Prevent
Odometer Fraud
Make Sure the Mileage is Accurate
When you Buy a Used
Car
The National Highway Traffic
Safety Administration estimates that odometer fraud costs Americans more than
$1 billion a year in inflated car prices. Odometer fraud occurs when someone
illegally rolls back or misrepresents the mileage reading on a vehicle.
Odometer fraud is costly for consumers. According to a federal study, consumers
pay an average of $2,336 more than the vehicle is worth when an odometer has
been rolled back, and others calculate the loss as much higher than that. There
are other costs, such as higher payments for financing and insurance, unexpected
repair costs - and the risk that the car is less safe than expected.
Digital odometers have made it harder for some scam artists to roll back miles,
but others use computers to do it quickly and cheaply. Any vehicle can be the
target of odometer fraud, but hot-selling vehicles often are targeted, especially
sport utility vehicles. Odometer fraud appears to occur most frequently with
fairly new vehicles that accumulate high mileage in a short time, such as rental
cars, company cars and leased vehicles.
Follow these tips to avoid becoming a victim of odometer fraud:
- Have the vehicle inspected by an auto technician you trust, and ask the
technician to look for signs of odometer fraud.
- Look for signs of odometer fraud yourself, such as more wear-and-tear than
you'd expect for the mileage (for example, excessively worn gas and brake
pedals.)
- Get a title history from the Iowa Department of Transportation and check
whether the mileage records are consistent. Check mileages with prior owners,
if possible.
- Check with independent vehicle history database services, such as Carfax.com
or autocheck.com, which will research vehicle histories for a fee. (But be
aware that these services might not discover all mileage discrepancies.)
- Read the mileage disclosure provided by the seller. Federal law requires
sellers to list the mileage and state whether the reading is actual miles
or not, or if the reading exceeds the mechanical limits of the odometer (the
odometer has "rolled over.")
To file an odometer fraud complaint, contact the Iowa Attorney General's Consumer
Protection Division, 1305 E. Walnut, Des Moines IA 50319. Call 515-281-5926,
send e-mail to Consumer@ag.state.ia.us,
or see web site at www.IowaAttorneyGeneral.org.
