Carlow native MEP says mileage fraud is ripping off innocent car buyers
EU Commission estimate up to half of all second-hand cars traded within the EU have been clocked.
Ireland South MEP and Carlow native, Cynthia Ní Mhurchú says she is not surprised at recent reports from the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission that car related complaints make up a large part of calls to their helpline. She has called for a pan-European mileage database to deal with the wide spread issue of car clocking or mileage fraud in our second hand car market in Europe.
Car clocking falsely inflates the value of older cars, scams innocent car buyers into paying more for a car and has a knock on impact on road safety and environmental targets as older, more worn, less environmentally friendly cars are passed off as newer cars.
An EU Parliament report from 2018 says that car clocking or mileage fraud in second-hand cars is widespread in cars traded across EU borders and is estimated to affect up to 50% of second hand cars bought and sold. Ní Mhurchú, a new member of the Transport Committee that commissioned this report, has criticised the lack of action on it within the European Parliament and is pushing for action on car clocking and mileage fraud in our second hand car market in Europe.
“More than 60 million second-hand cars are sold every year in the EU yet we have no single EU law to stop car clocking. Young people are spending their hard earned money on second hand cars only to find they have been scammed. Clocked cars are a danger on our roads, and a threat to the legitimate dealerships who are selling high quality second hand cars all over Ireland”
Ní Mhurchú says it is understandable that a study by the Transport committee of the European Parliament found that 34% of people who bought a second hand car did not know or did not ask about the mileage on the car,
“People are not mechanics. They buy a car to get from A to B in good faith and they trust in the system to protect them. Right now, it is failing them across Europe and we need to fix that”
A European Parliament report from the Transport Committee estimates the economic impact of odometer fraud on the EU to be in the region of between €6bn and €9bn. Despite this, Ní Mhurchú pointed out that odometer fraud is only a criminal offence in six EU Member States, including Ireland. She has called for car clocking to be made a criminal offence across all EU member states in forthcoming EU roads legislation and that the EU would institute an EU wide mileage database similar to Belgium’s car pass system. She has also said legislators will work with car manufacturers to make car clocking less easy to do.
Ní Mhurchú also described car clocking as a serious safety issue,
“Cars have scheduled maintenance based on their mileage. If the mileage is wrong - then the maintenance will be wrong, leading to a situation where brake pads may be worn, engines may not be correctly serviced, - all of which impacts on safety on our roads in Ireland”
The Ireland South MEP said clocking a car is all too easy to do,
“I have watched online videos where people are using devices to alter a cars mileage in minutes. It is too easy and this is something we have to work with car manufacturers on”