Which used cars show the most signs of clocking?
carVertical, a vehicle history company that, like CarCanny, sells car checks, publishes which models most often show signs of a wound-back mileage among the UK cars it checks. Here are its latest figures, what they can and can't tell you, and how to check the mileage on the car you're thinking of buying.
By Maciej Kalka
Car enthusiast
Updated
First published
Quick answer
In carVertical's checks of UK cars in the first half of 2026, the Nissan Qashqai had the highest share showing signs of a mileage rollback: 10.8%. The Skoda Octavia (8.2%) and Audi Q5 (8.1%) came next. These are cars carVertical's customers checked, not all UK cars, so check the mileage record of any car you view.
Key takeaways
- In carVertical's UK checks from the first half of 2026, 10.8% of Nissan Qashqais showed signs of a mileage rollback, the highest share of any model.
- The figures cover cars checked with carVertical, not every car on UK roads, so they show where clocking turned up in its data, not the odds for the car you're viewing.
- CarCanny's full report checks whether the mileage ever went down between MOT tests, but it uses MOT readings only, so it can't see what happened before a car's first MOT or between tests.
See what CarCanny finds on the car you're looking at.
Which used cars show the most signs of clocking?
In carVertical's UK checks in the first six months of 2026, the Nissan Qashqai had the highest share showing signs of a mileage rollback, at 10.8%.
| Rank | Model | Share of checks showing signs of clocking | Average miles wound back |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nissan Qashqai | 10.8% | 12,250 |
| 2 | Skoda Octavia | 8.2% | 17,869 |
| 3 | Audi Q5 | 8.1% | 18,452 |
| 4 | Audi A6 | 7.4% | 21,511 |
| 5 | Land Rover Defender | 7.0% | 51,237 |
| 6 | Audi Q7 | 6.2% | 19,412 |
| 7 | Audi A5 | 5.9% | 22,482 |
| 8 | Audi A3 | 5.5% | 17,995 |
| 9 | Land Rover Range Rover | 5.2% | 26,006 |
| 10 | Vauxhall Astra | 5.1% | 26,150 |
Source: carVertical's figures for the first six months of 2026, published by Fleet News on 18 August 2026. Method: for each model, the share of the cars checked with carVertical whose history showed signs of the mileage being wound back, and the average miles taken off those cars. The full list has 20 models; these are the top 10. The figures are by model name only, so they don't say which generation, engine or year was affected.
Audi models fill five of the top 10 places. The Qashqai also topped carVertical's UK figures for the whole of 2025, when 9.7% of those checked showed signs of clocking, ahead of the Volvo XC60 (8.4%) and Volvo XC90 (7.2%), Fleet News reported in February 2026. For 2024, Fleet News reported 3.4% for the Qashqai. The published figures don't explain the difference, so it may not be a like-for-like trend.
Which clocked cars had the most miles taken off?
Among carVertical's top 20 for the first half of 2026, Land Rover Defenders showing signs of clocking had the largest average rollback, at 51,237 miles.
| Model | Average miles wound back | Share of checks showing signs of clocking |
|---|---|---|
| Land Rover Defender | 51,237 | 7.0% |
| BMW 5 Series | 38,388 | 3.8% |
| Volkswagen Passat | 31,745 | 4.3% |
Same dataset and method as the ranking above. A rare rollback can still be a big one: tens of thousands of hidden miles mean more wear than the price suggests.
What don't these clocking figures tell you?
They show where carVertical found clocking in the cars its customers checked, not how many cars on UK roads have been clocked.
- They cover only cars someone chose to check with carVertical, which isn't a random sample of the UK's cars.
- The published figures don't say how many of each model were checked, so you can't tell how big each model's sample was.
- carVertical says its reports draw on more than 1,000 international databases, including national registries, insurers and official garages, so its figures don't rest on MOT readings alone.
- carVertical's motoring expert, Matas Buzelis, links the Qashqai's place to how many are bought and sold, which he says can leave it more open to clocking.
