The Odometer is usually seen in a car's dashboard, it takes a record of the total distance traveled by a car during the life span of the car, this total distance is known as mileage, the mileage of a car helps an individual who wants to buy a used car to know how often the car was used within a given period of time.
An Odometer is said to be rolled back when someone deliberately reduces the actual reading on the odometer, a car whose odometer has been rolled back is said to have a reversed mileage, this odometer fraud is also referred to as “busting miles” (United States) or “clocking” (UK, Ireland and Canada). If you are interested to buy a pre-owned vehicle, it is highly suggested to do a mileage lookup by VIN. The VIN check process will also covers every aspect of vehicle history that plays crucial role of car value.
Have you ever wondered if the odometer reading of a used or second hand car has been reversed prior to sale? well this article is designed to answer that question. The direct answer is: yes, some used vehicles have reversed mileage.
Odometer Roll Back- A Silent Emergency!
Individuals buying used vehicles have the chance of getting a good vehicle for half the price of the new one or less, this economical advantage made many to prefer buying used cars, There is a growing increase in the importation of used cars in Africa from Canada and the United states.
African-Business.com reports that “Region-wise, West Africa is clearly ahead of the rest of Africa as it imports over 900,000 used cars every year, which is approximately 70 per cent of total imported vehicles in Africa”
While West Africans and some individuals worldwide might be reaping the economic benefits associated with buying used cars, however, one must make a thorough background check on a second hand vehicle before buying, failure to make such checks may land one in a crossfire zone of odometer roll back, stolen cars, cars with debt on them, and other undesirables associated with used vehicles.
Used cars with reversed mileage has continued to be on the increase, “the odometers on roughly 3.5 percent of all vehicles will be tampered with some time during the first 11 years of the vehicle's life”, according to a report by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Another source has it that over “12% of odometers in the EU are manipulated” of the approximately 40 million used cars sold each year, over 450,000 have odometers that were illegally altered, according to federal estimates.
Why are odometers rolled back?
Well, fraudsters roll back mileage for two major reasons:
- Some cars are loaned out, their payments are being made on mileage bases, these fraudsters reverse mileage to avoid paying the actual amount. It is worthy to note that this is not just an ordinary fraud it is actually a crime, an illegality that is over 50 years old, the “Truth in Mileage” act of 1986 requires a seller to genuinely disclose the mileage of a car during sales or transfer of ownership, about 27 years ago the federal odometer tampering statutes were reworded to underscore that the practice is illegal however, to the mileage fraudsters “laws are made to be broken”
- The second reason why odometers are rolled back is to make a dishonest gain while selling a used vehicle, it is very easy to convince a novice buyer that a car was under-used if the mileage was rolled back.
Reversed Mileage: Why it Matters
Does your car know the address of all the mechanic shops in your neighborhood? I mean do you frequently visit mechanic shops? apart from routine maintenance, some individuals in West Africa, especially the Sub-Saharan will understand this more because they seem to be one of the highest consumers of European and North American used vehicles.
While fraudsters can easily buy mechanical and digital devices to conduct a “roll-back” for a little price, the victims pay a higher price, the US government reports that this crime costs American car buyers more than $1 billion annually!
In fact the founder of detailedvehiclehistory.com recounts his a experience with a colleague named Dan who visited him, as their discussion ensued, Mr. Dan mentioned his great dealership where he bought his truck from and recommended this dealer to his friend, as the conversation continued, they spoke about maintenance interval, Mr. Dan was not sure of when next his car was due for maintenance, so his friend offered him a help, all they wanted to was to find the next possible time for maintenance of the Vehicle, but a Vehicle History report generated from detailed vehicle history revealed something bizarre about the vehicle.
Yes! the vehicle has its odometer readings rolled back!
How Detailed Vehicle History Report Helps in Confirming Odometer fraud
You may now wonder how they made this discovery? let me use this opportunity to let you know that a Detailed Vehicle History car history report, has logs of maintenance history of every used car, at every point of maintenance the mileage is usually recorded, the auction record section does more than just provide the mileage at the auction site(s) but also provides the number of previous users of the car and the timeline, this detail is exclusive to Detailed Vehicle History.
So back to our story, Mr. Dan paid $13,000 in 2012 for his vehicle, the mileage of the truck sold to him at that time was about 140,000 KMs according to the vehicle history checks, but a look at his dashboard was seen a shocking mileage of 199,244km, remember the tip we gave earlier on this article about the average mileage of a used car, so, the difference between the last recorded mileage of Mr. Dan's 2007 Chevrolet Silverado Work Truck, on the Detailed Vehicle History Report and the present mileage on the truck's dashboard, is unbelievably too small to be true.
Get your windows sticker by VIN now
Detailed Vehicle History provides a reproduction of the original window sticker or Monroney sticker. We provide you with factory options, packages, and pricing, engine and transmission specifications, manufacturer's MSRP price when new, standard features and equipment, fuel economy rating, and factory recalls. Besides a copy of the original window sticker, you can also request the custom window sticker that is fully customizable to cater to your needs.
Sam's Dashboard
Here is the link to the vehicle history report generated for Mr. Dan: Get Instant Vehicle History Report
Several surprises was further discovered from the above vehicle history report, they include
- vehicle is from USA
- mileage at time of sale was reported in Quebec as 220,000 KMs
- vehicle was transferred to Ontario then moved to Quebec
- Name ownership transfer shows two items occurring in Quebec
There are many more Mr. Dan out there, whose case maybe worse than his, now his trusted dealer is now his heartbreaker, but think about this, Mr. Dan's situation would have been avoided, if only he made a VIN check with Detailed Vehicle History before spending or buying the truck.
‘To be forewarned is to be forearmed” but how can you avoid being defrauded, or caught in reversed Mileage web?
How to Know a Vehicle with a reversed Mileage
The ultimate way is to run a VIN check at Detailed Vehicle History, the 35seconds video below provides a guide on how you may get this done.
As bonus for you, check the following on the car:
- check the rate of tear and wear, over-used vehicles can not hide the abrasions usually present in frequently used parts, such as the brake pad and clutch, and some other places.
- If the car has less than 20,000 miles then it possibly should be using its factory tires, take a coin and gauge the depth of the tire threads.
- Cross check your records, and examine any discrepancies
- Ultimately run a VIN check with Detailed Vehicle History and confirm the mileage on the dashboard alongside other vehicle records.
Why you can trust a Detailed History Vehicle Report
Apart from saving you thousand of dollars, detailed vehicle history report data are culled from reputable auto allied organization, to learn more about how the data is sourced follow this link
However, the video below explains the numerous benefit and features of a used vehicle pro car history report.
