Guide
Is Mileage Correction Legal?
The short answer: setting a car to its true mileage is legitimate work. Winding it back to mislead a buyer is fraud. Here’s where the line is drawn.
Correction vs clocking
Mileage correction means making a replacement or faulty part show the car’s real, verified mileage. Clocking means changing the reading to make a car look less used than it is, usually to get more money for it. The equipment can be the same, but the purpose is completely different.
What the law says
Misrepresenting a vehicle’s mileage can breach consumer protection law and may amount to fraud. Current CMA guidance under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 explains that false mileage information, omitting genuine mileage information, and clocking a car can breach the rules on unfair commercial practices. Those provisions apply to practices from 6 April 2025.
Keep the evidence and repair invoice, explain any discrepancy, and disclose the work when selling. If the true mileage cannot be established, do not present an unsupported reading as verified.
Read the CMA’s official mileage examples
How we keep every job legitimate
- We ask for evidence of the true mileage, such as service history, MOT records or the reading held in the car’s other modules
- We only set a reading supported by evidence of the vehicle’s genuine mileage
- Your invoice records the registration, date, mileage before and after, and the reason for the work
- We keep our own records of every correction
- We refuse jobs that look like clocking, whatever the price
Selling a car that’s had a correction?
Keep the invoice with the car’s paperwork and tell the buyer. If you’re open about it and the reading is genuine, you’re doing it properly.
Buying a used car? Protect yourself
- Check the free online MOT history. Mileage should rise steadily from test to test
- Compare the dash reading with service stamps and invoices
- Look for wear that doesn’t match the reading: a shiny steering wheel, worn pedals or a stone-chipped bonnet on a "low mileage" car
- Run a vehicle history check, and ask a specialist to compare the mileage stored in each module
Want us to check a car’s modules for mismatched mileage before you buy? Give us a call.