Clocking to be criminalised

After years of campaigning it seems that clocking is to be made a crime in Ireland.

 What's the news?

If all goes to plan, on Wednesday of this week, Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar will introduce into the Dáil an amendment to the Road Traffic Bill that will convert the offence of 'clocking', or turning back the mileage reading on a car for sale, into a proper criminal offence.

Under the current legislation, clocking a car is only an offence under consumer law and you can only be prosecuted for it for up to two years after the sale of the vehicle in question - and if the garage you work for goes bust in the meantime, you're off scot-free. Winding back the mileage on a car can be a lucrative business, boosting the resale value by thousands of Euro, but it's also a potentially lethal practice. With the overall quality of cars on the increase, it's harder and harder to spot the tell-tale signs of a car that's been clocked, and therefore easier to miss crucial repair and maintenance issues such as brake changes, cambelt changes and suspension replacement.

According to vehicle history experts Cartell.ie, clocking is a serious issue in Ireland and it's been getting worse since the recession started. Cartell regularly takes a random 50,000 strong sample of used cars on sale and at the last measurement, 10.5 per cent had been clocked. That compares to an average rate of just six per cent in the UK market.

Frustratingly, the push to have the practice criminalised has been stymied before. In 2010, Cartell presented to the Dáil draft legislation that sought to criminalise the practice, along with related matters. That legislation was initially rejected by the FF/PD/Green Government in June 2010. In December 2012 a modified version of it was moved as a Private Members Bill by Anthony Lawlor TD (Fine Gael).

Cartell's Legal and PR Manager, John Byrne, who drafted the original 'clocking' Bill in 2010 said that "we are hopeful the legislation will be enacted and enforced imminently and bring with it a significant layer of protection for consumers who are vulnerable to buying a 'clocked' vehicle in Ireland. This should be considered a major advancement for consumer protection in Ireland and is a critical step in the battle to eradicate the practice of vehicle clocking in this country".

Anything else?
Under the present legislation, the National Consumer Agency advises buyers to be vigilant of the potential signs of clocking, to make sure that the vehicle's vendor records the mileage at point of sale so that there is proof of mileage for any potential prosecution and to notify the Gardaí if they are suspicious. Hopefully, from Wednesday onwards, that notification will carry significantly more weight.

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