Odometer rollback – how much will you lose on a clocked odometer?
Odometer rollback is a problem all over Europe. Estimates show that losses due to odometer clocking in EU countries amount to at least 5.6 billion EUR and up to 9.6 billion EUR per year. In addition, some countries, such as Belgium, have introduced solutions that have significantly reduced such cases. In countries where the mileage control and odometer reading system is not as strict, manipulations of the odometer are still recorded.
Odometer rollback is a particular loss for the buyer of the car in which the odometer has been reversed. Even more than 3700 euro for every 100.000 km clocked on the odometer — this is the buyer’s loss in the case of popular, several years old cars offered on the used market.
Odometer rollback — hidden trap for used cars buyers
Rolling back odometer measurements is one of the many tricks used by dishonest car dealers. Unfortunately, it is still not difficult to get a car with a clocked odometer. The extent of this phenomenon is evidenced by data from the autoDNA database, containing billions of records on cars registered in Europe and North America.
The information gathered in the autoDNA database comes from reliable and reputable sources. We utilize data from our company’s partners, financial institutions, government administration, and automotive-related companies. We also use records of stolen vehicles, as well as publicly available internet sources (e.g., advertisements, offers). This is one of the largest databases available.
How much do popular models lose in value after rollback depending on the manufacture year and the scale of odometer manipulation? The answer to this question is contained in the data generated in the autoDNA vehicle history reports.
In 2023, discrepancies were recorded in more than 68.000 cars for which website users generated reports. The sum of the noted deviations was over 2 billion kilometers. On average, 186 car reports containing this type of data were generated daily.
Odometer rollback cost the most in the BMW 3 Series
According to autoDNA data, the BMW 3 Series can lose the most due to odometer correction.
Financial loss when reversing the odometer of popular imported cars from Western Europe, the US and Canada by 10,000 kilometers.
According to autoDNA data, the buyer of BMW 3 Series can lose the most due to odometer rollbacks. In this case, the loss of a buyer of such a car for the year 2020 is over EUR 3700 for every 100.000 km clocked on the odometer. Out of the popular models on the market, you can lose relatively little on the purchase of Opel from the same year — here the analogous value is “only” approx. EUR 1390. However, premium brands are do not always mean potential higher loss on the clocked odometer. The 2020 Ford Focus, with its odometer corrected by 100.000 km, is a slightly smaller loss for the buyer than the BMW 3 Series — over EUR 3400. Ford Focus, as a popular brand and model, is very price sensitive to odometer manipulations.
Slightly smaller losses are in the case of clocking the odometer by 50.000 km, but even here you have to be very careful. Even urban models, like the popular 2018 Ford Fiesta, amount to EUR 1700 of possible loss for the buyer. The BMW 3 Series with the odometer clocked “only” by 50.000 km from 2020 still represents a total of over 3300 euro of loss for the buyer.
The newer the car, the greater the loss on clocking the odometer
Generally, newer used cars mean a more severe financial loss than buying an older car with a corrected odometer. This is due to the fact that several-year-old cars still have a relatively high value. Mileage higher by e.g. 100,000 km can have significant negative impact on their valuation. It is also worth emphasizing that the exploitation of such vehicle means the necessity to incur higher costs for the service in the near future — usually even right after the purchase.
For vehicles aged between 10-12 years, the financial impact of odometer fraud is mostly estimated to be up to a few hundred Euros for every 50,000 to 100,000 kilometers manipulated.
Legality of Odometer corrections?
In the United States, federal and state laws strictly prohibit odometer tampering. The primary federal law addressing odometer fraud is the Truth in Mileage Act (TIMA) of 1986, which amended the Motor Vehicle Information and Cost Savings Act. These laws were designed to protect consumers from odometer fraud and make it easier to enforce violations:
Truth in Mileage Act (TIMA): Requires that sellers disclose the correct mileage of a vehicle upon transfer of ownership. Failure to disclose or knowingly providing false information is illegal.
Federal Odometer Act: Makes it a crime to tamper with the odometer of any vehicle. Violations can result in civil penalties, including fines and imprisonment.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that annually, over 450,000 vehicles are traded with tampered odometer figures. This fraudulent activity leads to American consumers incurring losses exceeding $1 billion every year.
What can you do when you buy a car with a clocked odometer?
If, after purchasing a car, you realize that previous owner have been tinkering with odometer measurements, although you had not been informed about it, you still can do something about it. If the car has been purchased from a private seller, then it is them who is responsible for the apparent or hidden flaws. So, even if they didn’t know about the odometer clocking, theoretically you could sue them. In such case, you invoke the responsibility on the basis of the Civil Code. You may request a withdrawal from the contract or a decrease in the price adequate to the losses suffered due to odometer rollback. The time-limit for filing the request is one year starting from the date of purchase, and the time-limit for the flaw notification is one month starting the day of its observation.
If you bought the car in the car lot, the case is a bit different. Generally, you have 2 years for your claim, but sometimes car lots shorten this period up to one year. When signing a contract with a car lot, it’s always worth entering the car’s mileage, not the odometer reading, so that, should anything happen, it is easier to pursue your claims.
At autoDNA.com, the market-leading VIN decoding tool, you can free VIN lookup on a given vehicle. All you need for this is the VIN number. In the reports, on used cars, you can find information that allows you to check whether the seller is telling the truth or not. In the report, you can find data on various topics. One of them is the vehicle history or stolen vehicle bases. You can do a VIN check for free 24/7 throughout the year.
