The Trading Standards Institute (TS) and used
car checker HPI have appealed to the motor finance industry to help
reduce the illegal adjustment of car mileages, a practice known as
‘clocking’.

HPI urged dealers to conduct a National
Mileage Register (NMR) investigation on all used cars following the
news of the arrest of four men for clocking more than 40 cars,
while TS warned clocking was still prevalent in the used car
industry.

Nick Dawes, lead officer for the motor trade,
Trading Standards Institute, told the 8th Annual Motor
Finance Convention that “car clocking is one area still very much
with us”.

Dawes said the current squeeze on public
bodies and the self-regulatory approach championed by the Finance
and Leasing Association (FLA) meant TS and local authorities were
dependent on industry assistance. Mileage correction services in
particular were “something we’d very much appreciate you guys
helping us with” he told delegates at the FLA event.

HPI, which last week revealed six of every 100
vehicles it checked had a mileage discrepancy, said that NMR
investigations protect dealers against both clocking and
repercussions should a vehicle be found to be clocked.

Such investigations go beyond mileage
disclaimers in compliance with Office of Fair Trading (OFT)
guidelines and act as proof in a court of law that due diligence
was taken to correctly assess a car’s mileage, according to the
organisation.

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The HPI NMR holds over 130 million mileage
records, including vehicle description and status as stolen,
written-off or under outstanding finance.

Further coverage of the 8th Annual Motor Finance Convention
will appear in December’s issue of Motor Finance magazine.

richard.brown@vrlfinancialnews.com