With the sale of used cars running at more than double that of new car sales, there remains a very strong demand for what dealers affectionately term "pre-owned vehicles" - second-hand cars to the rest of us.
But many of these cars are not what they appear to be and a growing number of people are being conned into buying cars that have had their mileage altered, have outstanding finance owing, are stolen or have been in crashes.
In addition to the estimated 350,000 used car sales here each year, there is also a growing number of used cars - over 55,000 last year - being imported from Britain and Northern Ireland.
Many of these are being offered for sale in classified ads and at the roadside by unregistered dealers and many of them, according to the Society of the Irish Motor Industry and the Office of the Director of Consumer Affairs, (ODCA) have had their mileages altered.
With the arrival of Cartell - an online used car history checking service - and the recent introduction of a similar service by the motor industry for its dealers, it has become easier for used car buyers to check the history of a car before committing to a purchase.
The most common faults noted by engineers contracted to inspect cars by suspicious buyers are bodywork modifications such as resprays, repaired or replaced panels and sills, which indicate that the vehicle has been involved in a collision.
Such repairs are often overlooked by the untrained eye but can mask some serious problems. One inspection of a high-value Lexus LS 430 found that the car had suffered a major frontal impact. The inspector found that repairs had been carried out to the front left wing, the bonnet, the front bumper and the left front valance and that a front roll bar had been replaced. The car had done less than 50,000 miles and appeared to be in good condition.
But there are sometimes problems even an inspector cannot always spot and one is a clocked car. While heavy wear of the carpet, the driver's seat and the pedal rubbers may indicate a high mileage, knocking tens of thousands of miles off an odometer can still go undetected.
Now more used car buyers are finding out as much about the history of a car through companies like Cartell before buying. This is becoming more important as the number of imports continues to rise. Twelve per cent of cars searched for by Cartell users turned out to have UK registrations or were UK imports already registered in Ireland.
It is estimated that as many as 20 per cent of these cars will have been clocked. The ODCA is now taking the problem seriously. Following the conviction of a Dublin dealer for selling a car that had had its odometer reading reduced by almost 30,000 miles, the Director of Consumer Affairs, Ann Fitzgerald, said: "I am pleased that the judge convicted Suburban Autos. The company is lucky that it was only required to pay a total of €1,500 including costs and expenses. If the offence had occurred after July 2005, the maximum fine would have been €3,000."
John Shine, deputy director of the ODCA, said a taskforce will examine the problem of clocking and the ODCA is publishing a new guide for used car buyers highlighting what steps to take to prevent buying a clocked vehicle. The ODCA has the power to prosecute anyone caught clocking a car - a power the gardaí do not have.
It will also prosecute anyone offering a clocked car for sale or selling a car with its odometer reading altered.
According to Cartell, Irish used car buyers have aspirations of owning premium models. While they may have settled for the mainstream Ford Focus, the most common used car history searches were carried out on 2002 Volkswagen Golfs, followed by the BMW 3 series. And, while the most common engine remains the 1.4-litre, it seems many Irish motorists have a penchant for larger capacity engines, with 1.9-litre engines appearing most frequently in searches.