The number of Car-Pass documents issued increased by 7.0% in 2023.
After a difficult 2022, used car sales rebounded last year. The number of Car-Pass documents issued surfed on that wave, increasing by 7.0% to 813,835 units.
Car-Pass processed 19.38 million odometer readings from 13,751 sources.
Car-Pass received 19.38 million odometer readings in 2023, which is 8.2% more than in 2022 and an all-time record. The increase is mainly due to mileage data from connected cars, of which Car-Pass processed 2.78 million. 13,751 different companies and establishments shared at least one odometer reading last year. We thus broke the 2022 record of 172 units.
Michel Peelman, managing director of the non-profit association Car-Pass confirms: "The reliability of the Car-Pass system stands or falls with the number of odometer readings received and their delivery by a large number of independent sources. In this sense, it is also pleasing to note that the amount of data from connected cars has increased eightfold in four years. Since 1 January 2020, importers have been obliged to communicate four times a year an odometer reading of their - in Belgium registered - connected vehicles to Car-Pass, which is unique in Europe. This data flow will continue to gain importance in the coming years."
We drive 15% more car kilometers than 2 years ago.
Car-Pass manages the central register of mileage readings for the Belgian car fleet and thus has a good overview of car mobility. The average Belgian car drove 14,075 km last year. That's 2.5% more than in 2022 and up 15.4% on 2021.
The biggest fraud of 2023: 560,000 km off the odometer
In 2023, 1,640 cases of counter fraud were uncovered. 1,055 involved domestic sales (0.15% of the total) and 585 (0.58%) cases involved tampering when the vehicle was imported into our country. These are very low numbers. They show that fraud on imports is falling year on year – in 2020, the percentage of fraud on imports was still 2.4%. On average the odometer reading decreased in fraud cases by almost 70,000 km. Nevertheless, every year our data reveal very serious fraud cases. The table shows the 10 heaviest frauds of 2023. It is a 2012 Mercedes E200 diesel that tops this ranking with a drop of a whopping 560,000 km.
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Exactly 20 years ago, on 11 June 2004, the Chamber passed the ‘Act to curb cheating with vehicle odometer readings". Time for a retrospective and for an appeal to our new elected members of the European Parliament.
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For Car-Pass, 2023 was an excellent year; the number of Car-Pass documents requested increased by 7% and we processed 19.38 million mileage records, which is an absolute record, thanks in part to the influx of data from connected vehicles. Our figures also confirm that we are all driving our cars more again (+15.4% over two years). Unfortunately, a number of blatant fraud cases also came to light again last year.
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More than 60 million used cars are sold every year in the EU and every year European consumers pay billions of euros too much because of odometerl fraud. The Belgium presidency is putting this issue back on the European agenda.
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The annual report of the non-profit association Car-Pass shows that 2022 was marked by a decrease in the number of requested Car-Pass documents but also in the number of cases of counter fraud, especially in imported used cars. Also positive was the increase in the influx of odometer readings, especially those of connected vehicles. This is despite the fact that some importers do not comply with their legal obligations in this respect.
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