The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recently issued a consumer advisory warning driver concerning odometer fraud following a large-scale vehicle odometer rollback scheme.
Odometer fraud occurs when a vehicle’s odometer has been altered, disconnected or reset with the intent to change the number of miles indicated. Annually, more than 450,000 vehicles are sold with false odometer readings and costs consumers more than $1 billion, the NHTSA said.
“We will not tolerate the illegal practice of odometer tampering,” Heidi King, NHTSA deputy administrator, said. “NHTSA, the Department of Justice, and State DOT partners are committed to bringing individuals who commit this crime to justice.”
Two Mississippi residents pled guilty last week to conspiring to reset and alter the odometers of vehicles and to giving or causing to be given false statements relating to odometers. The men, Mark Longgrear and his son Zachary Longgrear, will be sentenced Dec. 12.
Their company, Southern Auto Buyers, purchased late model, high mileage vehicles and altered the odometers to show a lower mileage. They also forged and fraudulently created paperwork to secure new titles for these vehicles before selling them to customers and automobile dealerships at high prices.
NHTSA has compiled a list of tips to help customers detect odometer fraud. The tips can be found on the NHTSA website.