ON INVESTIGATION OF ODOMETER ROLLBACK ACTIVITY

A STUDY WAS CONDUCTED TO DETERMINE THE MAGNITUDE OF AUTOMOBILE ODOMETER ROLLBACK ACTIVITY AT A SELECTED SAMPLE OF USED VEHICLE OUTLETS, AND A FEASIBILITY EVALUATION WAS MADE OF A FIELD SURVEY APPROACH AS A MEANS FOR DETECTING AND ULTIMATELY CONTROLLING THIS FORM OF ACTIVITY. A DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSIS WAS ALSO PERFORMED TO IDENTIFY CHARACTERISTICS COMMON TO VEHICLES FOUND TO HAVE ODOMETER ROLLBACKS AND TO RELATE THESE FACTORS TO THE AMOUNTS OF MILEAGE DISCREPANCY. OF THE 87 VEHICLES AND EIGHT DEALERS INCLUDED IN THE INVESTIGATION, 20% OF THE VEHICLES AND 75% OF THE RETAIL OUTLETS WERE DETERMINED TO INVOLVE ODOMETER ROLLBACKS. ALTHOUGH THE DISTRIBUTION OF ROLLBACKS BY MODEL YEAR OF THE VEHICLE SHOWED NO PREDOMINENT TREND, THE COMPACT/ INTERMEDIATE AND THE STANDARD SIZE VEHICLES FOROM OUT-OF- STATE APPEARED OVERLY REPRESENTED AMONG THE ODOMETER ALTERED VEHICLES. THE IMPACT, CONSEQUENCES AND REACTIONS OF THE RETAIL DEALERS TO THESE FINDINGS ARE DESCRIBED. CONCLUSIONS DRAWN ARE THAT: (1) EVEN THOUGH THE SAMPLE CONSIDERED WAS LIMITED AND SELECTIVE AND MAY NOT BE TRULY REPRESENTATIVE OF ALL USED VEHICLES FOR SALE AT ANY GIVEN TIME, THE MAGNITUDE OF THE ODOMETER ROLLBACK ACTIVITY MAY BE ALARMINGLY HIGH AND POSES A POTENTIALLY SERIOUS THREAT TO TRAFFIC SAFETY AND CONSUMER PROTECTION; AND (2) THE SURVEY AND VALIDATION METHOD DESCRIBED PROVIDES THE DEPARTMENT WITH A COST EFFECTIVE CAPABILITY FOR DETECTING AND DEALING WITH THIS ACTIVITY.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • 31 PP
• Corporate Authors:

  Washington State Department of Motor Vehicles

  Olympia, WA  United States  98501
• Authors:
  • Paulsrude, S
• Publication Date: 1972-5

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Oedometers; Used vehicle industry
• Old TRIS Terms: Roll back
• Subject Areas: Highways; Safety and Human Factors; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00223890
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jan 23 1973 12:00AM