Odometers

The odometer mileage on a vehicle can add or subtract thousands of dollars from the market value of a used car. With a few simple tools, real miles can be rolled back to increase the resale value of a vehicle. Scrap marks on the odometer or misaligned numbers are two tip-offs that the numbers lie. The odometer can also be disconnected after a certain mileage is reached and reconnected later for resale. Odometer readings can be misrepresented: 49,000 miles showing on the odometer instead of the actual 149,000 miles after the odometer rolls over, for example.

Worn, high-mileage clunkers can morph into low-mileage sweet deals with a little fraudulent finesse of the odometer. Odometer fraud is against the law in every state and is a felony under federal law. But that doesn't deter unscrupulous dealers and individual sellers from doctoring odometers. Carfax, an online title search service, estimates that one in 10 used cars has had its odometer rolled back. Consumers duped by this con pay an average of $2,000 more than the true value of the vehicle and often far more, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

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