Odometer Fraud, Don't let it happen to you!

I came across this article and wanted to make sure I sure shared with as many people as possible. It is so important in your car buying quest to always know the history of the cars before you buy. We stand by our carfaxes and will give you one for free. Please contact any of our staff with any questions!


PHOENIX - The odometer fraud industry is a big part of used-car buying in Arizona, and sellers are getting away with it even though buyers never know.

You can see this story through the eyes of a man we'll call Jim. He doesn't want his real name used because of his experience with a 2004 Honda Accord.
He told us he wanted a car with less than 60,000 miles on it. He searched Craigslist, and found one listed as having just 47,000 miles on it.
He set up a meeting in Surprise with the owner, and Jim took an extra step and had a mechanic look it over.
With no problems found, Jim handed over $9900 in cash. Then he ran a Carfax report.He found the 47,000-mile Accord really had at least 163,000 miles on it.
The ABC15 Investigators tracked down records to show what happened next.
Jim got rid of the Accord. Records show he traded it to Showcase Honda in Phoenix. Showcase titled it with the actual miles, 197,950 at that point.
Then Showcase sold the car at a Valley auto auction to a place called Trans USA of California.
The Investigators tried to contact Trans USA but could not find a business listing under that name.
At this point, records show most of those miles disappear, and the Accord was listed as having 48,000 miles before being sold again.
We next found the Accord in front of a Phoenix home and knocked on the door.
The family said they bought the car with a title stating the actual miles were not known. But when we told them it had nearly 200,000 miles, the family was surprised.
I asked Tom Clinkenbeard, Inspector General with the Arizona Department of Transportation, how it could happen.
Clinkenbeard said there isn't a mechanism in the Arizona Motor Vehicles Division that tracks mileage and raises a red flag for a new buyer. He told me the magnitude of the odometer fraud problem is huge in Arizona.
And while he said his department investigates complaints, they don't get that many.
We found that could be because used car buyers just don't know their odometers have been rolled back.

The ABC15 Investigators talked with an insider who understands the world of odometer fraud. He didn't want his identity revealed, but said the problems begin at auto auctions.
Only dealers are supposed to bid on the vehicles after undergoing a background check, but the insider said scammers routinely get access by paying a couple of hundred dollars to a dealer.
Then, he said, the person getting the car spends another couple of hundred dollars and gets the odometer rolled back.
The insider said he's seen it done. He said you state the number of miles you want rolled back and it takes about 3 minutes.
The Investigators also found devices sold online for about $400 that can be used for rollbacks.
Maria Contreras of Phoenix knows first hand about the rollbacks. She bought a car from a man who she said "looks like a nice person."
She was told the car had only 70,000 miles. So, she bought it for $8,000.
Then, she received a letter from state investigators showing the car actually had 439,000 miles.
She believes the car is worth just a fraction of what she paid.
The seller got a citation for rolling back odometers, but the ABC15 Investigators went undercover and found those same people trying to sell a truck to us.
The truck showed 95,000 miles. We found it actually had 147,000 miles.
Before we could confront the seller, the truck had been sold. It happens that fast and likely to a person who had no idea of the true mileage.
The insider we talked with also said that the title process makes it too easy to cheat.
Maria's title is a good example. It should have 439,000 listed. But the seller claimed there was an error. There is a line drawn through the 4 and a circle around it.
The seller then claimed the 4 should not be there and he wanted a correction. The car was then titled with just 39,000 miles.
In Arizona and other states, a car can be titled without knowing the actual miles.
Clinkenbeard said there are good reasons to allow cars be titled without actual miles. But he also said "in an ideal world, if we didn't title vehicles with miles unknown that would eliminate a lot of the problem."
Clinkenbeard said changing that would likely take years and legislative action.
We learned from our investigation that if a price is too far below blue book value, there's usually a reason.
Also, make sure to have a mechanic check out any car you're about to buy.
And look for the car's history.
Carfax and Autocheck are two services that offer car histories. It will cost you, but can show if the car has a rolled back odometer.

Cheers!