Attention Massachusetts drivers: The contents in this article requires your immediate attention: Did you know it just takes seconds for criminals to tamper with vehicle odometers as they have the capabilities to read any number they want and in the long run that could cost an unsuspecting buyer thousands of dollars while shopping in particular for a used cars.

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In this "so-called" digital age, odometers in modern cars are essentially a computer that can be reprogrammed and you would be unable to recognize the actual mileage of that particular vehicle that you are interested in. According to CARFAX, statistics show that Massachusetts is 16th in the country in odometer fraud, with an estimated 31,900 cars on state roads with rollbacks as we speak. that number is alarming in nature.

Consumers are unaware about these horrific changes once they head to the lot in search of a new vehicle. there are some suggestions to alleviate this rampant problem. The CARFAX web site suggests you can check a free report on any used car purchase to flag issues to avoid future problems.

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You also should take a used car to a mechanic before buying. It is suggested to take the vehicle for a routine independent inspection. This procedure will set you back about $100 but a trained mechanic will give the potential customer a complete analysis as they will look for a lot of things including if the wear and tear  does not match up to that reading on the odometer. And that’s critical to avoid future car repair bills that could be expensive in the long run.

According to Emilie Voss from CARFAX, it can cost you thousands and thousands of dollars, not to mention headache and heartache over the lifetime of ownership of a vehicle. We know we’re seeing the numbers trend in the wrong direction.”

Here is a recent video clip on this hot button topic that recently aired on the syndicated TV show "Full Measure" with Sharyl Attkisson:

(video clip courtesy of YouTube) 

The horrific part of this story is criminals can get the equipment to change an odometer would have cost $10,000 a few years ago. But now the total cost is only a couple hundred as the average price increase from the fraud is about $4,000 a car as the estimated value of the vehicle in question can make the capability of a used car seem more valuable to the potential customer.

BOTTOM LINE: BUYER BEWARE! Do your homework and with extensive research, you can avoid being a future victim of odometer fraud. It's that simple!

(Featured Image photo courtesy of Jesse Stewart, Townsquare Media)

(Some information obtained in this article, courtesy of FOX 25 Boston and www.yahoo.com)

LOOK: See how much gasoline cost the year you started driving

To find out more about how has the price of gas changed throughout the years, Stacker ran the numbers on the cost of a gallon of gasoline for each of the last 84 years. Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (released in April 2020), we analyzed the average price for a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline from 1976 to 2020 along with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for unleaded regular gasoline from 1937 to 1976, including the absolute and inflation-adjusted prices for each year.

Read on to explore the cost of gas over time and rediscover just how much a gallon was when you first started driving.

 

 

 

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