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CarBuyingTips.com Odometer Do Not Fraud List

Odometer fraud is milking over $1 Billion annually from American car buyers

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) runs the Office Of Odometer Fraud Investigation. From 2002 onward, they report a "definite escalation" in odometer fraud. NHTSA issued their The Incidence Rate of Odometer Fraud report stating that over 450,000 vehicles are sold each year with false odometer readings, milking us car buyers out of more than $1 billion annually. What shocks people is that it isn't just small time scammers participating in this fraud. Our research has found that there are some major dealerships rolling back mileage. This should make all of us jump into action now to plant the seeds of protection for used car buyers.

You have the power to stop odometer fraud

Help us build the Odometer Do Not Fraud List of vehicles and mileage to help stamp out odometer rollbacks. I am sick and tired of having used car buyers taken advantage of by unscrupulous people. Think of it as the Tea Party odometer fraud prevention network. There's safety in numbers so let's all band together to protect both us and future used car buyers. We are collecting vehicle mileage history from cars across America to prevent future odometer fraud. We need to outsmart the scammers. What they do is find out the last officially reported mileage and make sure not to roll the odometer back farther than that. Joining our mission is your chance to pay it forward and make a difference in deterring crime. Just think, you're outsmarting the scammers long before they even dream up the idea to scam you or someone else by reprogramming a car's mileage to roll it back. This is the perfect breadcrumb trail leading back to the true mileage on your car. Even though the scammers think they can outsmart car buyers by reprogramming the digital odometers, everything leaves a trail in life, and they can't change the fact that you left an electronic record of your car's mileage here. The best mileage you can submit to help our cause is the mileage right before you sell your car or trade it in.

Add your car's VIN# and mileage to the Do Not Fraud Database

All you have to do is enter your VIN# and your current mileage in the form below. You can update the Do Not Fraud list anytime in the future as well, to keep a current snapshot total of your vehicle's mileage. Then when your car is subsequently sold years later through other sellers, potential buyers can check this vehicle history database with a VIN# to search for known mileage. If the mileage on the car's odometer is less than the mileage in this DO Not Fraud database, then you can be sure be pretty sure you're getting scammed. It's going to take us a little while to build up a good database but once we do we can drive a stake through the heart of the odometer rollback scam once and for all and keep people from having their hard earned money ripped off by car dealers.

Modern digital odometers are easier to roll back than older mechanical odometers

In the 1970s and 1980s, it was fairly easy for car dealers or private sellers to roll back mechanical odometers on high mileage used cars, or simply disconnect the odometer cable to stop the mileage from incrementing. There's big money to be made in odometer rollback fraud, over $1 billion a year. By shaving 20,000 miles off the odometer before selling you a car, a scammer can get $2000 to $3000 more for the car at your expense. Consumers erroneously think that today's modern digital odometers can't be tampered with, but don't fall into this complacent trap, it's actually easier to change than older cars. Digital odometer programmers or "odometer correction kits" can be found all over the internet, which help scammers plug into your engine control module and simply enter the new lower mileage they desire. This process is also known as "clocking". It's much easier to change the digital odometers because scammers don't have to take the dash apart like they did with older mechanical odometers. All the scammer has to do is plug the programmer into the engine control module and it leaves virtually no trace that anyone was messing around, and it takes only seconds to reprogram 80,000 miles back down to 30,000 miles. This is why odometer rollback fraud is on the rise, as more people realize how easy it is to perform, while escaping detection. The illicit web sites selling these programmers advertise them under the guise of correcting a digital odometer error when you buy an instrument cluster from a junkyard and transfer it to your car. Now that's a weak laughable cover story at best, spend $3000 for a machine to correct an "incorrect odometer" in a scenario that might happen once.

Jump to any chapter. I suggest you read each chapter in order.
Chapter 1
Get your credit report, how to get a car loan, scams, online car loans, first time car loans, budget & loan excel spreadsheets, credit repair.
Chapter 2
Reviews of internet discount car buying sites, new car prices, find dealer's invoice cost. Get a new car quote.
Chapter 3
What to bring to a dealership, what to say, how to act, what not to do, what to look for at the dealership, and a glossary of all dealer fees.
Chapter 4
How to read dealer invoices, finding dealer's cost, how much to offer the dealer, buyers offer spreadsheet, examples, trade-ins.
Chapter 5
Negotiating tips, dealer scams & tricks to watch out for, dealing with aggressive salespeople, choosing between rebates or low APR loans.
Chapter 6
Close the deal, avoid needless extras, scams in the business office, extended warranty scams, options, buying warranties online.
Chapter 7
Actual misleading dealer ads, and what to do when you've been ripped off, customer satisfaction surveys, how I bought my Lexus.
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