Beware of Odometer Fraud: How to Verify a Cars True Mileage
When you are buying a used car, that number on the dashboard – the odometer reading – is not just a random number. It’s like the diary of the car’s life. It tells you, more or less, how far the car has gone and how much it has been used. And, of course, it’s one of the big things that decides how much money you will pay for it. But here’s the problem – sometimes this number is not the truth. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that every year in the U.S., more than 450,000 cars are sold with rolled-back or false odometer readings, leading to over $1 billion in losses for buyers.
Odometer fraud, also called “odometer rollback,” is when someone changes the mileage to make the car look newer or less used than it really is. It sounds simple, but it can cost you thousands in the long run. A car that looks like it’s done 40,000 miles might have really done 90,000. And you, the buyer, end up paying more and doing repairs much sooner than expected.
Why people still do it
The reason is easy – a car with low mileage sells faster and for more money. Some private sellers do it just to make extra profit. Some shady dealers do it to move slow-selling cars. In some cases, people change mileage to avoid extra charges in lease contracts. Whatever the reason, it’s the buyer who pays the price later.
