Is Autotrader deliberately understating mileages to encourage users to buy cars?

I bought a car through Autotrader, which told me my address was 270 miles from the garage. It was in fact about 350 miles. This morning I noted mileages from six adverts and each mileage was underestimated by about 25 per cent. The only explanation I can come up with is that Autotrader is making the journey look less onerous. They are deceiving their readers, John. You must act swiftly to save car buyers from this extra travelling, and therefore cost and time and aggravation.

Asked on 2 November 2013 by GC, via email

Answered by Honest John
That's interesting. I think private sales are on the wane anyway. Because private insurance policyholders are no longer insured to "drive other cars" and therefore cannot legally test drive them, so might as well either buy via auction or from a big car site that has to offer a guarantee that nothing is wrong with the car on the date of sale.
Tags: buying adverts
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