The cars with the most mileage manipulations uncovered: German cars from the premium segment dominate the list
Turning back mileage is one of the most common cases of fraud in the used car market. It artificially increases the price of a used car and ruins the fairness of buying a car. As a current carVertical study showed, buyers of German premium vehicles are exposed to the greatest risk of buying a car with an incorrect mileage.
TOP 10 car models with the most frequent mileage manipulations: The BMW M5 tops the list
To determine the list of the most frequently clocked cars, the IT data company analyzed carVertical 700.000+ used car reports generated between November 2020 and November 2021. Eighteen different markets were included, including Poland, Romania, Hungary, France, Slovenia, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Serbia, Germany, Croatia, Russia, the United States and Italy.
As the mileage data shows, the BMW M5 is the vehicle most frequently affected, with the mileage possibly being turned down in slightly more than a third of the models tested. As Matas Buzelis, automotive expert at carVertical, recently noted, BMW vehicles dominate the list:
“Half of the TOP 10 list is occupied by BMW models. This correlates with the demand for used BMW vehicles in various markets. The data also shows that expensive cars are more likely to be tampered with, which must be taken into account when looking for a used car. "
It is precisely at this point that checking the mileage is very helpful.
In second and third place on the list are the BMW 7 Series and the Subaru Outback with 33,4 and 31,8 percent of the possible clocked vehicles, respectively. The Audi A8 was the fifth most manipulated, while its sportier sibling, the A7, took tenth place with just over a quarter (25,8 percent) of the vehicles recorded with the mileage turned down.
Matas Buzelis explains that the reason there are so many premium vehicles on this list is because of the higher profit increases in that class of vehicle. Turning back the odometer is a relatively cheap and straightforward process that provides dubious car dealers with additional income.
The extended list of the 20 most frequently manipulated vehicles can be found in this one Study.
The most frequently manipulated car models by year of construction: The oldest cars are clocked the most
As the study shows, it is important to pay attention to the mileage when buying a used car, especially for older vehicles. The most frequently adulterated models were manufactured between 2006 and 2016. The car expert Matas Buzelis emphasizes, however, that there is primarily a connection between the likelihood of fraud and the vehicle class:
“The list of the most frequently rigged cars consists mainly of premium vehicles, but there are also some economy-class models, albeit with a smaller proportion of the total number of clocked models. Subaru, Ford and Volkswagen vehicles belong to the same age group as the luxury class vehicles. It looks like 5 to 15 year old cars are most likely to be clocked ”.
The Ford Mustang is the newest model on this list. Future owners of the sixth generation of the muscular Mustang should be extra careful and check the recorded mileage online. Owners of the BMW M5 from 2006, the 5 Series from 2007 and the X5 should also check whether their car has a real mileage.
Matas Buzelis explains that it can be a little more difficult to change the mileage on the latest models. In the case of newer cars, it is also less likely that a fake is worthwhile because, on average, they have only traveled a shorter distance since purchase:
“There is no point in turning back a car with, say, 50.000 or 80.000 kilometers, but it is worthwhile for buyers to check whether such mileage is real or not”.
The most frequently manipulated car models by fuel type: Diesel vehicles are most often clocked
Most of the manipulated car models are equipped with a diesel engine. As automotive expert Buzelis points out, this has always been the case:
“Diesel vehicles are designed for longer distances, so these vehicles are more likely to be fraudulent. That could change in the future, however, because the sale of diesel vehicles is falling. "
“If we look at the numbers, we can clearly see that typically up to 80 or 90 percent of the clocked models are diesel vehicles. Take the Volkswagen Phaeton, for example - out of 10 models, nine have diesel engines and only one is powered by a gasoline engine. "
The breakdown of BMW's 6 Series clocked gasoline and diesel vehicles is almost identical, but that's because the gasoline models are much more popular. In some cases there are no diesel engines at all in the model selection. For example, the BMW M5 and Ford Mustang are only available as gasoline engines.
Conclusion: Mileage fraud drives up the value of used cars and ruins the experience when buying a car
carVertical has analyzed the value of the clocked cars and found that 16,1 percent of the vehicles checked in the last 12 months had a mileage fraud. Since mileage fraud is quite common in the used car market, it is important to use the online vehicle history check to avoid falling victim to such cases of fraud.
While buyers of economy class vehicles have a slightly lower risk of being the victim of fraud, buyers of premium class diesel vehicles who are between 5 and 15 years old are most at risk, as this type of vehicle is most frequently clocked. Mileage fraud is abundant on high-performance models, too, and buying such a vehicle without checking the vehicle history online can turn into a financial nightmare.