Pat Goss' Vehicle Inspection Tips
Car Inspections Should Include An Odometer Search
Every time law enforcement finds a way to deter certain kinds of criminal
actions, they find new ways to cheat consumers. One way criminals are
ripping off used car buyers is through an odometer roll-back.
The odometer in your car records how many miles you have driven to date.
It should never be set to zero once a car has been driven. But, odometer
fraud remains a serious problem in the used car business. Criminals roll-back
the odometer so the buyer thinks the car is newer than it really is.
If a car is well taken care of and usually parked in a garage, it might
look like it only has 20,000 miles, but it could have as much as twice
that if its odometer has been tampered with.
Fortunately for used car buyers, there are now ways to determine if
an odometer has been fraudulently rolled back. Online sites, like Carchex.com
and Carfax.com, offer search services that can reveal if a car you want
to buy is older than it appears. These searches utilize a car's vehicle
indentification number and state motor vehicle departments to conduct
this search. Even though you have to pay about $25 for an odometer search,
it could save you thousands in the long run in unexpected car repairs.
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