EU may direct states to share car mileage records

Car “clocking” - altering the mileage recorded by second hand cars - is rife in Ireland, affecting up to 10 percent of second-hand car sales, the European Parliament has heard.

Fine Gael MEP for Ireland South Deirdre Clune told the parliament's transport committee fraudsters are robbing Irish and other European car buyers of up to 30 per cent of the purchase price of their vehicles.

Ms Clune told the committee thousands of euro are being added to the price of second hand cars and commercial vehicles in a “technically, cheap manipulation” costing car buyers up to €9.6 billion across the EU each year.

According the Society of the Irish Motor Industry, almost 13 per cent of vehicles imported from the UK had a serious anomaly from the last recorded mileage in the UK.

Even modern cars with digital displays could be altered by an unscrupulous dealer spending a few minutes with a computer, Ms Clune said.

The MEP said a new anti -fraud strategy would focus on setting up an EU based statutory mileage database that will be shared across member states. This would share mileage readings collected from official sources such as NCT centres and Revenue.

Ms Clune said she would be asking the new Transport Commissioner Maroš Šefcovic to prioritise the proposals which would not impose “disproportionate costs or red tape on businesses that are involved in the industry”.

Noting a strengthening of 34.4 per cent in new car sales registered in Ireland in September 2014 compared to September 2013, she said “we must now ensure that we have full confidence in the second hand car market”.