Council leaders are calling for a ban on mileage correction services, after latest figures showed around one in 20 cars are thought to be ‘clocked’.
The Local Government Association (LGA) is warning that there are 1.7 million cars on UK roads that have had their mileage altered, putting motorists at risk and defrauding people through higher purchase prices.
It wants a proposed EU ban on companies providing ‘mileage correction’ services to be retained under UK law, and for mileage correction devices to be made illegal. Currently it is not illegal to alter a vehicle’s odometer’s mileage under a legal loophole.
The LGA warned clocking can lead to safety problems and disguise the need for a major mechanical repair.
Cllr Simon Blackburn, chair of the LGA’s Safer and Stronger Communities Board, said: ‘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.’
