Rolled Back Odometers Make Return

In the past it was the oldest trick in the book, people used to manually wind down the mileage of their cars and sell them on, despite this activity being illegal there where a lot of people who used to roll back the mileage on their old vehicles. As years went by and car manufacturers addressed the issue, for many years it had been almost impossible to roll back the mileage on a vehicle which of course was a good thing. The problem however seems to be back as Carfax’s new study has shown that 190,000 cars have their odometers rolled back every year.

How is this so?
New cars often now feature digital odometers when previously the ones that where almost immune to having their mileage rolled back weren’t digital. So the issue in theory is advancements in technology, as car manufacturers have turned to the digital display thieves are one step ahead with their “plug in” kit. Commonly being shipped over from China are illegal odometer correction tools which you just plug into your car and start winding down the mileage to make it appear like your vehicle isn’t as used as it is.

Why do people do it?
Mileage plays a big factor in the cost of a car, when you are buying a car to estimate the price you look at a few main things. Obviously the model is the main priority but two other major factors are the age of the vehicle and its mileage, by winding down the mileage on a vehicle it makes it seem as if it hasn’t been used as much. This massively increases the price of the vehicle and can be detrimental to the safety of those who are buying the car as they may have to pay unexpected fees in order to get in fixed and driving an unworthy car.

Avoid being scammed
To avoid being tricked by the mileage roll back issue that is plaguing used cars there is a few things that you can do.

Service History – Have a good look through the service history and each genuine deals will have a service stamp next to it and the service invoice will accompany the history giving you an insight into the vehicle.

Call The Previous Owner – If you can get in contact with the previous keeper of the vehicle so they can identify what mileage that they sold it with.

Sign Of Wear And Tear – There are other ways of telling how used a vehicle is, wear and tear. If a vehicle has low mileage chances are that the condition of everything under the car and in the car will be near to perfect with no rust or dirt on the seats with minimal damage to anything, if it doesn’t look to add up don’t risk it.

Inspect The Vehicle – If you know or can contact a trusted mechanic its worth getting them to inspect the vehicle beforehand as they will be able to give a rough estimate of how used the car is.