UsedCarNews.com
September 17, 2018
NHTSA Warns Consumers About Clocking
ROLLING BACK THE MILES: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently issued a warning to consumers to be on the lookout for vehicles with altered odometers. The warning was caused by a case in which a dealership clocked numerous vehicles over the course of four years.
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A large-scale vehicle odometer rollback scheme in Mississippi led to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issuing a warning to consumers to watch out for potential clocking. The father-and-son dealership owners, Mark and Zachary Longgrear, pled guilty to conspiring to reset and alter the odometers of motor vehicles and to giving or causing to be given false statements relating to odometers. Mark Longgrear also pled guilty to six counts of securities fraud. From 2014 through at least February 2018, the Longgrears, both individually and under their company
Southern Auto Buyers LLC, bought a large number of late-model, highmileage vehicles from numerous sources. They then illegally altered the odometers of these vehicles to show lower mileage. The pair also forged and fraudulently created paperwork to secure new titles showing the false lower mileage on these vehicles, and then sold the vehicles directly to individuals and automobile dealerships at much higher prices. Some of these rolled-back vehicles were subsequently sold by the dealerships to consumers in Mississippi and elsewhere. The NHTSA warning instructs
consumers to compare the odometer to the reading on the title and maintenance record. It also advises checking for wear and tear on the tires and other parts of the car and check a vehicle history report. “We will not tolerate the illegal practice of odometer tampering,” NHTSA Deputy Administrator Heidi King said. In related news, police say they found two-dozen clocked vehicles when they inspected a Florida used-car dealership. The Lee County Sheriff’s Office Auto Theft and Economic Crimes Units conducted a joint dealership
inspection with the Florida Department of Safety in Fort Myers. During the inspection, detectives found 22 of the vehicles’ odometers were altered while owned and maintained by PG Auto Sales. Investigators determined the odometers were rolled back an average of 50,000 to 80,000 miles. Investigators made contact with Miguel Preciado-Valadez, who identified himself as the president and manager of the business. During the course of the investigation, detectives learned that Valadez utilized a third party to alter odometer readings in order to move inventory at a faster pace.
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