Top 10 states fueling double-digit rise in odometer rollbacks
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CARFAX cautioned consumers and the automotive industry about the double-digit in rise odometer rollbacks nationwide since 2021.
The vehicle history provider reported this week that roughly 2.1 million vehicles currently in operation have had their odometer rolled back. That’s up 14% or an additional 300,000 vehicles in the past two years.
CARFAX calculated consumers lose an average of $4,000 in value from unknowingly buying a rolled-back car — and that doesn’t include any unexpected maintenance costs.
“Odometer rollbacks occur when an unscrupulous owner or seller of a car alters the miles that display on a car’s gauge cluster,” CARFAX said in a news release. “This might be done as a way to avoid mileage charges in a vehicle lease or to dramatically increase the value of a car. Today’s technology makes rolling an odometer back easier than ever.”
Which states have the most vehicles with rolled-back odometers? CARFAX broke down the data and found nine of the top 10 saw increases this year, including:
California: 469,000, up 7.2%
Texas: 277,000, up 12.8%
New York: 100,000, up 9.0%
Florida: 85,400, up 1.4%
Illinois: 79,000, up 7.6%
Pennsylvania: 69,600, up 2.1%
Georgia: 67,600, up 4.0%
Arizona: 57,000, up 4.8%
Virginia: 56,000, unchanged
North Carolina: 49,000, up 8.2%
“Odometer fraud didn’t go away with the introduction of digital odometers,” CARFAX editor in chief Patrick Olsen said in the news release. “We’re still seeing the number of vehicles on the road with a rolled-back odometer rise year-over-year. It takes con artists only a matter of minutes to wipe thousands and thousands of miles off a vehicle’s odometer.”