Vehicle Mileage Check letter

[Deleted User]

I recently sold my old car to the dealer as part-ex on a new one. I got a letter from "Vehicle Mileage Check", Chartered Trading Standards Institute corporate affiliate member. It's basically a survey asking about the car's mileage and if it has had any major accidents etc. There is a link to https://www.vmcresponse.uk.

Is this a scam or legit? I don't recall given them permission to contact me. It says that they got my details from either the dealer or the DVLA, which sounds like a Data Protection violation so I'm wondering if I should send them a reply asking for a few hundred quid.

AdrianC

DELETED USER wrote:

I recently sold my old car to the dealer as part-ex on a new one. I got a letter from "Vehicle Mileage Check", Chartered Trading Standards Institute corporate affiliate member. It's basically a survey asking about the car's mileage and if it has had any major accidents etc. There is a link to www.vmcresponse.uk.

Is this a scam or legit? I don't recall given them permission to contact me. It says that they got my details from either the dealer or the DVLA, which sounds like a Data Protection violation

Don't be daft. When you registered the vehicle in your name, you agreed to your information being shared (in a limited manner) in connection to that vehicle to people with a legitimate interest in it. This is just a check to see if the dealer's clocking it, to help protect future purchasers of it.

so I'm wondering if I should send them a reply asking for a few hundred quid.

Are you serious?

docmatt

Hmm, new to me that one, I'd bin it.

EssexExile

I've had one of those letters, I responded as requested. Nothing nasty happened.

giraffe69

Hmm, new to me that one, I'd bin it.

I think it is routine procedure and as said above nothing bad has ever happened when I've done it and if it saves someone buying a clocked vehicle then something good has happened. Interesting you would n=bin it without doing any checking because it was new to you!

AdrianC

DavidP24 wrote: »

Go to ICO website and put in a complaint.

You provided data on V5 for a PURPOSE, to update the DVLA, you did not consent for your data to be sold or given to these scumbags.

Sorry, but you DID consent, by registering the vehicle in your name. The ICO would (quite rightly) dismiss your complaint straight off.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/433570/INF266_210515.pdf

To withhold consent, you should have not registered a vehicle in your name. Since it's a legal requirement to register a vehicle you own, then you opt out by not owning a vehicle. If you lease a vehicle, you will find that the lease company register it in their name - however, they are likely to release your details for similar reasons.

If you're so paranoid about your details, then the simplest solution is not to have a vehicle. Don't forget to only pay for your bus fare with cash.

silvercar

I've just had one of these letters for a car I sold 2 years ago.

It asks for the mileage on sale, I have discarded virtually all paperwork for this car now. How accurate do they expect the mileage to be?

daveyjp

For older cars the service is now largely redundant now you can check MOT histories online.

silvercar

daveyjp wrote: »

For older cars the service is now largely redundant now you can check MOT histories online.

My thought was that everything can be checked online, so why are they writing to me?

2010 car, so would have had 2 MOTs before I sold it. Just had a thought, I drove it with a personal plate, so there may not be MOTs online linking to its current registration number.

Car_54

AdrianC wrote: »

Don't be daft. When you registered the vehicle in your name, you agreed to your information being shared (in a limited manner) in connection to that vehicle to people with a legitimate interest in it. This is just a check to see if the dealer's clocking it, to help protect future purchasers of it.

The DVLA's data protection registration is summarised here https://ico.org.uk/for-the-public/dvla/

It seems to me that there are two possible reasons for releasing personal data to this commercial organisation.

One is "if the information was withheld, it would be likely to stop or delay preventing or detecting crime or prosecuting offenders." In the present example, that seems tenuous in the extreme.

The other is "to release information to anyone who can prove that they have ‘reasonable cause’ to have it". All of the examples given by the ICO concern actual or suspected crimes or torts, which again do not apply here.

rockey100

This is one of their standard letters as a way of measuring mileage discrepancies.
https://www.carveto.co.uk/car-history-check/freecarcheck/ were pretty helpful around a car mileage check investigation I had. Use their support if you have problems.