Overview

• Analysis of more than 2.5 million diagnostic sessions on over 550,000 UK cars from January to September 2025 found indicators of rollback or VIN discrepancies in 16.25% to 16.3% of vehicles.
• Carly reports the issue is widespread across Britain with no significant regional skew, exposing buyers to inflated prices, hidden wear and potential seizure if a tampered VIN masks a stolen or written-off car.
• Cheap ‘mileage blocker’ devices advertised online for about £200–£250 can pause mileage across vehicle modules and are marketed as hard to detect, undermining traditional visual and record checks.
• Coverage cites estimates that Britons overpay by roughly £750 million a year due to mileage fraud, with an average loss of about £4,750 per affected buyer, though these figures are reported estimates.
• Carly advises a pre-purchase digital scan using its Used Car Check (about £41), and media reports extrapolate that, based on annual sales volumes, more than 1.2 million secondhand purchases could involve manipulated vehicles.