The ‘authorized’ units threatening to scupper Rachel Reeves’ pay-per-mile tax on electrical and hybrid automobiles

The Chancellor’s plan to tax electric and hybrid cars for every mile they’re driven could be undermined by new ‘legal’ devices that help motorists hide how much they’re using their motors.

Rachel Reeves announced in her Autumn Budget statement last November the introduction of a ‘fairer’ road taxation system that will see owners of EVs stung with a 3p charge for every mile they cover from April 2028 – with hybrid owners hit with a 1.5p per mile levy.

Motorists will need to self-declare their annual mileage, with a yearly payment made based on how far they intent to drive over the next 12 months.

The tax sting is to compensate for electrified vehicles evading fuel duty paid on every litre of petrol and diesel, which is a rapidly evaporating income for the Treasury as the nation’s car parc transitions to greener models.

But the availability of ‘mileage blockers’ threatens to scupper Ms Reeves’ electric Vehicle Excise Duty (eVED), with owners of EVs and hybrids able to fit devices that effectively pause the mileage displayed on the clocks and in the car’s electronic brain as they’re being driven.

Also known as ‘mileage freezers’ and ‘mileage stoppers’, the plug-in devices are sold online using the legal loophole that they’re only for off-road use. But they’re also described as ‘untraceable’, with prices ranging from £200 to £900. 

And a new investigation by Autocar has found that providers have already developed blockers for the most popular electric and hybrid cars ahead of Reeves’ proposed pay-per-mile sting – and ‘hundreds of drivers and businesses’ are buying them on a weekly basis.

As such, it could see the return of a vehicle ‘clocking’ crisis similar to that seen in the 1980s and 1990s. 

Mileage fraud is already a growing problem in Britain. 

Vehicle history checking providers including CarVertical and HPI suggest around 2.3 per cent of all UK vehicles show evidence of having their mileage fraudulently adjusted.

But while the Treasury says the practice is ‘uncommon’ and it is a criminal offence not to declare that a vehicle has been clocked when it’s sold, the availability of highly advanced mileage-tampering technologies and grey areas in the legal system mean drivers will have easy access to devices that can evade Reeves’ tax sting.

The eVED proposal is for electric and hybrid car owners to pay an annual additional charge based on their predicted mileage each year. 

The annual MOT test – where mileage is recorded based on what’s displayed on the car’s clocks (or odometer) – will validate whether a motorist has exceeded their forecast mileage and need to top up their eVED payment or covered fewer miles than expected and be issued credits towards the next year’s charge. 

But electric and hybrid vehicles with a mileage blocker installed will effectively present a lower annual mileage reading to MOT centres than what they’ve genuinely clocked up over 12 months.

Autocar contacted leading suppliers of these devices found online posing as customers who own an electric Volkswagen ID.3.

The automotive title was told by installers that the devices are ‘safe and reliable’ and they were hardwiring around 500 into retail customer cars and 250 to 300 trade vehicles every month.

Autocar was also told by sellers that they were rapidly increasing coverage of the market, with devices specifically designed to manipulate the mileage of cars from mainstream brands, like VW.

Mileage freezers for popular new Chinese brands, including Jaecoo, Omoda and Chery, were also said to be under development.

The findings from the investigation were presented to the Treasury. 

A spokesperson told Autocar the government is ‘considering further options to mitigate against odometer tampering and intends to engage with manufacturers, the leasing industry and insurers to minimise fraud’. 

Mileage blockers explained 

There has already been a big jump in the online availability and use of mileage blockers in recent years, which are typically deployed to scam second-hand car buyers into overpaying or help drivers cheat to adhere to contracted mileage limits in motor finance agreements.

The plug-in devices are sold legally online and make it impossible to identify if a car’s mileage has been tampered with – even during an MOT test.

Instead of lowering the vehicle’s mileage, the devices pause it when the car is being driven.

But they don’t only pause the odometer in a car’s instrument cluster behind the steering wheel; they stop every new mile driven from registering on the vehicle’s ECU, which is essentially the car’s brain and record holder.

As such, any deleted mileage will not be identified during MOT tests or vehicle servicing.

UK sellers of these manipulative products are taking advantage of legal loopholes around clocking devices by caveating that they are ‘for off-road or research use only’, an exclusive investigation by This is Money found in 2024.

However, they are also advertised as ‘totally untraceable’ and ’99 per cent undetectable’, raising serious concerns that fraudsters could potentially target EV drivers.

The Treasury says: ‘eVED compliance arrangements will place responsibilities on owners of vehicles to report mileage correctly, to ensure their odometer is functioning and to ensure MOT results are accurate.

‘Vehicle manufacturers will retain responsibility for ensuring that, as far as possible, odometers cannot be tampered with and for assisting the government where it appears that tampering may be occurring, recognising that odometer information is often held in more than one place in a vehicle.

‘MOT garages will, as now, be responsible for making sure that mileages are recorded accurately.’

It adds that enforcement measures, including penalties, fines and court prosecutions, would likely be used to deter clocking.

It too says it could use Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras to detect if unregistered EVs are being driven on the road.

Steve Gooding, director of the RAC Foundation, told This is Money that ‘there was never going to be an elegant, fool proof replacement for fuel duty which is so simple to collect and almost impossible to evade’ and warns eVED presents a very real temptation for ‘unscrupulous drivers to clock their battery-powered cars’.

Why mileage blockers can be sold online LEGALLY 

Under UK law, the act of altering the mileage on a car is not technically illegal.

However, it is illegal to sell that car without disclosing any known mileage discrepancies to the buyer.

Yet, providers of these devices are advertising that they can be used to trick buyers overpaying for second-hand cars.

One online provider quotes: ‘If you plan to sell your vehicle in the future, a lower recorded mileage can significantly boost its resale value. A mileage blocker helps you maintain the integrity of your mileage data, ensuring that you get the best value when it’s time to sell.’

While this is not only cheating victims out of hundreds of pounds it also makes them vulnerable to driving potentially dangerous cars due to major components – including the engine – having greater wear and tear than what the mileage suggests. 

It is also possible for vehicle traders to be prosecuted for mileage fraud under the Consumer Regulation Act, though only if a victim can prove that they have clocked a car for financial gain.

The last time the Government seriously looked into the activity was in 2016.

This [oddly] was part of a consultation paper on road worthiness testing in tractors, which also raised concerns over clocking and the activities of mileage adjustment companies in general vehicles.

John Hayes, then minister of State for Transport, said the responses to the consultation would help make changes to legislation.

‘We are aware of some recent concerns in the media that the manipulation itself is not illegal, only the subsequent sale of the vehicle,’ he said.

‘We are keen to understand respondents’ views on this matter.’

However, in September that year, the Department for Transport issued a non-committal response to the car clocking issue, simply stating: ‘The Government will consider further what measures, if any, are needed.’

The response drew criticism from various consumer rights groups, car-trade businesses and the Chartered Trading Standards Institute for failing to seriously address the issue at the time.

And it is clear from the latest online activity around mileage blockers that businesses continue to take advantage of the loopholes today.

When This is Money asked the DfT about its future plans to tackle vehicle clocking during our 2024 investigation, we received the following lacklustre response: ‘When buying second-hand cars, consumers can check the MOT history – including mileages recorded at the annual tests – on gov.uk.’