.
Check a car’s history easily using HPI’s online tool.
The car has excessive wear and tear
It’s common for older cars to have a higher mileage than newer ones. This is why the wear and tear of the vehicle can sometimes tell you something about its mileage.
This is especially true if the used car you’re looking to buy appears to have a very low mileage. Maybe the car only has 10,000 miles on the clock but the steering wheel, gear stick and brake pads are very worn.
These car parts can be changed to hide age or mileage, but if they haven’t and look very worn, this could be a warning sign. Look out for other signs of high usage like chipped paint or glass, too.
The car is old but has very low mileage
Sometimes, cars just don’t get used a lot and age without much mileage. But a lot of the time, older cars have a higher mileage.
So, if you come across an old car with very low mileage, it may have been clocked. Be sure to check the car’s service and MOT history to see what the true mileage is.
What to do if you think you’ve bought a clocked car
If you think that the car you bought has been clocked, you should:
- check your warranty documents if the seller has provided you with any
- contact the seller to see if they were aware of the issue or will discuss as possible refund
- contact the or if the seller won’t cooperate
- avoid using the car any further if you think it’s dangerous to drive
To avoid car clocking, make sure you only buy from genuine, trustworthy dealers with a lot of good reviews.