A west London car dealer has been handed a suspended prison sentence after selling £350,000-worth of ‘clocked’ motors with vastly-reduced mileages.
Iman Behroozi Garaei, 34, bought vehicles including Audis, BMWs, and Mercedes at auction before selling them on at reputation marketplaces including AutoTrader and Copart Auctions.
However an investigation by Kensington and Chelsea council and Trading Standards officers uncovered that Garaei was routinely reducing mileages on the vehicles to boost his profits.
Some of the cars had almost 80,000 miles taken off the clocks, and Garaei is estimated to have made up to £5000 extra per sale thanks to the scam.
At Southwark crown court, Garaei, who lives in Cricklewood, north London, pleaded guilty to a series of charges involving at least 46 ‘clocked’ cars worth more than £350,000.
He was sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for two years, with 100 hours of community service and 15 days of a rehabilitation activity requirement.
“Car clocking is a manipulative way of misleading customers with false claims leaving them frustrated, out of pocket and potentially even in danger”, said Councillor Josh Rendall, Kensington and Chelsea’s lead member for local economy and employment.
“Illegal trading has no place in our borough.”
Trish Burls, Chair of the National Trading Standards Tri-Region Investigation Team, added that car clocking is “illegal and could lead to mechanical issues which risk passengers’ lives.
“We know that criminals have no respect for local authority borders, but this case sends a strong message to others engaged in these illegal activities that we are working together to successfully prosecute offenders.”
Garaei fell under suspicion after a customer bought a BMW 330D in May 2017 with a supposed mileage of 35,000, only to later discover it had previously been sold with a 93,000 mileage.
Garaei used false names and is believed to have operated his car clocking scam for several years, destroying genuine service history documents and creating false MOT certificates to cover his tracks.