It is estimated that almost 2.5 million cars in the UK have a recorded mileage discrepancy, according to a study by Rapid Car Check.

Based on a sample size of 4m cars and vans, the company found that 6.3% of vehicles had a recorded mileage discrepancy.

This is caused when the recorded mileage drops between MOT tests or if there is a mixture of odometer reading in miles and kilometres.

Almost 6% were highlighted for having a negative mileage variation between MOT tests, suggesting the mileage was altered or the odometer was replaced between tests.

The Citroen Dispatch was found to have the largest mileage discrepancy, with 31% of vehicles checked failing the Rapid Car Check test.

The Renault Scenic and Grand Scenic were found to be the most affected cars, with the highest volume of recorded discrepancies. Although, these cars were known to suffer with a faulty instrument cluster which may have been replaced legitimately in a number of cases.

As this study only looked at recorded mileages at the time of the MOT test, it does not account for vehicles that were clocked prior to a test, such as those that are less than three years old, and therefore does not give a truly accurate representation of clocking.

In a previous study carried out by Rapid Car Check, the company found that, on average, vehicle mileages were reduced by 70,000 miles in the cases where discrepancies were found.

Only vehicles with more than 1,000 ‘fails’ were included in the data, which can be viewed here.

Top 20 cars and vans with the most mileage discrepancies:

Make & Model	Total Failed	Total Checked	Fail Rate
CITROEN DISPATCH	1363	4373	31.17
RENAULT SCENIC	3207	10757	29.81
PEUGEOT EXPERT	1313	4592	28.59
RENAULT GRAND SCENIC	1667	6020	27.69
FORD TRANSIT	8764	77554	11.30
VAUXHALL COMBO	1354	12080	11.21
BMW X5	1342	13006	10.32
CITROEN XSARA	1250	12212	10.23
VAUXHALL VECTRA	2688	26350	10.20
PEUGEOT 206	2146	21216	10.12
FORD TRANSIT CONNECT	1773	17638	10.05
FIAT PUNTO	2175	22838	9.52
PEUGEOT 307	1130	12402	9.11
MERCEDES-BENZ SPRINTER	1256	14087	8.92
RENAULT CLIO	4029	48148	8.37
TOYOTA AVENSIS	1168	14424	8.09
RENAULT MEGANE	2111	26270	8.04
VOLKSWAGEN PASSAT	4149	51927	7.99
TOYOTA YARIS	2784	35132	7.92
NISSAN MICRA	1911	24293	7.87

 

Cap HPI said the number of vehicles with a mileage discrepancy has increased by 22% year-on-year. In its own study, one in 11 vehicles (836,214) checked in 2019 had a mileage discrepancy, an increase of 22.2% over 2018’s figure (607,981) when one in 14 vehicles was recorded as having a mileage discrepancy.

In the past five years, Cap HPI says the number of vehicles with mileage discrepancies has increased by 45%.

The EU estimates between 5-12% of used cars sold inside EU countries and 30-50% of those sold across borders within the EU have been clocked.