9:23 am, February 14, 2023
German cars are the most affected by mileage fraud.
That’s according to Carvertical after it analysed 1.11m vehicle history reports over the past 12 months across 24 markets, covering most of Europe as well as the USA.
The vehicle history company found that German cars suffered the most when it came to clocked mileage, with the luxurious Audi A8, pictured, having the dubious distinction of being the most-clocked car.
Although precise figures weren’t revealed, out of all A8s checked on the platform, 30.6 per cent of them had a falsified mileage – almost one in three.
In fact, six out of 10 of the most-clocked cars were expensive German vehicles, namely the Audi A7, BMW X5, BMW 7 Series, and Volkswagen Touareg.
According to Carvertical, their high cost – and therefore high potential for profit – made them a perfect target for odometer scammers on the second-hand market.
In second place was the Ford Mustang, with 25.7 per cent being clocked, while third was the Touareg at 25.4 per cent.
Carvehicle said that mileage fraud significantly lowered a car’s value, and cited a study by the European Parliamentary Research Service that put mileage fraud-related losses at an estimated €8.77bn (£7.74bn) a year.
Engine type isn’t a good indicator for determining whether a vehicle is likely to be clocked, either.
Although for some models, such as the BMW 7 Series, petrol and diesel are still more likely to be clocked than hybrids, for other cars this doesn’t seem to be the case.
The hybrid powertrain on the VW Jetta, for example, has a more significant share of cars with a clocked mileage (27 per cent) than the diesel (24.1 per cent) or petrol version (22.4 per cent).
And although the overall share of clocked electric vehicles (13.4 per cent) is lower than Europe’s average (15.6 per cent), Carvertical said the difference is negligible.
What’s more, buying an electrified car with a falsified mileage could lead to massive repair bills, it warned. Clocked electric cars pose the highest risk as degraded battery packs mean expensive repairs, it said.
The top 20 clocked-cars of 2022
- Audi A8 (30.6 per cent)
- Ford Mustang (25.7)
- VW Touareg (25.4)
- Audi A7 (24.5)
- BMW 7 Series (24.1)
- VW Transporter (24.0)
- BMW X6 (23.6)
- BMW X5 (23.4)
- Audi A6 (22.2)
- Ford Fusion (22.0)
- VW CC (21.8)
- VW Sharan (21.5)
- VW Jetta (21.2)
- Volvo XC70 (21.1)
- BMW 6 Series (21.0)
- Audi Q7 (20.4)
- Audi A5 (20.2)
- VW Passat (19.6)
- Opel Insignia (19.5)
- BMW 5 Series (18.3)
Source: Carvertical
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