Please note: We have since performed a much larger test of 7 million vehicles, you can find this test on our blog post here.
Vehicle clocking and mileage issues are a potential problem for used car buyers, the scale of the problem is what we want to go into in this blog post, we are writing this blog post after checking the mileage of 1 million vehicles.
We performed this test using the same methods as our free mileage history checking tool that is publicly available for anyone to use, basically if the mileage has been lowered between MOT tests or has a mixture of odometer readings (miles and kilometres), we class it as a fail.
If you want to check your vehicle for mileage issues (for free), then enter the vehicle registration below.
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The main problem with clocking is, it’s very difficult (if not impossible in most cases) to tell if a vehicle has been clocked just by looking at it and the bigger issue is, you’re paying over the odds for a vehicle that could be worth thousands less (if the seller isn’t honest that is).
We started this test on the 14th July 2019 and reached 1,000,000 checked vehicles on the 2nd August 2019 (that’s 19 days of testing!). On the 2nd August 2019 we started compiling this data to produce the figures you see here.
Total vehicles checked: 1,000,000 (1 million)
Total vehicles that failed the mileage test: 64,986 out of 1,000,000
Total fail rate in percent: 6.49%
Failed on lowered mileage: 60,501 out of 1,000,00
Percentage of above: 6.05%
Failed from mixture of odometer readings (miles and kilometres): 7509 out of 1,000,000
Percentage of above: 0.75%
Failed on both mixed readings and lowered mileage: 3024 out of 1,000,000
Percentage of above: 0.30%
Shown below are the fail rates by make and model, we have removed any vehicles that have less than 100 fails in total or 1000 checks in total as this isn’t enough data.
| Make & Model | Total Failed | Total Checked | Fail Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| RENAULT GRAND SCENIC | 500 | 1531 | 32.66% |
| RENAULT SCENIC | 870 | 2707 | 32.14% |
| PEUGEOT EXPERT | 331 | 1070 | 30.93% |
| CITROEN DISPATCH | 311 | 1098 | 28.32% |
| MITSUBISHI COLT | 225 | 1306 | 17.23% |
| NISSAN ALMERA | 212 | 1553 | 13.65% |
| MERCEDES C 220 | 172 | 1302 | 13.21% |
| BMW 525 | 177 | 1384 | 12.79% |
| VOLKSWAGEN FOX | 158 | 1258 | 12.56% |
| CITROEN C2 | 156 | 1245 | 12.53% |
| VAUXHALL COMBO | 371 | 3061 | 12.12% |
| FIAT DUCATO | 155 | 1296 | 11.96% |
| VOLKSWAGEN SHARAN | 174 | 1460 | 11.92% |
| BMW X5 | 315 | 2657 | 11.86% |
| FORD TRANSIT | 2287 | 19479 | 11.74% |
| BMW 530 | 193 | 1664 | 11.60% |
| VOLKSWAGEN BORA | 119 | 1029 | 11.56% |
| SUBARU IMPREZA | 146 | 1277 | 11.43% |
| JAGUAR X TYPE | 259 | 2295 | 11.29% |
| RENAULT LAGUNA | 185 | 1680 | 11.01% |
| MERCEDES-BENZ VITO | 168 | 1592 | 10.55% |
| LAND ROVER DEFENDER | 148 | 1448 | 10.22% |
| FORD TRANSIT CONNECT | 448 | 4432 | 10.11% |
| VAUXHALL VECTRA | 743 | 7429 | 10.00% |
| PEUGEOT 206 | 568 | 5719 | 9.93% |
