It really is somewhat of a balancing act when you buy a used vehicle, and what you’re “balancing” here is price versus things like wear, tear and mileage on whatever car or truck you may be looking at. It’s understood that the vehicle you’re considering buying will have had a certain amount of its service life used up. On the other hand, the discount you receive when compared a new car should “counterbalance” the level of use that it received.

So then how do you determine exactly how many miles any car or truck that you can find for sale has on it? Manufacturers in fact make that as easy as determining how much gas is in the tank because there’s an odometer that tallies up each and every mile or kilometer that a vehicle is driven. It’s right on the dashboard. Usually right under the speedometer. Even so, be aware that most odometers “roll back” to one when they go over 100,000 miles.

So the first thing you want to sort out if it’s showing an exceptionally low number of miles on the odometer, is whether or not the odometers rolled over. Does the car have 20,000 miles on it? Or is it really 120,000 miles? The problem is that all too often the seller will attempt to lead a buyer to believe that it’s the lower figure. So the place to look is on the carpeting around the pedals, the pedals themselves and perhaps the steering wheel to check for excessive wear.

Now even though it is a serious crime that can land a person in prison doing a “years” long sentence people still do occasionally roll back the odometer on a vehicle. The reason is simple too, and it all revolves around money. Particularly on more expensive vehicle that is not showing a lot of wear and tear, turning back the odometer can mean an increase in the selling price of several thousand dollars. So there’s good financial incentive.

It’s also easier to do than most people realize because it can involve simply buying a new speedometer from a parts supplier, and have it installed in the dashboard. There’s a problem there. That’s that a “new” odometer will start out at zero which is a problem for someone attempting to sell a car car that’s supposed to have a “reasonable amount” of miles on it. So what most fraudsters do, is go to a wrecking yard and take one out of a vehicle there that already has some miles racked up on it.

So take a good “close look” at the actual numbers on an odometer, and if they’re considerably less than what would be reasonably expected on a vehicle it’s aged, be suspicious. Of course check the carpet around the floor pedals, the pedals themselves perhaps the drivers seat to see if they show excessive wear. Then another item to check out that could be a giveaway, is the screws on the dashboard, to see if they’ve tampered with.

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