Main dealer selling clocked cars

G-CBHV

I was quite shocked to read this, I knew this practice was common but I didnt realise it had reached a main dealer.

Galway car firm pledges not to sell 'clocked' cars

CIARÁN BRENNAN



A GALWAY car sales company has given a formal undertaking to the National Consumer Agency (NCA) not to engage in selling “clocked” cars.
The agency said as a result of a recent investigation it had formed the view that Arch Motors Ltd, of Westside, Galway, had been engaging in misleading commercial practices by selling or offering for sale used vehicles with altered or reduced odometer readings to increase their value.
The practice is known in the trade as “clocking”.
The Consumer Protection Act 2007 prohibits practices such as the selling of clocked cars or offering them for sale.
The NCA said on February 19th it identified three cars which were for sale by Arch Motors with a reduced mileage reading.
One of these vehicles was sold on February 22nd.
In addition to the formal undertaking not to sell clocked cars in the future, Arch Motors undertook to compensate consumers affected.
It is the second undertaking which the agency has obtained this year from car dealers.
In March a Limerick city car sales company, Orange Motors Ltd, gave a formal undertaking not to engage in car clocking or selling clocked cars following an investigation by the NCA.
It compensated three customers whose cars were clocked.
“By taking this action the agency puts a stop to this misleading practice by the dealers concerned, ensures that consumers get redress, and sends a clear message to other dealers that they cannot mislead consumers by selling them clocked cars and expect to get away with it,” said NCA chief executive Ann Fitzgerald.
The agency has received more than 40 complaints about car clocking in the past year, and assistant director Catherine Lenihan said it had a wide variety of enforcement tools to help it protect consumers.
These included undertakings, prohibition orders, compliance notices and prosecutions.


taken from:
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2008/0708/1215380378294.html

Cionád

This was posted already yesterday.

biko

Indeed
also in Galway forum

Seth Brundle

on that note...

Car 'clocking' widespread: NCA
Monday, 7 July 2008 16:52

The National Consumer Agency says it believes the practice of altering mileage readings on second-hand cars is widespread.*

It has appealed to people buying used cars to verify that readings are correct, so they will not end up out of pocket or driving vehicles that are not fit for the road.

The Chief Executive of the Agency, Ann Fitzgerald, says that when a dealer alters a mileage reading, it is usually done by a considerable amount, sometimes up to 50%.

Today the organisation announced it had secured a formal undertaking from a garage in Galway that it would not sell so-called clocked cars again.

The Agency found that Arch Motors had engaged in misleading commercial practices by selling or offering for sale cars, which had their mileage readings reduced.

The garage has pledged to compensate consumers who were affected by the practice.

Ms Fitzgerald says the Agency is continually monitoring the situation in an effort to end the practice.

Representatives from the NCA check garages around the country on a regular basis as well as responding to complaints from consumers.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0707/cars.html

* my emphasis

G-CBHV

Sorry! I did a quick search for 'arch' but didnt catch it, feel free to delete

klaus23

Just to give the dealership in question the benefit of the doubt, they did say that the three cars in question were taken as trade-ins in good faith and that it took the NCA what they described as 'a considerable amount of time' to conclude that these cars were clocked.

I have no connection of any kind with the dealership, just highlighting that this was reported differently in the local media. And with 90% of Irish cars I've ever seen having no service history of any kind, how is anybody with a lack of mechanical knowledge supposed to be able to tell if a car has been clocked or not? You could go and see a bog-standard 12 year old Renault Laguna in England and be handed all it's MOTs and a folder full of receipts, which allow you to make a more educated decision.