file.newsgroup.cars.103259 Maven / Gradle / Ivy
From: [email protected] (James P. Callison)
Subject: Re: Dealer cheated me with wrong odometer reading. Need help!
In article <[email protected]> [email protected] (Yong Je Lim) writes:
>Here is a story. I bought a car about two weeks ago. I finally can
>get hold of the previous owner of the car and got all maintanence
>history of the car. In between '91 and '92, the instrument pannel
>of the car has been replaced and the odometer also has been reset
>to zero. Therefore, the true meter reading is the reading before
>replacement plus current mileage. That shows 35000 mile difference
>comparing to the mileage on the odometer disclosure from. The
>dealer never told me anything about that important story.
>
>I hope that I can return the car with full refund. Do u think this
>is possible? Does anyone have similar experiences? Any comments
>will be appreciated. Thanks.
This is a tricky situation; if the previous owner didn't inform
the dealer of the odometer change, then the previous owner committed
fraud, and he may be liable. The dealer may also be liable; If the
previous owner notified the dealer, or if the previous owner had the
dash replaced at a dealer, or if the previous owner had the dash changed
legally, any records search on the car should turn up the fact that
the odometer had been altered. If a dealer changes the speedometer, he has
to report it (it goes into the car's service record with the manufacturer,
and on the title, if I remember correctly; the dealer told me that
the old mileage, etc. were sent to Ford when my T-Bird's speedo
was replaced). If the odometer can be set to the old mileage, it must
be; if it can't (eg, electrically-driven odometers) then the mileage
of the old odometer must be written on a permanent sticker which is
affixed to the door frame of the vehicle.
Either way, if the change had been done legally, then a records search
(which the dealer almost certainly did) should have turned it up.
Call your state's Department of Transportation/Public Safety/Motor
Vehicles--or your tag agent--to find out for certain what your
rights are. Your state's Attorney General will know for certain ;-)
James
James P. Callison Microcomputer Coordinator, U of Oklahoma Law Center
[email protected] /\ [email protected]
DISCLAIMER: I'm not an engineer, but I play one at work...
The forecast calls for Thunder...'89 T-Bird SC
"It's a hell of a thing, killing a man. You take away all he has
and all he's ever gonna have."
--Will Munny, "Unforgiven"