Clocking: that’s what it used to be called in the old days.
I suppose the term implied that it was being carried out by a loveable Arthur Daley character, when in fact it should have more accurately been describe as mileage fraud.
Whatever we call it these days, there is evidence that the practise is as prevalent as ever, despite our cars containing more advanced technology. According to Carly Connected Car, which deals in mobile car electronics, at least 18% of all vehicles in London are displaying an incorrect mileage. That’s 3% above the national average and equates to almost five million vehicles in total. The capital, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds are the top four UK regions for mileage fraud.
Essentially, the message here seems to be to avoid searching for your next used car bargain in those nasty cities where you could be taken for a ride by sharp-talking wide boys – and they will be boys, or at least men who should know better.
One of the tactics we can employ to put these unscrupulous types out of business is to embrace those cars with odometer readings so high that there is nothing to be gained by clocking them. A used motor witha starship mileage on its clock isn’t going to shoot up in value if a rogue dealer plugs in a laptop and wipes away a few thousand miles.
So what can we find with more than 200,000 miles on the clock? A quick search on the interweb throws up a glut of contenders.
We’re told that diesels are awful things, but the flip side to that argument is that they go on and on. A 2007 Volvo S40 2.0TD with 211,000 miles is still with us and up for sale at just under a grand.
If that is a bit too saloony for you, then a VW Volkswagen Golf is a very solid alternative. A 2004 2.0 TDI GT with an epic 240,000 miles is up for a solid £1250. A BMW is always going to be a class purchase and an 07-plate 320d SE without any issues and 220,000 miles on the odometer is a good choice at £1500.
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Tick tock
So Ruppert's 40-year old BMW has travelled just 80,000 miles? That suggests gross unreliability keeping it off the road for long periods, or maybe one or two previous owners have seen fit to give it a bit of a "haircut". I agree with the sentiments about buying high milers though. Motorway miles don't contribute much wear and tear, in my experience what kills cars are frequent cold starts and lack of use.
Incidentally who is AR, answering all our questions?
LP in Brighton wrote:
A near neighbour (retired) has a similar age car and tells me she does less than 2000 miles a year, so why does that low total mileage have to be the result of the two scare stories that you use?. Not everyone is a crook, you just have to be careful and check the necessary items, add a dash of gut instinct.