Beware of digital odometer fraud when you want to buy a used car. If you want to buy a used car, there are many ways you can check its condition. One way is to look at the distance traveled on the odometer.
Before going further, there are differences in the odometer and tripmeter. In addition to the odometer, today’s cars are equipped with a tripmeter.
Difference Between Odometer and Tripmeter?
Tripmeter is usually used to measure the distance in one go, from point A to point B. When finished and want to know the distance of the next trip, the vehicle owner can reset the tripmeter to return to 0.
Meanwhile, the odometer is an indicator of the overall vehicle mileage, from the initial exit from the factory to use. Generally, the number on the odometer cannot be reset back to 0 or as desired.
The mileage on the odometer is one of the parameters when you want to buy a used vehicle?
If the mileage or kilometers on the odometer is a little, it indicates that the car is rarely used, so the possibility of maintaining performance and minimal replacement of spare parts.
Meanwhile, for those who buy used vehicles with a low odometer, maintenance costs can be minimized. Maybe just periodic checks and changing oil, spark plugs, or air filters to maintain performance.
Then, the type of odometer is divided into analog and digital. Analog odometer moves mechanically by relying on the dial numbers on the instrument panel.
However, most modern cars today use digital odometers. The maximum distance figure is displayed in an electronic screen on the instrument panel, usually together with MID (multi information display).
How Odometer Fraud is Done
In the era of analog odometers, falsifying mileage figures were often used to raise the price of used cars.
Faking numbers on an analog odometer is somewhat easier, simply by removing the instrument panel and rotating the number. The results of the disassembly usually leave scratches or scuff marks.
Meanwhile, to fake a digital type odometer tends to be more difficult, because modern cars already use software on the ECU.
The manufacturer has designed it so that odometer numbers cannot be changed, let alone falsified. Reportedly, even official workshops do not have a tool to change the odometer.
Therefore, there is very little chance that the digital odometer will experience counterfeiting. If it is damaged, one instrument panel must be replaced.
The effect of the replacement, the digit on the digital odometer will return to 0. Fortunately, replacing the instrument panel is not cheap.
Even so, it turns out that there is a special tool with software designed to falsify the numbers on the current odometer. The method uses on board diagnostic (OBD).
Odoreset Tool To Set Digital Odometer
Odoreset is a small device shaped like an ATM card or credit card EDC machine. Just install it on the car and the odometer will be reset as desired.
This Odoreset turns out to be a special tool developed to make adjustments to the mileage figures recorded on the digital odometer. Digital odometer is different from analog odometer which uses a mechanical rotation to move the numbers shown on the odometer. The digital odometer uses an LCD screen that transmits information from the car’s ECU.
And even more sophisticated, a car that has been reset by this tool will not be visible to the naked eye, because it doesn’t take anything apart, and there are no settings. So the original car and the one that was dragged cannot be known.
Ways to find out digital odometer fraud
All forms of cheating will definitely be detected by checking the service history periodically at an authorized repair shop. Unfortunately, not all vehicles always carry out regular service at authorized workshops.
So, before buying a used vehicle, make sure again to check its condition thoroughly.
If you find a used vehicle with little mileage and low price, but many spare parts have been replaced and there is a lot of wear and tear on the parts, such as the steering wheel, pedals, tires, and door rubbers, it could be that the odometer has been faked.
With so many tools to commit digital odometer fraud, of course, make us more careful when buying a used car, hopefully the tips above can help you a little in choosing the vehicle you want to buy.
