What's the news?
Well, the news is that there's good news and bad news. The good news is that, according to vehicle history experts Cartell.ie, the legislation introduced last year to outlaw the practice of illegally reducing a vehicle's mileage - 'clocking' - is working. Cartell.ie told us that from a random sample of 4,479 vehicles, 8.4 per cent showed a mileage discrepancy, which is a reduction from the same survey last year.
That's the good news. The bad news is that clocking of UK cars is on the rise and anyone buying a UK import is opening themselves up to a world of potential clocking. In the same random survey, the proportion of UK sourced cars that were clocked stood at over 14 per cent - getting on for twice the Irish rate.
Interestingly enough, it seems that the inexorable rise of the PCP sale has driven the rise in clocking. John Byrne, Legal and PR Manager, Cartell.ie says: "Evidence from the UK indicates owners of vehicles are clocking their own vehicle before advancing it in the market. This can be for a variety of reasons including avoiding mileage penalties on Personal Contract Purchases (PCPs). What is concerning is that we are beginning to see a delta between the Irish numbers on clocking and the UK numbers - a potential buyer of a UK vehicle needs to be particularly careful. This does not mean that a potential purchaser of an Irish vehicle should be complacent however: always check your Service History and NCT certificates and look to carry out a vehicle history check before purchase."