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by Santaanacanyon on July 10th, 2003

Santaanacanyon

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How can I tell if the odometer on a used car has been turned back?

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  • by Santaanacanyon on July 10th, 2003

    Santaanacanyon

    Short of hiring a private investigator, you really can't.
    Your first line of defense may be www.carfax.com. This site can give you a history on the car detailing what state it was originally sold in, if it has been in any accidents, and if it was returned on the "lemon law". This report included odometer readings, so if the car's odometer is less that shown on the report, you may have caught the dealer breaking the law. (Last time I looked, a carfax report cost fifteen dollars.)
    I once looked at a used car on a lot, and the car just happened to have a tune-up sticker inside the driver door. Obviously, it was left there by the previous owner. It showed the date of the tune up: just three months ago. It also showed the mileage: considerably higher than what I saw on the odometer!! I pointed it out to the salesman, and he tried to convince me the odometer had turned over 100,000 miles since that tune up.
    Yeah, right. I walked off the lot in search of an honest dealership.

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  • by d5kenn on September 6th, 2003

    d5kenn

    Digital odometers are by no means tamper-proof. Many DOs store the mileage on a memory device in the actual gauge cluster in the dash. Depending on model, it can cost as little as $100 to buy a used cluster (with varying milage) and replace the existing one. This is also for all practical purposes undetectable.

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  • by AB-CrazyToon on July 14th, 2003

    AB-CrazyToon

    Carfax.com keeps track of things too... maybe do a check there.

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  • by Shoes untied on July 6th, 2008

    Shoes untied

    Well Most cars do an average of 25,000 kilometres a year. So if you multiply the age of the age of the car by 25,000 per year, that should give you an idea on how many k's the car should have done on the speedo. Hope this helps. :]

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  • by 8 Jan 2004-10 Dec 2009 on July 5th, 2008

    8 Jan 2004-10 Dec 2009

    It really depends on the year, make, and model. Without that information I don't think you are going to get an accurate answer here.

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  • by stew on July 5th, 2008

    stew

    what about in a non digital odometer

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  • by stew on July 5th, 2008

    stew

    i want to no how can i check if miles have been rooled back

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  • by john pennington on July 5th, 2008

    john pennington

    Lets not forget that tampering with an auto's speedometer is a Federal Crime.

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  • by stew on July 5th, 2008

    stew

    i need to no how i can check if an odometer has been rolled back on a 1995toyata camry

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  • by Santaanacanyon on July 12th, 2003

    Santaanacanyon

    Since submitting the answer above, my fellow "gear heads" have brought to my attention the fact that several new models come equipped with a digital odometer that cannot be tampered with.
    Well, there you go. Buy only used cars with digital odometers, I guess.

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