Marketplace · Finance platform · Auction house
possible_clocking surfaces before the vehicle goes to market.
Odometer fraud costs UK used car buyers an estimated £800 million a year. A clocked vehicle passes a visual inspection — the only way to catch it is to compare mileage readings across time. Zyfy pulls every recorded DVSA odometer reading and flags any reversal automatically, without manual intervention.
Relevant signals
These fields are returned on every response and are ready to wire into your application logic.
| Signal | Relevance | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| signals.odometerTrend | Critical | Returns "possible_clocking" when any chronological MOT mileage reading is lower than a previous one. Returns "consistent" when all readings increase monotonically. "insufficient_data" when fewer than two readings exist. |
| summary.mileageAnomalyRisk | Critical | Risk level derived from odometer pattern analysis: "none", "low", or "high". "high" indicates a credible reversal in the DVSA mileage sequence. |
| signals.latestOdometerMiles | Critical | The most recent odometer reading recorded at MOT. Use alongside totalMotTests to calculate average annual mileage and spot implausibly low readings. |
| summary.buyRecommendation | High | Aggregated purchase signal: "good", "consider", "caution", or "avoid". "avoid" is returned when odometer anomalies are present alongside other risk factors. |
| summary.motRiskLevel | High | Overall MOT risk assessment: "low", "medium", or "high". Elevated when mileage anomalies compound with a poor test pass rate. |
| summary.colourChangeIndicated | Medium | true when the colour on the current V5C (DVLA) differs from the colour recorded at the last MOT (DVSA). A post-accident respray is a common reason for both odometer manipulation and colour changes — the two signals compound each other. |
Live example
A real-world request and the response it returns.
Request
curl https://zyfy.uk/v1/vehicle/AB12CDE \
-H "X-API-Key: your_api_key"Response
{
"registration": "AB12CDE",
"make": "VOLKSWAGEN",
"model": "GOLF",
"colour": "GREY",
"fuelType": "diesel",
"engineCapacityCc": 1968,
"yearOfManufacture": 2014,
"vehicleAgeYears": 11,
"monthOfFirstRegistration": "2014-09",
"summary": {
"buyRecommendation": "avoid",
"vehicleRiskLevel": "high",
"motRiskLevel": "high",
"mileageAnomalyRisk": "high"
},
"signals": {
"taxStatus": "taxed",
"taxDueDate": "2026-08-01",
"motStatus": "valid",
"motExpiryDate": "2026-09-03",
"odometerTrend": "possible_clocking",
"latestOdometerMiles": 88420,
"motPassRate": 1.0,
"totalMotTests": 7,
"totalMotFailures": 0,
"lastMotDate": "2025-09-03",
"lastMotResult": "passed"
},
"enrichmentPending": false
}Example data is illustrative only. Responses shown include a subset of signals for clarity — the full response contains additional fields. See the signal reference for the complete list.
What you get
- ✓ Automated, no manual review — The comparison logic runs server-side. You receive a single odometer_trend field. No analyst needs to open a DVSA portal and cross-reference dates manually.
- ✓ Latest and typical mileage in the response — signals.latestOdometerMiles and signals.typicalAnnualMileageMiles let you cross-check stated mileage against the DVSA record. When odometerTrend is possible_clocking, both fields provide the context for follow-up.
- ✓ Gate listings and bids at ingestion — Run the check when a vehicle is submitted to your marketplace or auction. Quarantine flagged vehicles for review before they reach buyers — not after a complaint.
- ✓ Reduce finance exposure on clocked collateral — A vehicle financed at an overstated value based on false mileage is worth less than the loan it secures. Catching this at underwriting is significantly cheaper than recovering it at default.
Flag odometer fraud at the point of listing.
Free tier includes 100 requests per month. No credit card, no sales call.