What is Clocking?

Choose RAC for your cars mileage check. Offering some insightful and important facts regarding your mileage check, RAC provides a comprehensive list of things to look out for when checking your car's data, ranging from what clocking is, to how your car can be clocked, and more.

Looking for a reliable mileage check for your car? RAC has got you covered. Our comprehensive mileage check provides you with valuable insights and important information to keep in mind when examining your car's data.

Clocking, also known as mileage fraud, refers to the practice of reducing a vehicle's recorded mileage to increase its apparent value. Although some may believe that the deceitful act of clocking has become obsolete, the reality is that the number of vehicles with manipulated mileage has surged by 25% in recent years.

Discover everything you need to know about car clocking, including what it is and how your car can be affected by it. Trust RAC to help you make informed decisions about your car's maintenance and history.

Contents:

What is Digital Clocking?
Dangers of Buying Clocked Cars
Who Clocks Cars?

---

What is Digital Clocking?

Clocking used to involve manually winding back a car's odometer to lower its mileage, but advancements in digital technology have made this illegal practice even easier. Today, there are countless "mileage correction" companies offering to alter a car's mileage without demanding documentation to verify the correct mileage. While some of these companies operate legally, it becomes a deceptive and unlawful act when the car owner sells the vehicle without disclosing the correction. In fact, this practice is recognised as a "Misleading Action" under The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.

---

Dangers of Buying Clocked Cars

When purchasing a car, having an accurate history for that vehicle doesn’t just ensure you’re buying a car for the right price, it also ensures you’re buying a safe vehicle. To ensure a car is safe, regular maintenance checks are carried out once every 12,000 miles, or every year, to prevent serious damage or faults from occurring. If a car’s mileage is not accurate this could mean you are buying a car that may have parts that need replacing. For example, timing belts should be changed every 60,000 miles. However, if you buy a car that needs a new belt but the odometer only shows 40,000 miles, you could then be driving for another 20,000 miles unaware that at any time that belt could snap.

---

Who Clocks Cars?

Clocking is on the rise among ordinary car owners, who can easily buy clocking technology online for just a few hundred dollars. By rolling back the mileage of their cars, owners can sell them for significantly higher prices, often tens of thousands of dollars more than they could otherwise. This practice has spawned a new industry of online businesses offering clocking services. Although legislation to outlaw clocking services will take effect on 20th May 2018, concerned car buyers can protect themselves by checking a vehicle's history with an RAC Vehicle History Check.

Check now 

Read RAC Vehicle History Check terms and conditions