| MERCEDES-BENZ SPRINTER | 390 | 3931 | 9.92% |
| CITROEN XSARA | 344 | 3497 | 9.84% |
| RENAULT MASTER | 112 | 1164 | 9.62% |
| PEUGEOT 307 | 332 | 3502 | 9.48% |
| FIAT PUNTO | 543 | 5910 | 9.19% |
| BMW 316 | 113 | 1235 | 9.15% |
| LAND ROVER RANGE ROVER | 219 | 2478 | 8.84% |
| PORSCHE 911 | 106 | 1221 | 8.68% |
| FORD GALAXY | 246 | 2836 | 8.67% |
| TOYOTA PRIUS | 190 | 2206 | 8.61% |
| CITROEN RELAY | 118 | 1376 | 8.58% |
| BMW 325 | 165 | 1963 | 8.41% |
| TOYOTA COROLLA | 211 | 2516 | 8.39% |
| RENAULT CLIO | 983 | 11817 | 8.32% |
| RENAULT MEGANE | 554 | 6771 | 8.18% |
| NISSAN MICRA | 512 | 6276 | 8.16% |
| RENAULT KANGOO | 127 | 1593 | 7.97% |
| HONDA ACCORD | 153 | 1923 | 7.96% |
| VOLKSWAGEN PASSAT | 1023 | 12866 | 7.95% |
| TOYOTA AVENSIS | 265 | 3383 | 7.83% |
| VOLVO V70 | 142 | 1847 | 7.69% |
| FORD KA | 676 | 8805 | 7.68% |
| SAAB 9-3 | 244 | 3248 | 7.51% |
| SUZUKI ALTO | 103 | 1418 | 7.26% |
| BMW 318 | 390 | 5378 | 7.25% |
| TOYOTA YARIS | 617 | 8581 | 7.19% |
| PEUGEOT 207 | 466 | 6486 | 7.18% |
| LAND ROVER DISCOVERY | 231 | 3246 | 7.12% |
| CITROEN C4 | 395 | 5599 | 7.05% |
| VAUXHALL ZAFIRA | 832 | 12017 | 6.92% |
| VOLKSWAGEN BEETLE | 137 | 1980 | 6.92% |
| AUDI A6 | 474 | 6856 | 6.91% |
| BMW 330 | 181 | 2659 | 6.81% |
| VOLVO S40 | 119 | 1760 | 6.76% |
| NISSAN NAVARA | 105 | 1585 | 6.62% |
| FORD MONDEO | 809 | 12335 | 6.56% |
| MINI MINI | 1031 | 15848 | 6.51% |
| CITROEN C3 | 349 | 5466 | 6.38% |
| RENAULT TRAFIC | 136 | 2133 | 6.38% |
| VAUXHALL ASTRA | 1887 | 29767 | 6.34% |
| HONDA CIVIC | 598 | 9438 | 6.34% |
| VAUXHALL MERIVA | 270 | 4283 | 6.30% |
| VAUXHALL VIVARO | 315 | 5031 | 6.26% |
| AUDI A4 | 983 | 15871 | 6.19% |
| VOLKSWAGEN TOURAN | 201 | 3258 | 6.17% |
| PEUGEOT 107 | 166 | 2748 | 6.04% |
| NISSAN NOTE | 199 | 3336 | 5.97% |
| FORD FUSION | 137 | 2308 | 5.94% |
| FORD FOCUS | 2025 | 34642 | 5.85% |
| SKODA OCTAVIA | 333 | 5697 | 5.85% |
| BMW 320 | 707 | 12106 | 5.84% |
| VOLKSWAGEN GOLF | 2090 | 35850 | 5.83% |
| VAUXHALL CORSA | 1743 | 31131 | 5.60% |
| PEUGEOT PARTNER | 142 | 2559 | 5.55% |
| VOLKSWAGEN TRANSPORTER | 295 | 5477 | 5.39% |
| SUZUKI SWIFT | 143 | 2758 | 5.18% |
| FIAT PANDA | 130 | 2517 | 5.16% |
| BMW 520 | 251 | 4894 | 5.13% |
| LAND ROVER FREELANDER | 214 | 4207 | 5.09% |
| AUDI TT | 207 | 4071 | 5.08% |
| CITROEN BERLINGO | 239 | 4743 | 5.04% |
| SKODA FABIA | 301 | 5979 | 5.03% |
| MERCEDES-BENZ E | 280 | 5601 | 5.00% |
| VOLKSWAGEN POLO | 992 | 19918 | 4.98% |
| BMW 120 | 124 | 2494 | 4.97% |
| MERCEDES-BENZ A | 264 | 5356 | 4.93% |
| AUDI A3 | 894 | 19039 | 4.70% |
| MAZDA 6 | 164 | 3517 | 4.66% |
| BMW X3 | 107 | 2339 | 4.57% |
| LAND ROVER RANGE ROVER SPORT | 110 | 2493 | 4.41% |
| CITROEN C1 | 186 | 4244 | 4.38% |
| MERCEDES-BENZ C | 379 | 8741 | 4.34% |
| VOLKSWAGEN CADDY | 133 | 3133 | 4.25% |
| PEUGEOT 308 | 134 | 3190 | 4.20% |
| SEAT LEON | 336 | 8061 | 4.17% |
| VAUXHALL INSIGNIA | 333 | 8055 | 4.13% |
| SEAT IBIZA | 389 | 9459 | 4.11% |
| HONDA CR-V | 184 | 4649 | 3.96% |
| FORD FIESTA | 1547 | 40296 | 3.84% |
| HONDA JAZZ | 252 | 6705 | 3.76% |
