Odometer Reading Fraud: How To Avoid It

Posted by Andrew Richardson on July 20th, 2021

With the increasing number of vehicle frauds, people are rolling up the odometer of their rental cars to avoid charges for mileage covered by it. In most cases, people manipulate the odometer reading for selling their used automobiles at higher prices. If you want to buy a used vehicle, then the seller may tamper the odometer’s average rollback to 30,000 miles to increase the amount of sale.

So, it has become essential to detect and protect yourself from odometer reading fraud. There are federal odometer laws by the US government for eliminating such frauds in the automobile industry. However, the rate of this fraudulent activity has not shown any significant decline. What’s the solution? Well, you can avoid such fraud on your own prior to making any purchase of a vehicle. You can do so by examining the titles of the car, performing a thorough inspection, etc.

In this informative article, you will get to know a couple of ways to avoid odometer fraud for your automobile purchase.

Do Thorough Examination Of The Odometer:

If you look at the average distance covered by an automobile in the US, most cars cover about an average of 12,000 miles in a year. For instance, if you want to buy a 2-year old vehicle and find out that the odometer is far less than 24,000 miles, you will have to make considerations.

Moreover, you will have to carefully look at the number on the odometer of the vehicle. This is because a few automobile manufacturers program the odometer reading to display an asterisk for any change in its mileage.

If you want to buy a vehicle with generalized motors mechanical odometer, check for the black colour space between the various numbers. If the space is white or silvery, your odometer may have been tampered with or changed.

Check For The Original Title Instead Of The Duplicate One:

If you want to avoid any type of odometer fraud, you can ask your vehicle seller for the original title. Make sure that you check the original title instead of the duplicate one. If you find the title to be brand new or from some other state, you can assure it to be a case of title fraud or title washing.

Moreover, this will imply false mileage in your odometer reading. You must check the mileage number of the title closely for any signs of tampering or smudging. You have to ensure that the title displays the mileage in a clean and transparent background.

In addition, you can ask your automobile seller to show receipts for the oil change and maintenance along with inspection stickers. This will help you to compare and verify the mileage stated on the receipts along with the inspection stickers to the odometer reading.

Final Thoughts

So, if you’re buying a used vehicle in Texas, then look for the odometer disclosure in Texas as per the federal odometer law. You can choose an attorney to assist you with the procedures.

Andrew Richardson is the author of this Article. To know more about Fraud Attorney please visit our website: allenstewart.com