How a mileage check works
Every MOT test records the odometer reading, and the DVSA has kept those readings since 2005. Laid out in date order they should rise steadily. A reading lower than an earlier one, or a long flat stretch on a car that was supposedly in daily use, is the sign that something is wrong.
The free check shows every reading with the test date and result. It takes a few seconds and needs only the registration.
What clocking is, and why it is done
Clocking means winding back the odometer so a car appears to have covered fewer miles. Lower mileage means a higher price, and on modern cars the reading is changed with a plug-in tool in minutes, so it is done to ordinary cars as well as expensive ones.
Altering an odometer is not itself an offence in the UK, but selling a car without disclosing that its mileage is wrong is, and it is one of the most common forms of used-car fraud.
Reading the mileage history
Things to look for in the list of readings:
- A reading lower than the one before it
- A sudden change in the miles covered each year
- A gap of several years with no MOT, then a low reading
- A current odometer reading below the last MOT reading
- A reading entered in kilometres or with an obvious typing slip, which explains some one-off anomalies
Cars under three years old
A car has no MOT until it is three years old, so there are no MOT readings to compare. For newer cars the service record is the evidence: each service records the mileage. A DealerPricing service history check retrieves the manufacturer's digital service record where the brand keeps one.
Beyond the readings
Wear tells its own story. A car showing 30,000 miles should not have a shiny steering wheel, worn pedal rubbers, a sagging driver's seat or stone-chipped headlights. Check that the mileage on service invoices, the last MOT certificate and the dashboard agree.
If the mileage history looks wrong, the £3.99 history check is worth running before you go further: cars that have been clocked often have other history worth knowing about.