Can I Sue a Car Dealership for Odometer Tampering – Auto Fraud Lawsuit
Odometer tampering is one of the most common acts of fraud perpetrated against innocent consumers in the United States. with an estimated 450,000 cases each and every year. In most cases victims never realize they have been defrauded. Individuals who have suffered harm at the hands of used car dealerships that take part in lowering the mileage of the vehicles they sell to customers as well other deceptive sale practices are entitled to full and just compensation for all harms and hardships incurred.
Establishing Liability Against Car Dealerships for Odometer Mileage Lowering Fraud
Individuals and businesses who common odometer fraud are liable for criminal prosecution and civil claims. Under the Federal Odometer Tampering Statutes,”Altering the mileage reading on a motor vehicle is a felony.” In such cases the intent of the seller to defraud is a vital elements in establishing liability. Intent can be proven by specific acts which have the sole purpose of deceiving others for one financial gain. Fraud can also be established by showing specific acts or words taken by a seller in order to induce an individual to transfer ownership of a valuable property from one party to another.
- Also, odometer fraud laws also allow recovery from dealerships and second hand vendors who are selling a vehicle that was tampered with before they took custody of the item.
Cost of Legal Representation – Attorney Fees and Odometer Fraud: Under Federal Odometer laws and Regulations civil recovery can include, “1,500 or, treble damages, whichever is greater, plus reasonable attorney’s fees.” Thus, in most cases victims who file a claim will be able to receive from the at fault party whatever legal fees have been incurred.
Steps to Take to Prevent the Incidence of Odometer Tempering When Purchasing a Used Vehicles:
There are several important steps which can be taken in order to prevent or lessen the probability of odometer tampering.
- Ask the seller of the vehicle for the title. Examine the document for it mileage and compare it to the vehicles current mileage.
- Ask for the vehicles inspection reports including oil change reports for the mileage of the vehicle.
- Examine the look of the Car: Excessive wear and tear not in unison with the relatively low mileage is a telltale sign of odometer tampering.
- Ask the seller for CARFAX Vehicle history and check for odometer discrepancies.
- Look for missing screws on or near the dashboard. The seller of the vehicle may have opened up the dashboard to tamper with the odometer.
- Are the digits on the odometer misaligned.
Attorney Consultation Available: If you have been a victim of Odometer Fraud or any other type of auto sales fraud feel free to contact our law firm. All legal consultations are provided by our attorneys free of charge.
18 Comments
My name is Nicolson Andre. I went to a dealership last Saturday to get a car, I got approved and signed for it. Before I left I made sure that everything was OK. But I was by myself and I went there with a car. So I agreed with them to leave the car and come back to pick it up the next day. They didn’t give me any copies for my transactions. They said everything is electronically and I will receive it by mail. The next day I went with my girlfriend to get the car and I feel like that the car was different with a lot of scratches and other damages.
I argued with the manager for a while but he said it’s too late because I already signed electronically that’s mean it can’t cancel anything.
I feel like I didn’t get other choice, I decided to keep it. While I was driving it to get home, I was about 5 minutes from the dealership I realized the mileages was different I bought a car with 20000 miles and it was 40000 miles. When I came back, now he tried to offer me everything but I wanted to contact a lawyer before to have an idea about my situation…
I purchased a vehicle from a private seller who purchased from an auto auction. I recently found that the odometer was rolled back before I purchased the vehicle. From the records I have it shows it was done before the auto auction. I don’t know who is to blame for this.
Hello ! My name is Joshua. I have been put in a financial situation and i want to know what i can do. I want to know what I can do. I purchased an 05 Mustang over a year ago. I spun out in the snow, so I went to trade it in for a truck for safety precautions. They barely offered me anything for the Mustang because they said that the odometer has previously showed a higher mileage. At the time it was about 45k miles. In the maintenance history it had shown 67k miles. I tried to contact the dealership who sold me the Mustang and they said that they were not responsible. I called the Repair shop that had serviced the vehicle and this shop listed the mileage at 67k. They could not help me. Now, (8 months later) I am finding out that this is technically fraud, and I feel that maybe I wouldn’t be in so much debt had the odometer never been tampered with. (Because the dealership where I traded in the Mustang for the truck, said that they were offering me less for the vehicle because this was tempered with) I think it is unjustified that the truck dealership then list the Mustang for sale at 45k miles. But they offered me less because they had accused the vehicle of having 67+k miles. I also wonder that if the Mustang odometer hadn’t been tampered with, I wouldn’t have bought it, hence I wouldn’t have gotten into the car accident that costed money, and ever since I am TERRIFIED to drive. Period. I drive under the speed limit. I’m scared to drive in the rain! Also i would not have bought the truck, and gained so much huge negative equity had i not been in the accident! I’m not hungry for money nor am I trying to unfairly profit. I would just like to know if I can take action, what I would need. Does it matter that I don’t own the Mustang anymore? Thank you for your time. Email is best, or text. Thanks!!
