Odometer fraud, also referred to as"busting miles" (United States) or"clocking" (UK, Ireland and Canada), is the illegal practice of rolling backodometers to make it appear thatvehicles have lower mileage than they actually do. Odometer fraud occurs when the seller of a vehicle falsely represents the actual mileage of a vehicle to the buyer.^[1]

According to the Office of Odometer Fraud Investigation at theUS Department of Transportation,^[2] odometer fraud is a serious crime and important consumer fraud issue. In theNational Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) 2002 odometer fraud study, the NHTSA determined that 450,000 vehicles were sold each year with false odometer readings, resulting in a cost of over $1 billion annually to car buyers in the US.^[3] In the UK, theOffice of Fair Trading estimates the annual cost at £500m.^[4]

Common examples of odometer fraud include situations where someone tampers with theodometer by rolling it back or replacing the odometer and failing to provide the required notice on the vehicle. According to AIM Mobile Inspections,^[5] an evaluator of new and used vehicles, the incidence of odometer rollback for the purpose of misrepresenting the mileage of off-lease used vehicles had increased by 30 percent since the beginning of 2011.

A 2017 Motorcheck analysis of the Irish used car market showed 15% of all used cars for sale are clocked, with 70% of these cars being diesel engines.^[6]

There are a number of ways in which a vehicle buyer might determine existence of possible odometer fraud.^[7] In the US, states require vehicle purchasers to obtain a title or certificate ofregistration due tofederal laws. These titles contain information about a vehicle's odometer history. The information can be accessed through each state'sDepartment of Motor Vehicles. Other options to detect odometer fraud include contacting the vehicle's former owners, conducting a mechanical inspection of the vehicle with particular attention to normal but harmless wear and tear such as to floor-mats and the rubber on pedals (or to suspiciously new such items), and checking the vehicle's history report (seeused car for a list of vehicle history services in different countries).

Modern cars often employ digital odometers. These odometers are said to be, in some cases, even easier to tamper with than mechanical odometers with the use of several electronic tools, most of which plug in via a car'sOBD2 port.^[8][9]

• In thenovel and1996 filmMatilda, Matilda's father is a secondhand car dealer who uses an electric drill to reverse the cable-driven odometer.
• Odometer fraud is depicted in the opening scene of the 1980 filmUsed Cars.
• InFerris Bueller's Day Off, after valet attendants Sam and Victor take Cameron's father's Ferrari for a joyride, Ferris runs the wheels backwards in a futile attempt to reduce the mileage; running the vehicle in reverse does not move the odometer backwards.

• Federal Odometer Laws

• Odometer Rollbacks: A Hard-to-Spot Nuisance for Car Shoppers 20 May 2021New York Times article by Paul Stenquist

• Consumer fraud
• Car crime

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from May 2023