| MAZDA 3 | 121 | 3415 | 3.54% |
| BMW 118 | 161 | 4810 | 3.35% |
| TOYOTA AYGO | 110 | 3701 | 2.97% |
| FIAT 500 | 137 | 5367 | 2.55% |
| AUDI A5 | 110 | 4315 | 2.55% |
| NISSAN QASHQAI | 183 | 7512 | 2.44% |
| BMW 116 | 123 | 5164 | 2.38% |
Shown below are the fail rates by year of vehicle registration, we have removed any vehicles that have less than 100 fails in total or 1000 checks in total as this isn’t enough data.
| Year | Total Fails | Total Checks | Fail Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | 556 | 3375 | 16.47% |
| 1997 | 476 | 2895 | 16.44% |
| 1995 | 317 | 1945 | 16.30% |
| 1996 | 353 | 2193 | 16.10% |
| 1999 | 683 | 4378 | 15.60% |
| 2000 | 926 | 6011 | 15.41% |
| 2001 | 2593 | 17093 | 15.17% |
| 2002 | 5274 | 35347 | 14.92% |
| 1994 | 192 | 1310 | 14.66% |
| 2003 | 6097 | 42367 | 14.39% |
| 2004 | 7076 | 53283 | 13.28% |
| 2005 | 7984 | 66849 | 11.94% |
| 2006 | 6931 | 71573 | 9.68% |
| 2007 | 6468 | 79205 | 8.17% |
| 2008 | 4647 | 68272 | 6.81% |
| 2009 | 3353 | 60776 | 5.52% |
| 2010 | 3117 | 67707 | 4.60% |
| 2011 | 2315 | 63177 | 3.66% |
| 2012 | 1695 | 62813 | 2.70% |
| 2013 | 1322 | 66696 | 1.98% |
| 2014 | 948 | 76966 | 1.23% |
| 2015 | 513 | 87028 | 0.59% |
| 2016 | 105 | 52586 | 0.20% |
We thought it may be useful to see if there’s any difference between the average yearly mileage of a vehicle that’s failed the mileage check VS a vehicle that passed the mileage check, this is what we found.
We took the 60,501 vehicles that failed on lowered mileage and created a quick mini test to see what the average amount of mileage removed was. Here’s the average figure we got:
To get an estimated figure we must first know how many vehicles are in the UK. According to racfoundation.org there are 38.2 million vehicles in the UK.
Our overall fail percentage for this test was: 6.49%
6.49% of 38,200,000 =
This makes the total estimated vehicles with mileage issues in the UK just over 2.4 million.
We created a custom piece of software that uses the same rules as our free mileage history checking tool, the software then saved a big log file for us to analyse.
It took 19 days in total to check and collect the mileage data of 1 million vehicles. We started this test on the 14th July 2019 and it ended on the 2nd August 2019.
We got the vehicle mileage data from the gov.uk MOT API.
To get a bigger and better understanding of how many vehicles in the UK have mileage issues. And we know that the more data collected the more accurate the results. According to the racfoundation.org there’s 38.2 million vehicles in the UK, that means we almost tested 1 out of every 38 vehicles in the UK on this test.
Apologies for the length of this video, it’s 37 minutes long in total and we had to speed it up at that!
This video scrolls all the way through the 1 million rows of vehicle data we collected.
If you have an interest in this data or the test we carried out, we would love to chat! You can contact us at: enquiries@rapidcarcheck.co.uk
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