Wound-back odometer scam hits millions of vehicles

NEARLY a third of all secondhand cars sold in Germany have been rigged by unscrupulous dealers, who wind back the odometers and trick customers into paying more for alleged lowmileage examples, a report claims.

Germany’s ADAC car club warns that private buyers are most likely to be hit by the fraudu- lent practice, which is often difficult to detect, especially if service documents have also been forged.

The club said cars made from 2000 onwards, when mechanical odometers were replaced by digital versions, were particularly prone to manipulation.

Devices for resetting a car’s mileage could now be bought for the equivalent of less than US$10,000 (NZ$11,400) and the fraud carried out within the space of 30 seconds, ADAC said.

Cheaper copies from China of the equipment were offered for sale at a fraction of that price.

The warning comes as a dealer went on trial in Munich for allegedly tampering with the odometers of dozens of high-mileage Italian luxury cars. Prosecutors said the man bought the cars cheaply and sold them at a pre- mium to unwitting customers.

Among the brazen cases cited by ADAC in Germany, where millions of second-hand cars change hands annually, was a dealer rewinding the true mileage of 700,000 kilometres to 150,000km.

Under German law, dealers have to take back a ‘‘clocked’’ car and refund the sale price only if the buyer can prove it was deliberately tampered with.