Mileage of used vehicles
(for all nations)
Enter your postcode in the field at the bottom of this page to see if your local authority trading standards department has the full leaflet version available on its website.
The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 have replaced the Trade Descriptions Act and is a wide-ranging piece of legislation, which makes it a criminal offence for a trader to engage in a commercial practice that is misleading in respect to goods and services. The misleading element could be in the form of an actual action or description or in the omission of facts about the goods or services.
The mileage indicated by the odometer of a car is a description, and offences relating to it can include altering the odometer reading, making false claims about it, having a vehicle for sale with a false odometer reading, and/or including a false mileage statement in an advertisement.
Traders should carry out necessary checks to confirm the mileage; there are specific guidelines in relation to the use of any disclaimers.