- None of it tells you about the car in front of you: a Qashqai can have a genuine mileage, and a model that isn't on the list can still be clocked.
Can newer cars be clocked?
Yes: digital odometers are harder to tamper with than old mechanical ones, but the RAC says criminals can still change the reading with specialist tools or software, electric cars included.
In an analysis of cars built from 2000 to 2023, reported by Fleet News in January 2026, carVertical found mileage discrepancies in 1.8% of its checks on cars built in 2021, and 1.5% on cars built in 2022 and 2023. Where two-year-old cars had been clocked, the average rollback was over 20,000 miles.
GOV.UK says a car must have its first MOT by the third anniversary of its registration, so a younger car usually has no MOT mileage on record yet. For one of those, the service history is the main record of its miles. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
How do I check the mileage on a used car?
Check that the mileage went up at every MOT, then that the car and its paperwork fit the latest reading.
Read every MOT reading
GOV.UK's MOT history service shows the mileage recorded at each test since 2005 (since 2017 for tests in Northern Ireland). Each should be higher than the one before.
Compare the odometer
At the viewing, the dashboard should show at least the mileage at the car's last MOT.
Match the service history
Service stamps and invoices record the mileage too. They should fit between the MOT readings, in date order.
Look at the wear
A worn steering wheel, driver's seat or pedal rubbers don't fit a car with low miles.
CarCanny's full report checks whether the mileage ever went down between MOT tests. It says "Adds up" when every reading is at least the one before it, or "Check" when one goes down, and charts every reading with the miles since the last. It uses MOT readings only, so it can't see a car clocked before its first MOT, or between two tests to a figure still above the last reading. The free check doesn't include the mileage check, but it shows whether the car matches its logbook.
Our guide to spotting a clocked car covers the signs at the viewing, what the law says, and what to do if you've bought one.
Frequently asked questions
Can modern cars be clocked?
Yes. The RAC says digital odometers are harder to tamper with, but criminals can still change the reading with specialist tools or software, and that includes electric cars. carVertical has found mileage discrepancies on cars built as recently as 2022 and 2023.
Can you tell if a vehicle has been clocked?
You can look for signs, though no check catches every case. Check on GOV.UK's MOT history service that the mileage went up at every test, that the service history's mileages fit between the MOT readings, and that the wear inside the car fits the miles shown. A car under three years old usually has no MOT yet, so its service records matter more.
Is car clocking legal in the UK?
The RAC says winding back an odometer isn't illegal in itself, but that selling a clocked car is mileage fraud. Traders are held to more: Trading Standards' guidance says altering an odometer, or offering or selling a car with a misleading mileage, can be an offence under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024, even if the trader didn't know, unless they took all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence.
Sources
- GOV.UK: Check the MOT history of a vehicle(opens in a new tab)
- GOV.UK: Getting an MOT, when to get an MOT(opens in a new tab)
- Business Companion (Trading Standards): Mileage of used vehicles(opens in a new tab)
- Fleet News: Top 20 most clocked cars and mileage rollbacks revealed, carVertical's figures for January to June 2026 (18 August 2026)(opens in a new tab)
- Fleet News: 'Most clocked' cars revealed by vehicle history platform, carVertical's figures for 2025 (25 February 2026)(opens in a new tab)
- Fleet News: Nissan Qashqai tops list of most clocked cars, carVertical's figures for 2024 (11 February 2025)(opens in a new tab)
- Fleet News: Newer cars increasingly targeted by mileage fraudsters (26 January 2026)(opens in a new tab)
- carVertical: About us(opens in a new tab)
- RAC: How to spot a clocked car (2 July 2025)(opens in a new tab)
The ideas for our guides come from people on our team. We use AI tools to help research, draft and edit them, and the named author reads each one before it's published.
Written by
Maciej Kalka
Car enthusiast at CarCanny
Maciej is a researcher at vlayer, the company behind CarCanny, working on zero-knowledge proofs and applied cryptography. Before vlayer, Maciej was a doctoral researcher in physics at AGH University of Krakow.
