Boats wrecked by Cleo's car (8)
I believe the answer is:
coracles
'boats' is the definition.
(coracle is a kind of boat)
'wrecked by cleo's car' is the wordplay.
'wrecked by' is an anagram indicator.
'cleos'+'car'='cleoscar'
'cleoscar' with letters rearranged gives 'CORACLES'.
(Other definitions for coracles that I've seen before include "Craft" , "Small round wicker-framed boats" .)