By returning the mileage, fraudsters can increase the value of a used car by several thousand euros per vehicle, but Volkswagen and Audi say that they have been using technology for several years that almost completely prevents this.
Adjusting the mileage is routine today and is offered from as little as 50 euros. The police assume that every third used car sold in Germany has a fixed mileage.
Fraudsters increase the value by an average of 3,000 euros per car, deceiving car buyers or leasing companies. The estimated total damage in Germany is around 6 billion euros per year.
EU Regulation 2017/1151 formally stipulates that the mileage in a car must be kept, and the law applies to new vehicle models from September 2017, and from 2018 to all new cars. However, until today, there is a lack of detailed regulation on what this protection should look like and which neutral body should check it.
The result of all this is that cheating continues, but not on all cars.
When browsing the relevant used vehicle websites, ADAC experts noticed that this no longer applies to the Audi A3 (from 2020) and VW Golf 8 (from late 2019).
These models appear to be better protected against mileage fraud than many competitors. The reason is the new computer chips with HSM (Hardware Secure Module) which are used to protect the mileage. Volkswagen announces further measures to prevent odometer reading, according to HAK magazine.
