Car clocking returns to forecourts

The underhand practice of car clocking is making an unwelcome comeback in car dealerships.

Clocking is the practice of tampering with a car’s odometer in order to show a lower mileage and charge more money.

Valuations specialists Glass’s has reported an increase in clocking recently, particularly amongst people who take our Personal Contract Purchase (PCP) finance and use clocking to manually readjust their odometer to match the prearranged mileage.

Rupert Pontin, head of valuations at Glass’s, said: “At this stage, it is very difficult to say how widespread this practice might be but we are certainly seeing an increasing amount of industry ‘chatter’ about the subject and it is considered a growing problem.”

“One solution is for dealers to check vehicles for clocking as part of their standard PCP returns procedure. This would effectively ‘prove’ that the vehicle had been clocked during the contract period, placing the onus on the driver for what is, after all, a form of fraud and quite a serious crime.”

Car clocking may be illegal but there are legal reasons for the manual adjustment of electronic odometers, such as to restore the correct reading after dashboard replacement.

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