The announcement by the Arab Council of Touring and Automobile Clubs (ACTAC) that it is launching a major effort to counter the problem of mileage fraud which affects up to 40% of used cars and costs consumers in the region billions of dollars each year ought to be welcomed and endorsed by the authorities concerned in Qatar.
Proposals, which include urging all Arab countries to take stronger legislative action against the widespread practice of illegally lowering the mileage of a car, went before the ACTAC General Assembly in Vienna last week.
Discussions centred on a mileage fraud policy guide by the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), of which ACTAC is a sub-region, and which will be circulated to all 24 FIA member clubs in the 18 Arab speaking countries, including the Qatar Automobile and Touring Club (QATC).
ACTAC chairman and FIA vice president Mohamed Ben Sulayem was quoted as saying that artificially lowering the mileage of a car today is a simple, cheap manipulation, which allows for the inflation of a vehicle’s value, in most cases by several thousand dollars.
He explained that countries go about addressing the issue in many different ways, allowing fraudsters to exploit the situation. In the EU, national approaches of single member states have shown that setting up national mileage databases merely shifts the problem to neighbouring countries.
ACTAC, therefore, believes that further action should be pursued at a Pan Arab level, in a region with more than 300mn people and 1.7mn  new car sales every year.
ACTAC says a co-ordinated international effort is needed to implement a series of measures. All Arab states should be encouraged to consider the manipulation or tampering of an odometer as an offence and effectively enforce their legislation.
An ideal action is to set up a Pan Arab electronic platform to exchange mileage data – in compliance with data protection legislation – making mileage data broadly available to Arab citizens buying motor vehicles, in particular cross border.
ACTAC says awareness campaigns should drive home to consumers the message that up to 40% of used cars have tampered odometers. Studies have shown that most tampering occurs when vehicles are still fairly new, largely before their first periodical technical inspection.
Currently, the mileage history of used cars is almost untraceable and prosecution for mileage fraud is extremely rare, especially when crossing national borders.
The Arab consumer pays the price, facing unforeseen and accelerated depreciation on cars with tampered odometers. They also face higher maintenance and repair costs.
The ACTAC announcement ought to be considered a call to action, especially since the used car market is a flourishing sector in the region, just like it is anywhere else in the world.