Car Dealer Fined For 'Clocking' Offence

A Coalisland car dealer has been fined a total of £650 plus costs at Dungannon Magistrates' Court this week.

In a case brought by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment’s Trading Standard Service (TSS), Enda McNulty who trades as McNulty Motors pleaded guilty to three charges under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.

In October 2009, a complaint was received by Trading Standards Service (TSS), from a consumer who had intended to buy a BMW 320D from Enda McNulty.

The car had been advertised on the trader's own website with a mileage reading of 110,000. When the consumer went to view the car he noted that the odometer reading was 119,000.

The consumer was interested in buying the car but decided to carry out his own checks on the vehicle to ensure that all the information, particularly the mileage reading, relating to the car was correct.

On an AA report he discovered that there was a mileage discrepancy and decided not to proceed with his purchase.

Investigations carried out by TSS revealed that the mileage travelled by the car was at least 156,585, some 47,000 more miles than that advertised by Enda McNulty.

Michael Toal of the Trading Standards Service said: "This is a case of a trader not exercising proper due diligence by carrying out simple widely recognised checks to establish that all the information relating to a particular vehicle is correct, to the best of their knowledge.

"Mr McNulty could have easily established that the mileage reading was incorrect by making some very simple enquiries.

"The onus should not be on the consumer to verify that the description of a vehicle is correct. They should be able to trust that the information supplied by traders is accurate and be confident that all relevant checks on any vehicle have been carried out," he said.

The trade in 'clocked' cars affects both consumers and honest motor dealers.

Consumers may well find the condition of the vehicle with a false mileage to be much worse than they expect and this could lead to unexpected expense further down the line.

Honest dealers are at a commercial disadvantage as a car with a correct mileage is generally more expensive than an identical model that has been 'clocked' to the same mileage.

Trading Standards Service advises that consumers should always be vigilant when purchasing second hand vehicles.

The OFT 'Guidance for second hand car dealers' is available to download from the OFT website on: www.oft.gov.uk/

(BMcC/GK)