Digital Odometer Rollbacks Up

CarFax recently stated that odometer rollbacks rose 7% year-over-year in 2022.  CarFax claims that digital odometers are equally as vulnerable to fraud as the older mechanical ones were and estimates that consumers lose an average of $4,000 in value if they purchase a vehicle with a rolled-back odometer.  That figure does not include maintenance costs.

CarFax Public Relations Director Emilie Voss said, “It takes con artists a matter of minutes to wipe thousands and thousands of miles off a vehicle’s odometer, and unfortunately these swindlers likely see this unprecedented used car market as a way to make a quick buck.”

The 10 states with the largest number of rollback fraud cases saw year-over-year increases of between 1% and 15%.  The state with the largest percent increase was Texas.