§ Mr. Terry DavisTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment he has made of the adequacy of existing legislation for protecting customers against being sold cars for which the mileage has been altered. [100812]
§ Dr. HowellsSelling a car with a false mileage reading is an offence under the Trade Descriptions Act 1968. The key is to ensure that the enforcement authorities and buyers have access to reliable information on the history of a vehicle and my Department has been working with the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR) on ways to improve this.
As a result the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency are currently considering proposals to make available more information on mileage by introducing a mandatory requirement for mileage to be recorded on vehicle registration and licensing forms. In addition, the computerisation of the MOT testing system by DETR will provide another central source of mileage information on vehicles more than three years old. For newer cars, the Government support the car retail industry's scheme for centrally recording data collected when vehicles are services.