Odometer fraud

Odometer fraud, also referred to as "busting miles" (United States) or "clocking" (UK, Ireland and Canada), is the illegal practice of rolling back odometers to make it appear that vehicles have lower mileage than they actually do. Odometer fraud occurs when the seller of a vehicle falsely represents the actual mileage of a vehicle to the buyer.[1]

According to the Office of Odometer Fraud Investigation at the US Department of Transportation,[2] odometer fraud is a serious crime and important consumer fraud issue. In the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) 2002 odometer fraud study, the NHTSA determined that 450,000 vehicles were sold each year with false odometer readings, resulting in a cost of over $1 billion annually to car buyers in the US.[3] In the UK, the Office of Fair Trading estimates the annual cost at £500m.[4]

  1. ^ "Odometer Fraud | National Highway Traffic Safety Administration(NHTSA) | U.S. Department of Transportation". 13 July 2007. Archived from the original on 13 July 2007. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  2. ^ "Odometer Fraud | National Highway Traffic Safety Administration(NHTSA) | U.S. Department of Transportation". 2 March 2010. Archived from the original on 2 March 2010. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
  3. ^ Preliminary Report: The Incidence Rate of Odometer Fraud, 7 October 2013.
  4. ^ BBC: Customers duped by car-clocking, 31 March 2011.