Tricking the mileage of vehicles is still a common practice in the second-hand market. And while buyers are increasingly wary of car scams, a new study from carVertical shows that the risk of buying a souped-up vehicle remains very high.
Odometer fraud not only results in high maintenance costs, but also greatly reduces the value of a car. Losses related to odometer fraud are estimated at €8.77 billion per year (according to a study by the European Parliament Research Service), so it is important to know more about this costly problem.
Thus, after analyzing 1.11 million reports of histories between the last 12 months in 24 markets, covering the United States and most of Europe, the study revealed that the most tricked car is the luxurious Audi A8 sedan. Of all the A8s checked on the platform, 30.6% had fake mileage, which means that almost one in three pre-owned Audi flagships may have fake mileage.
In fact, 6 of the 10 most souped-up cars were expensive German vehicles, such as the Audi A7, BMW X5, BMW 7-series and Volkswagen Touareg. Their high cost (and therefore high profit potential) makes these vehicles a perfect target for odometer scammers in the used market.
Among the models of other manufacturers that appear in the list of the most souped up, we also see the Ford Mustang in 2nd place (25.7% souped up), the Ford Fusion in 10th (22% souped up), the Volvo XC70 in the 14th (21.1% modified) and the Opel Insignia in 19th (19.5% modified).