Pretty sure I am a victim of odometer fraud. I bought a 2003 Toyota Tundra from a seller off Craigslist. Her ad stated 125,xxx miles and the odometer reads the same. I changed the battery the other day and saw a sticker saying the timing belt had been changed at 239,xxx miles… I thought this must be a part they pulled from a wrecked truck at a junkyard or something. Pulled a Carfax and see service records showing 264,xxx in 2015. The weird thing is the title from the DMV has 125,xxx miles on it too! This is a salvage title truck so I would think they would have caught it? I have no clue how to proceed.
Just purchased a used car with 71K miles on it. It’s a 2010 – S550 Mercedes. There was an auxiliary malfunction so I took it back — they said it had something to do with the back up battery. I got the car and after 6 days, I noticed the odometer now read 106K miles. NOTE: the odometer display screen can be hidden by other electronic display screens — so at the time I wasn’t seeing it.
So I took the car back to the dealer to give them the benifit of the dought that something must be malfuctioning. A few days later, they told me it’s the first time they’ve ever expereienced this and can’t fix it.
NOTE: The car fax looks perfect so I never had any alarm — and the car looks well kept.
They asked what I wanted to do, and I said that I’m willing to give them a chance to make it right.
The car cost $30K + they added a $1,495 anti-theft device which they said was manditory or they couldn’t sell me the car. They showed me some policy on their website. Later, however, on the paper work I saw it listed as an option which obviously bothered me.
I mentioned for them to consider giving me $6K since that seems to be about the difference from a 2010 w/ 71K and a 2010 w/ 106K miles. He called me back and said he doesn’t know if he can do that. I responded in saying that I’m not even certain that’s going to resolve this for me either.
Presently they’re holding my car hostage and my wife and I are going there today.
I don’t plan on signing anything — and if they don’t release the car which I clearly over paid for, I’ll probably call the police. I need a car to get to work and they never offered me a loaner.
The dealership is a large one in Montclair called STG.
Please let me know what your thoughts are and if you can help.
We purchase a 2008 Chevy avalanche in 2014 and we just found out that the odometer was rolled back fifty thousand miles. We purchased the vehicle from Budget car sales in Montgomery al.
I’ve just found out I’m a victim of auto dealer fraud.can I do anything about it
os it possible to sue an individual for odometer fraud? We’re can I find a sample complant for this type of suit
Bought 2015 ford 18000 miles, speedometer was reading 65 miles an hour, got pulled over for doing 80. Off 12-15 mph. Dealership said bring it back we calibrate it, I took to local dealership to fix n ford under warranty sent new cluster n it was Canadian cluster. They said the American one in the pickup is not suppose to be n no documents that it was swapped. So called place I bought it n they said bring it in we will fix it n that they buy candian pickups all the time n swap cluster out. Also I just had a bunch of front end work done because front end was wore out, n vechile shows 30000 now for I have owned it for year now
odometer tampering title forgery, uttering FDUPTA, no buyers guide posted, myriads of other violations
disabled veteran
call after 11 am
PLEASE HELP
I purchased a vehicle and the odometer was rolled back 100,000 miles. I live in Arizona. Is this the type of case you handle? Email is best to reach me during the day.
Jeff Mason
My car had a recall and when I took it to the dealer to get fixed, the dealer gave me a whole print out of the vehicles history, and come to find out they rolled the mileage back over a hundred thousand miles
I have a vehicle the odometer been tampered with do I sue the dealership or the finance company the dealership is no longer there it moved different area.
Do I need the bill of sale when I go to court.
I recently bought a 2002 Jeep liberty with “102k” miles and recently found out it has 250k miles. I was lied to and taken advantage of. I need your help to figure out what I can do to get this issue solved. Thank you for your time.
I recently bought a 2002 Jeep liberty with “102k” miles and recently found out it has 250k miles. I was lied to and taken advantage of. I need your help to figure out what I can do to get this issue solved. Thank you for your time.
7 months ago i bought a 2004 silverado with 191k i asked the guy for the miles before and they said it was its original. Now i when in to trade it in another dealer and it turns out they miles are not hers….can i sue them for that ? The guy that worked at the dealer that i wanted to trade with helped he gave the info on the truck he said that the miles at first were ok but on the years of 2013 and 2014 it only when up by 1k and on the next year it went down by a lot ….what can i do now.
7 months ago i bought a 2004 silverado with 191k i asked the guy for the miles before and they said it was its original. Now i when in to trade it in another dealer and it turns out they miles are not hers….can i sue them for that ? The guy that worked at the dealer that i wanted to trade with helped he gave the info on the truck he said that the miles at first were ok but on the years of 2013 and 2014 it only when up by 1k and on the next year it went down by a lot ….what can i do now. I have already pay 4400
I purchased a vehicle 10/16 and I went to get it appraised today 6/18 to sell it. I found out that the odometer was rolled back around 4400 miles. The dealer said its prob a typing error but I got the auto fax and it showed on 10/16 36064 miles then 8 days later 31618 but when I bought it my my paper work and the odometer said 35999. What can I do??