TAYLOR -- At Gaughan Auto Sales in Taylor, a woman tried to trade in her 2007 Jeep last month to help pay for a newer car.
Gaughan salesman Rob Hernandez said the Jeep's odometer showed almost 70,000 miles.
Then Hernandez ran a Carfax vehicle history report.
"Carfax had shown it a year prior with 160-some thousand miles on it. So here she was with a vehicle worth nothing," said Hernandez, adding it was the third time this fall Gaughan Auto Sales had a customer trading in a vehicle that had it's odometer's mileage rolled back.
"They are absolutely irate. Furious that someone had deceived them like that," said Hernandez.
"People rolling back odometers is a nationwide problem," added Carfax Spokesman Chris Basso. Carfax is the largest company that tracks vehicle histories.
"It costs the unsuspecting consumer about $4,000 in loss, plus those cars develop problems from the higher mileage that those buyers don`t expect," said Basso.
Carfax estimates odometers were rolled back on 190,000 vehicles every year in the US, including 20,000 here in Pennsylvania.
In our area, Carfax ran reports on vehicles advertised on the online trading site, Craigslist.
A Honda Civic for sale in Hazleton is listed with an odometer reading of 133,000 miles. Its vehicle history report lists it with 219,000 miles when it changed hands in 2012.
Another car advertised in Pocono Pines has about 125,000 miles on its odometer. But in July 2013, it had 140,000 miles according to its vehicle history report.
The man who placed the ad for that car says he is selling it for a friend. He says despite the discrepancy in miles, he says the odometer was not rolled back.
But odometer rollbacks may be easier than ever in the digital age.
Crooked car sellers used to pop open dashboards and turn back the odometer numbers by hand.
Online you can learn how a $200 machine known as an "Odometer Correction Device" can now lower a car`s mileage.
"There`s little sign or no sign that the odometer`s been tampered with. And it can be done on the cheap," said Basso.
At Gaughan Auto, Hernandez says the latest victim of an apparent rollback was lucky.
She confronted the people who sold her that Jeep with a faulty odometer.
"They admitted their mistake and purchased the vehicle back from her," said Hernandez.
Consumer experts say that if you're buying a used car, you can protect yourself.
- Spend the money, or buy from a seller who will provide a vehicle history report.
- Get a mechanic to look at the car or truck you want to buy.
- Buy from a reputable used car dealer.
Law enforcement agencies say the majority of vehicles with rolled back odometers are sold privately by individuals, though there are some dealerships engaging in these rollbacks as well.
