Clocking loophole closing
Jail sentence for 'mileage correction' boss signals a clampdown on digital clockers
Colin Ogle, proprietor of Swindon Decodes, pleaded guilty to five charges under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations (CPRs) 2008. It’s the first time a provider of mileage correction services, rather than a seller of clocked vehicles, has been jailed in relation to such a crime.
How clocking used to be done
This conviction explodes that myth, and suggests that the vast majority of these businesses have been built up on an illegal premise.
The sentence comes as a result of an OFT market study into second hand cars, which estimated the potential loss to consumers of illegal car clocking to be up to £580m per year. The OFT said its investigation had concluded that “in certain circumstances, the business practises of mileage correction service providers may breach the CPRs” and added that its market study “also stated that to avoid prosecution, mileage correction businesses would need to show that they had taken all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence to avoid the commission of an offence.”
So if you hear a mileage correction advocate describing the activity as totally legit, point out the Ogle case and see what they say. Nevertheless, there is still something of a legal grey area surrounding the legitimacy of these firms’ activities, which is why vehicle data provider HPI has been leading a campaign for clearer legislation and stronger measures to be taken in an effort to shut them down.
The company has launched a Government e-Petition, which it’s urging car enthusiasts to sign, in an effort to have the matter looked at more closely by lawmakers.
You can put your name to the e-Petition here – with a bit of luck, it’ll lead to more convictions for fraudsters like Ogle, and reduce the opportunities out there for people who want to make a quick buck out of honest motorists.
There is no legitimate need for these services...any use of them is purely illegal IMHO. The excuse of a change of clocks due to old ones being faulty/broken and wanting to show correct mileage is BS - I would rather buy from somebody who told me the truth and the retained the old non working clock, receipt for new one, and the service history and MOTs to show the traceability!
That's Britain for you. Drop a shopping list in the high street, bang £60 fine for littering.
Clock a car taking thousands off the value, well it's sort of not actually illegal my honour. (smirk smirk)
That's Britain for you. Drop a shopping list in the high street, bang £60 fine for littering.
Clock a car taking thousands off the value, well it's sort of not actually illegal my honour. (smirk smirk)
The situation is a bit analagous to that of so-called "travellers"; they turn up on land, s
t the place up, nick everyone's lawnmowers etc etc and yet there is pretty well nothing that can be done by the police and it takes weeks and weeks and rafts of court orders to get them shifted.In the case of "travellers" and clockers I'd like to know just what on earth is the difficulty that the government have in passing tough legislation on dealing with them. Do they possess huge amounts of voting power or something?
It's tricky to ban clocking kit that has a legal use and hard to prove it's knowingly being used for illegal purposes, this is why the sellers tend to be the ones that get prosecuted.
It's tricky to ban clocking kit that has a legal use and hard to prove it's knowingly being used for illegal purposes, this is why the sellers tend to be the ones that get prosecuted.
My father-in-law once had to replace his dash due to a speed indicator failure.
He got a nice unit for about £40 at the local salvage yard, but it had a higher mileage. He had a certificate drawn out, but he might as well have it "clocked" without fooling anyone.
It's the same thing as with "torrents" I think, you can use them for own use, download free software like linux distro's, but the vast majority of them are used to download illegal content.
I know a couple of company's who run VW and BMW in the fleet , at the end of the lease term they get a chap in who removes at least 30-50k of the total miles thus the company saves ££££ ,s in pence per miles over the aloud milage.....
Very wrong but have been doing it for years and it will still go on.....
I've seen new style mot certs with the mileage details of the last 5 mots on.
So as well as being clocked, you'd need a forged mot cert too ?
There is such a small market for legitmate correction, that it should be something main dealers would do for a reasonable fee. It would kill the correction industry over night.
We're trying to make the odometer be an audit of miles driven, and hence of (one factor in) the value of the car. But it is under the control of the person who's (potentially) trying to trick you - so it will never be a reliable proof against a fraudulent seller.
Rather, I would simply see the odo as an assistant, and rely on MOTs and service history to prove, well, the car's history. The new govt website allowing you to see a car's MOT history is very helpful in this regard - if the mileage has gone backwards at any point, it'll be fairly obvious!
He had it corrected back up to the higher mileage and I got a receipt to that effect
So, there is a legitimate use for this service, I'm sure it's not always used as such though.
To add.... DIM replacement at the volvo main dealer is an £800+ job.
Too simple?
Too simple?
Too simple?
Whatever you do, you can probably never stop people from changing the whole module over to one from a lower mileage car.
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