Have you ever wondered why cars in Ireland are advertised in miles AND kilometers?

Since Jan 2005 new cars sold in Ireland displayed their odometer (mileage clock) in kilometers rather than miles. For the Irish consumer this was confusing – about as confusing as the comparable change from Irish Punt to the Euro Jan 2002! However car sales websites and dealers took the transition in their stride with many listing both the kilometer and mileage equivalents in vehicle advertisements, making it easier for buyers to make the transition.

The upshot is that nowadays we have Irish odometers pre-2005 mostly in miles and after 2005 mostly in kilometers (unless they were imported along the way in which case they are mostly in miles). This can be somewhat confusing if you are purchasing a used car registered after 2005.  Mile/kilometer mixups account for a fair chunk of false mileage discrepancies. Some sellers may use this confusion to their advantage and advertise 50,000 Miles as 50,000 Km, or worse tamper or ‘clock’ a vehicle to its numeric rather than actual kilometer equivalent. Make sure when recording the mileage to double check the odometer units.

Finally, out of interest, here’s a break-down of the percentages for odometer readings by year for vehicles in the August 2010 batch update. (Note: the 2010 readings are valid only up until August 2010!)

(Note: Figures are derived from mileage data via Cartell.ie)

Having Ireland’s largest database of mileage readings is an excellent way to assist in the detection and prevention of odometer tampering.  However, this is not a perfect world and initiatives such as the NMR are only half the solution. Sadly Irish legislation is lacking when it comes to deterring those that would profit from the misfortune of others, even when caught. At the present time it is not a crime to clock a vehicle in Ireland. Every day the NMR is used to identify clocked cars for sale and those caught red-handed need only give an undertaking not to clock cars in the future.

Thankfully there are companies such as Cartell that are seeking to stop this practice and make clocking illegal. Cartell has proposed legislation that will make the act of tampering with an odometer for commercial gain a criminal offence in Ireland. We would hope that harsher penalties for clocking will deter those that would compromise road safety for a fast buck.

Note: If you’ve noticed a jump in the total mileage readings since the May 5th update there is a very simple reason for this, we’ve had to withhold an update originally scheduled for release on May 11th. Hopefully it should be cleared by the PTB for blogging in the very near future.

The actual batch of mileage that took us over the 3M mark contained data for 66,903 individual vehicles and covered a collection period from Q4 2009 to Q1 2010.  Our current total as of 05/05/2010 16:30 is 3,005,490 records which is a great achievement for us, and another first for the Cartell.ie NMR in Ireland.

Why is your mileage reading important?

Checking that the mileage is genuine using a recommended vehicle history check is important when buying a second hand car.  However, checking to see if the timing belt replacement has been carried out is also an important consideration. Most cars need to have their timing belts changed every sixty to one hundred thousand miles. This figure is vehicle specific and the recommended value is listed in the vehicle manual. Some vehicles don’t have a timing belt e.g. the Toyota Yaris has a chain fitted which should last the lifetime of the vehicle if its well maintained.

Replacing a timing belt can cost in the region of 300-600 Euro plus depending on where its carried out and the make/model. Skipping this replacement can lead to severe damage being caused to your engine and possibly explosive engine failure at high speeds. From experience I’d recommend that you go to a main dealer for the first change and opt to go for a replacement water pump too. A cheap job carried out by a mechanic without the correct tools can cost more to rectify than taking the hit with the main dealer in the first place. Make sure you get your service book updated as this will add to the resale value of your car. On the  second timing belt change (if you get that far!) it may prove more cost effective to shop around and try your local mechanic.

If you are buying a vehicle with a mileage reading in the region of 60-100,000 miles (100-160,000 km) assume that the timing belt replacement has NOT been carried out until you are shown a service book with the replacement work logged and dated. Always confirm independently with the service garage that they have actually done the work as we have seen several ‘doctored’ service history books in our time.

