‘Clocking’ is the ancient art of changing the mileage on used cars, which should be called what it actually is: fraud. Oh, and it seems to be getting much worse. Here is a long-established stat: the car check people at HPI estimate that one in three cars that they check every year has a hidden history.
Apparently, used car buyers now have a one-in-14 chance of purchasing a vehicle with a mileage discrepancy, which is extremely concerning. Well, that’s HPI’s take on it. I am so old I can look at something I wrote about this 19 years ago.
Back in 2000, the Retail Motor Industry Federation (RMI) said that it could “eradicate this problem once and for all” by logging the miles at every service, MOT and bodyshop pit stop. And yet the problem is still here and at apparently an all-time high.
You would have thought that lowering the mileage to boost the value of a used car would have gone away by now. Especially as the 1980s digital dashboards and mileage readouts were supposed to be tamper-proof. Well, it didn’t take long for a criminal with a laptop to work that one out. A radical one-point plan is simply do nothing. Just rename the odometer, or milometer, as the service interval indicator. So when you go and buy a car, look a little further than the row of digits. Concentrate on the condition.
In that case, let’s look at these. Avoid the MOT failures, ‘needs work’ and ‘spares or repair’ bunch and seek out a frog-eye 2005 Nissan Micra 1.2 S three-door with 208,000 miles at £400 and apparently in good working order. That’s a wonderful starter car if it all holds together.
For a little more practicality, a 2007 Skoda Fabia estate in Elegance trim and a 1.9 TDI PD diesel engine seems to wear its 280,000 miles rather well. Charging £490 for it seems jolly reasonable and it is a dealer part-exchange as well, which often means that it is decent but they struggle to get anything remotely retail with those miles.
Oh, and what is it with Skodas these days, which are like old-school redacted Volkswagens? A 2008 Skoda Octavia 1.9 TDI Classic with a staggering 318,000 miles and a year’s MOT for £490. Fantastic.
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Terrible advice!!!
I was about to pick up on your frankly terrible advice, but I see others have beaten me to it. The second-gen Fabia vRS uses VAG's notoriously self-destructing 1.4-litre twin-charged engine coupled to a horrendously unreliable DSG 'box. Recommending that to someone who specified that they want a reliable car is downright shameful.
Motormouths wrote:
From honestjohn, who gives this model just 2 stars, now read on to find out why...
https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar/skoda/fabia-vrs-2010/
Takeitslowly wrote:
I do hope the poor sod didn't go out and buy one of those terrible cars based on this shockingly bad advice.
Owned an Accord coupe, though
Owned an Accord coupe, though it was the 2 litre. It was built by Honda USA so it feels more American (ie. comfortable and well equipped but thirsty) compared to the European Accord.
Brilliant car. Only that it was having an issue cutting out and my mechanic at the time didn't have a clue. MOT well up, needed more work on brake calipers and suspension bushes so traded it in as a non-runner. Just before it was being picked up I did try something someone suggested to resolder the main relay, straight back to life. If I had known that easy fix :(
As you say condition is all that counts
Last month I bought an Audi A4 Convertible 2008 with 153,000 miles. One lady owner from new (they were both solicitors and had a lovely house).
With a perfect service history It looks and drives like it has half the miles. Came with a full set of matching Goodyears and no signs of ever having had paint and just a couple of little car park dings but that could happen in the supermarket carpark tomorrow.
I've seen plenty of excellent VAG, Rover, Pugs etc with over 300K. Cars seem to last as long as you're prepared to look after them these days.