Mileage discrepancies and clocking can cause used car buyers big problems, not only could you end up paying more for a vehicle than it’s worth, the vehicle could have more wear and tear than you expected.
In September we tested the mileage of 7 million vehicles, since then we have continued collecting mileage data to release the 10 million vehicle mileage test which we have written about in this blog post.
In this test, there are 2 different scenarios that would trigger a mileage fail, here’s examples:
The mileage check carried out in this blog post is the same we offer for free via our initial check, which you can carry out by entering a registration here or above:
Shown below are the findings from our 10 million mileage check broken down.
Total vehicles checked: 10,000,000 (10 Million)
Total vehicles failed: 829,571
Total fail percentage: 8.29%
Failed on lowered mileage: 735,504 out of 10,000,000
Percentage of above: 7.35%
Failed from mixture of odometer readings (miles and kilometres): 141,136 of 10,000,000
Percentage of above: 1.41%
Failed on both mixed readings and lowered mileage: 47,069 out of 10,000,000
Percentage of above: 0.47%
We compiled the data from this mileage check to make a list of fails by make and model, we only included vehicles with more than 25,000+ total checked and 3000+ total failed.
| Make & Model | Total Failed | Total Checked | Fail Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| RENAULT SCENIC | 9679 | 30204 | 32.04% |
| VAUXHALL COMBO | 5262 | 39111 | 13.45% |
| FORD TRANSIT | 26864 | 204046 | 13.16% |
| JAGUAR X TYPE | 3058 | 26030 | 11.74% |
| BMW X5 | 3038 | 25967 | 11.69% |
| FORD TRANSIT CONNECT | 4949 | 45248 | 10.93% |
| VAUXHALL VECTRA | 8687 | 80077 | 10.84% |
| PEUGEOT 206 | 7678 | 71365 | 10.75% |
| CITROEN XSARA | 4571 | 43417 | 10.52% |
| FORD KA | 9926 | 98568 | 10.07% |
| FIAT PUNTO | 6586 | 66225 | 9.94% |
| MERCEDES-BENZ SPRINTER | 3517 | 35602 | 9.87% |
| PEUGEOT 307 | 3752 | 38219 | 9.81% |
| LAND ROVER DISCOVERY | 3431 | 35783 | 9.58% |
| VOLKSWAGEN TRANSPORTER | 5163 | 54331 | 9.5% |
| TOYOTA COROLLA | 3112 | 33482 | 9.29% |
| RENAULT CLIO | 11555 | 129239 | 8.94% |
| CITROEN C4 | 4226 | 47226 | 8.94% |
| TOYOTA AVENSIS | 3615 | 40539 | 8.91% |
| RENAULT MEGANE | 6105 | 68652 | 8.89% |
| TOYOTA YARIS | 8096 | 91378 | 8.85% |
| VOLKSWAGEN PASSAT | 9587 | 112550 | 8.51% |
| VAUXHALL ZAFIRA | 10588 | 125071 | 8.46% |
| NISSAN MICRA | 6525 | 80098 | 8.14% |
| CITROEN C3 | 4019 | 50368 | 7.97% |
| PEUGEOT 207 | 5251 | 66710 | 7.87% |
| VAUXHALL VIVARO | 3930 | 50355 | 7.8% |
| AUDI A6 | 3969 | 53077 | 7.47% |
| BMW 3 SERIES | 15636 | 210015 | 7.44% |
| FORD MONDEO | 10288 | 140240 | 7.33% |
| VAUXHALL MERIVA | 3063 | 42744 | 7.16% |
| FORD FOCUS | 25359 | 355077 | 7.14% |
| MINI MINI | 9102 | 128109 | 7.1% |
| VAUXHALL ASTRA | 21792 | 310845 | 7.01% |
| HONDA CIVIC | 6580 | 93813 | 7.01% |
| CITROEN BERLINGO | 3247 | 46755 | 6.94% |
| AUDI A4 | 8419 | 127233 | 6.61% |
| LAND ROVER FREELANDER | 3144 | 48557 | 6.47% |
| VOLKSWAGEN GOLF | 20392 | 321997 | 6.33% |
| SKODA OCTAVIA | 3807 | 60276 | 6.31% |
| VAUXHALL CORSA | 18738 | 297142 | 6.3% |
| SKODA FABIA | 3742 | 65893 | 5.67% |
| VOLKSWAGEN POLO | 10152 | 184751 | 5.49% |
| MERCEDES-BENZ C | 3864 | 71897 | 5.37% |
| AUDI A3 | 7376 | 147909 | 4.98% |
| VAUXHALL INSIGNIA | 3550 | 73065 | 4.85% |
| FORD FIESTA | 19067 | 400626 | 4.75% |
| SEAT IBIZA | 3431 | 77279 | 4.43% |
Explanation of above data:
The data below shows the worst years for mileage lowering being detected. for example, if mileage lowering was detected on 5th September 2013 this would count as 2013.
| Year Mileage Lowered | No of Vehicles |
|---|---|
| 2015 | 69883 |
| 2014 | 65466 |
| 2012 | 64020 |
| 2013 | 63168 |
| 2016 | 61378 |
| 2011 | 58818 |
| 2017 | 55658 |
| 2010 | 51004 |
| 2018 | 50623 |
| 2019 | 48272 |
| 2009 | 44001 |
| 2008 | 37596 |
| 2007 | 31273 |
| 2020 (up to 04/10/2020) | 20970 |
| 2006 | 11762 |
| 2005 | 1612 |
Based on the above data, 2015 was the worst year for lowered mileage being detected followed by 2014 and then 2012.
We compared the average annual mileage of passed vs failed vehicles, here are the findings:
According to the .gov.uk vehicle license statistics (published on the 3rd quarter of 2019) there were 38.9 million licensed vehicles in Great Britain as of the end of September 2019. The overall test fail rate in this test was 8.29%.
We used the DVSA MOT API to collect the mileage records of the 10 million vehicles we used in this test.
According to the .gov.uk vehicle license statistics there were 38.9 million licensed vehicles in Great Britain as of the end of September 2019, in this test we checked 10 million vehicles, that means we checked an estimated 25.70% of all vehicles in the UK or 1 in every 4.
We started collecting registrations from the DVSA MOT API for this test, previously we used variations of registrations searched for via the Rapid Car Check website. Also, the more registrations, makes and models we check, the more results can differ.
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