I have several smaller mileage files to upload later this week which should see us move to 3.1 Million readings, but that’s another story.Actually another Blog. Or more correctly another Blog Post. Or if you are old school another Web Log Post.

Today we updated the Irish NMR with 229,060 mileage readings received from one of our partners.  Statistically this chunk of data covers 44,901 individual vehicles,  giving an average of just over five readings per vehicle for this particular upload.

As of 23rd March 2010 the Irish NMR contains 2,910,056 individual mileage readings with an average of just over three readings per vehicle. So before you get a pencil out to do the sums our NMR now contains data for over 970,000 individual vehicles. Having multiple readings per vehicle allows us to perform trend analysis on vehicles showing mileage discrepancies facilitating us to quickly weed out any incorrect data.

To put these numbers in perspective the current Irish fleet (Cars, Jeeps, Vans, Lorries, Tractors, etc.) consists of about 2.9 million vehicles  giving the NMR a total fleet coverage of 33%. However, since the readings we have are primarily for private vehicles and cars the level of coverage is significantly higher for these classes.

The Cartell NMR is Irelands largest mileage database and we are looking forward to hitting the three millionth reading milestone in the coming days. Maybe some of us will celebrate with a beer. Or three.

The issue will once again be raised by RTE’s Buyer Beware programme, due to air tonight Wednesday 18th November 2009. The programme uncovers a whole raft of irregularities within the system which Aherne believes can be easily rectified. Cartell.ie is calling for;

• The Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) to clarify its position in collecting mileage for the purpose of preventing clocking in order that the Department of Transport’s NCT and Vehicle Registration Unit (VRU) mileage can be released
• A co-operative approach between SIMI and Cartell.ie to share their respective mileage databases to further reduce clocking
• A much tougher approach to clocking more in line with the UK where prison sentences are imposed
• Mileage to be collected at point of sale by the Department of the Transport’s Vehicle Registration Unit

Currently, Cartell has access to over 138 million mileage readings between UK and Ireland, that’s 100 times greater than any other Irish company. According to their most recent statistics at least 18.5% of vehicles imported from the UK, and Irish vehicles are clocked. Furthermore, Buyer Beware has unearthed what would appear to be evidence which points to clocking taking place at a local level which should not have taken place because the dealer in question had previously given an undertaking to the National Consumer Agency not to sell clocked vehicles. Cartell is aware that its reports were used to identify the vehicle in question.

The clocking rate in the UK is estimated to be 10% and it costs UK motorists £100 million in reduced car values. Cartell.ie is therefore extremely concerned given that the clocking rate for these imports is nearly twice that found in the UK itself. Aherne believes the reason the figures are so high in Ireland could be due to individuals not checking the vehicle before importing it, but it is suspected that some unscrupulous dealers may have imported these vehicles knowing their history.

When a vehicles odometer is interfered with and the mileage reduced, this is known as clocking. Clocking is a major safety concern, as a vehicle with more mileage than indicated may not have had the correct servicing at manufacturers recommended intervals. This leads to increased incidents of mechanical failure resulting in a vehicle having to stop at inopportune locations, for example motorways. In extreme cases it may invoke an accident due to timing belt failure at high speeds.

Buyer Beware also raises the issue of cloning. Cartell has known for some time that criminals can apply for a Vehicle Registration Certificate (VRC) in their name for a car which they do not own and have not bought. The criminal then steals an identical vehicle and passes it off as the one they just applied for ownership of. The original vehicle which is generally “clean” and has no adverse history was never for sale and is essentially cloned so that two vehicles exist within the fleet, with an identical registration. One of them is of course stolen.

To combat this Cartell has for the past few months piloted an alert system having taken guidance from the Stolen Motor Vehicle Unit (SMVU). This alert system reviews recent activity on vehicles and alerts the dealer or customer that there may be a higher probability that the vehicle may be for sale under suspicious circumstances. Cartell is the only company to combat this type of fraud in this manner. To date Cartell customers have benefitted from this extra analysis and are more informed when dealing with certain vehicles.