This article is from page 2 of the 2012-09-25 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 2 JPG
ONE in every eight second-hand cars in Clare have been clocked and reads significantly less mileage than they have actually travelled.
This means that almost 6,000 Clare motorists are driving vehicles which are worth much less than they think – and could also be close to a dangerous equipment failure.
According to figures compiled by Cartell.ie, 5,357 Clare cars have had their mileage tampered with. It is not illegal for a person to change the mileage on their own car – which means that the equipment to tamper with odometers is easily available within the industry.
It is illegal to sell a vehicle under false pretenses however, but it is difficult to assertain the true mileage of a vehicle without carrying out a full diagnostic on the vehicles engine.
The figures were obtained by calculating the number of Clare drivers who discovered a mileage discrepancy in their vehicle when the checked against official records on the Cartell.ie website.
“I think the number of cars that have been clocked in Clare would shock a lot of people, but you have to remember that it is not illegal to clock a car in Ireland. If it is a private sale, there is very little danger for a person who wants to clock their car and sell it on to someone else,” said John Byrne of Cartell.ie. “The equipment is easily available and it is a lot more prominent that people realise. Some people don’t see the problem with it, it has become the accepted standard in a lot of places and they don’t see it as being an issue.
“Clocking in itself is not illegal. But it is illegal to sell a car as one thing, when it really is something else. But that is very difficult to catch. The National Consumer Agency manages to prosecute approximately one person a year, which is a drop in the ocean.”
Cars which have been clocked are potentially dangerous to the driver.
“There is a safety element in all of this. You could be driving along the motorway and all of a sudden you have a drive failure on your car. That is a dangerous situation to be in and it is something that you won’t expect if your car has 100,000 more kilometres on the car than you think,” continued John. A win t ry fe e l t o t h e we e k, d u ll, win d y a n d we t a t t im e s, b u t we sh o u ld e sc a p e t h e b ru n t o f t h e lo w o ve r t h e c o u n t ry.