ZAGREB, 16 Oct (Hina) - About 2.5 per cent of used cars imported into Croatia have a fake mileage, with an average rollback of 75,300 kilometres, a study by the carVertical company has shown.

Croatia ranked 15th, the same as last year, among 25 countries analysed in the company's market transparency study.

Croatia's neighbours Slovenia ranked 10th and Hungary 17th.

Each year, thousands of buyers purchase vehicles with hidden problems and fake mileage, often unaware that they are overpaying for a car in poor condition, carVertical said.

The study was carried out between October 2023 and September 2024.

Last year, 3.5 per cent of vehicles in Croatia had their odemeters tampered with, with an average mileage rollback of 70,439 kilometres.

The study also shows that more than half (55%) of the vehicles in Croatia checked on the carVertical platform were involved in traffic accidents, with an average damage value of €3,207. 

The average age of vehicles bought in Croatia is 8.1 years, which shows that cars in Croatia are mostly younger than in other Eastern European countries.

As in previous years, the UK was the most transparent used car market among all the countries included in the survey. Only 2.1% of cars had falsified mileage, and 17.8% of vehicles had been damaged. 

Among the top five most transparent countries were Italy, Switzerland, Germany and Sweden.

The least transparent countries were Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, and Estonia. These markets also ranked lowest last year. A high proportion of cars with falsified mileage and damages, an aging vehicle fleet, and significant import rates contribute to these markets being considered highly non-transparent and risky.

The highest number of mileage fraud cases among European countries was recorded in Latvia (11.1%) and Ukraine (9.6%). The largest proportion of damaged cars was found in Poland (62.1%), and Slovakia (60.5%).