Legality of rolling back an odometer

[Matt69olds]

I absolutely agree it’s a very slippery slope!! I’d be happy with a basic safety inspection. Get the unsafe junk either off the road, or fixed so it’s not a hazard to others.

Unfortunately, it’s all to easy to begin to treat the inspection as another source of income.

People are perfectly content driving around on bald tires, worn out suspension, no brakes, no lights, etc. that won’t change until they are forced to change.

 

[SirRobyn0]

@Matt69olds, It's funny we should be talking about this. Had a 2000 Cadillac in the shop today. One of the many issues on this car was loose tie rod ends, and wheel bearings. The tie rods were so bad you could move both wheels several inches. The kind of looseness that surprises you it hasn't broken yet. He picked it up this afternoon after declining all repairs. That's the kind of car that should be able to be red flagged.

 

[Matt69olds]

And when the tie rod breaks, he will say he didn’t know anything was wrong. Hopefully he hurts just himself.

Probably declined the repairs because he didn’t have the money. Probably a Starbucks cup in the cup holder?

 

[SirRobyn0]

And when the tie rod breaks, he will say he didn’t know anything was wrong. Hopefully he hurts just himself.

Probably declined the repairs because he didn’t have the money. Probably a Starbucks cup in the cup holder?

He had actually just bought the car because it was in such "good condition". He was planning to give it to his wife so she would have something nice to run their kid around in..... Scary, I can only hope that if he didn't believe us he takes it for a second opinion.

 

[Bextreme04]

The problem I have with this kind of thing is that more often than not I see the local shops being the ones putting out unsafe junk and overcharging people for it. If a local shop has the ability to "red flag" a car as unsafe and then you can't drive it away, it opens up a can of worms where they can shake people down. I've been guilty of taking a car into a shop for specialized services like alignments and such to get the inspection done while the vehicle is up on the lift. I will almost always decline them doing any work, order genuine AC Delco or Moog parts from rockauto or similar sources and do the repairs myself before taking it back to the same shop for the actual specialized work. I have a few shops I use that I trust for that kind of thing.

We had an intern at my work a year or two ago that had an older Jaguar. It started having an issue where it clunked and had swaying issues when he turned. Took it to a "reputable" local shop for an inspection and possible repair. They told him the "entire suspension" was worn out and would all need to be replaced to the tune of $2000 in order to be "safe to drive". He told me about it and wasn't sure what to do as he was a college student, far from home, and had nowhere to work on it himself or money to have the shop do it. He ended up buying all new suspension from somewhere online for about $200 and I had him bring it over to my shop for us to replace it ourselves.

Put it up on jackstands and slid under the front, and the very first thing I see is a lower A-arm bolt hanging out of the front suspension with only about 2 threads left keeping it from completely falling out. Every other bushing and bolt on the entire suspension looked completely fine, not even cracks in the rubber. So this shop not only tried to extort thousands of dollars in "repairs" that weren't necessary, but they let it roll out of the shop with the suspension literally hanging on by a thread after charging him $200 for an "inspection"

 

[SirRobyn0]

The problem I have with this kind of thing is that more often than not I see the local shops being the ones putting out unsafe junk and overcharging people for it. If a local shop has the ability to "red flag" a car as unsafe and then you can't drive it away, it opens up a can of worms where they can shake people down. I've been guilty of taking a car into a shop for specialized services like alignments and such to get the inspection done while the vehicle is up on the lift. I will almost always decline them doing any work, order genuine AC Delco or Moog parts from rockauto or similar sources and do the repairs myself before taking it back to the same shop for the actual specialized work. I have a few shops I use that I trust for that kind of thing.

We had an intern at my work a year or two ago that had an older Jaguar. It started having an issue where it clunked and had swaying issues when he turned. Took it to a "reputable" local shop for an inspection and possible repair. They told him the "entire suspension" was worn out and would all need to be replaced to the tune of $2000 in order to be "safe to drive". He told me about it and wasn't sure what to do as he was a college student, far from home, and had nowhere to work on it himself or money to have the shop do it. He ended up buying all new suspension from somewhere online for about $200 and I had him bring it over to my shop for us to replace it ourselves.

Put it up on jackstands and slid under the front, and the very first thing I see is a lower A-arm bolt hanging out of the front suspension with only about 2 threads left keeping it from completely falling out. Every other bushing and bolt on the entire suspension looked completely fine, not even cracks in the rubber. So this shop not only tried to extort thousands of dollars in "repairs" that weren't necessary, but they let it roll out of the shop with the suspension literally hanging on by a thread after charging him $200 for an "inspection"

Your absolutely right, it does leave a bad shop open to do bad stuff there is no doubt about it, and sadly there are far to many bad shop, one of the reason us mechanics have a bad reputation just by being in the trade.

In your situation you are the exception especially in todays world where hardly anyone even opens their hood.

I'll describe another situation also with tie rods. This one was a caravan about 10 years ago. Similar to Cadillac vehicle was unsafe to drive customer drove it away. 2 weeks later it was at the body shop next door as the tie rod broke off and she landed in the ditch. Lucky no one was hurt. Is that right? I don't think so. The only good solution would be a total overhaul of how shops and vehicle owners operate which will never happen anyway.

 

[80BrownK10]

He had actually just bought the car because it was in such "good condition". He was planning to give it to his wife so she would have something nice to run their kid around in..... Scary, I can only hope that if he didn't believe us he takes it for a second opinion.

 

[80BrownK10]

Go with a rebuilt title. In most states, salvage is what is used for a car to be crushed. As for the odometer, just put it in. You'll be exempt in most states and just tell people that's what the odometer said when you built the truck. As for the VIN plate, go by your states rules. There are no reproduction VIN plates. Several years ago, there was a vendor at the Corvette meet in Illinois the Feds busted for selling the factory type rivets for vin plates. I bought a '93 pickup once and within 6 months the dash pad started buckling. The VIN plate was attached to it. When they replaced it, the dealership used regular pop rivets.

Your state should tell you what they need. There are so many different rules, go with your home state and other states will usually honor it once it's done. I'm in Indiana and except for Indianapolis and some counties by Louisville and Chicago, we don't have inspections. I've titled and driven some stuff that would send the transportation ****'s in other states heart attacks.

Here a Salvage title is what you get if your car is totaled. I had one on a Saturn. I never dropped full coverage. Ended up having a deer run into the door and side of The hood. Cause enough damage they totalled it. It was still perfectly driveable just plastic parts busted. I bought it back and paid out of the settlement check to be fixed. I received a salvage title. It let's others know that the vehicle had been totaled. Some will stay away cause they don't know for sure what caused it to be totaled. In my case noting but cosmetic damage. But it could of been a twisted frame and many other safety issues which if not fixed right would create an unsafe vehicle.

 

[Corvette Ed]

In Tennessee if it’s 10yrs or older then it’s mileage exempt.

 

[Matt69olds]

He had actually just bought the car because it was in such "good condition". He was planning to give it to his wife so she would have something nice to run their kid around in..... Scary, I can only hope that if he didn't believe us he takes it for a second opinion.

Cruel to think like this, but maybe he didn’t like his wife and kids? I couldn’t imagine telling my wife to drive something that I knew wasn’t safe.

None of our vehicles are cosmetically perfect. At the same time, I have confidence that every one of them are safe and reliable, or wouldn’t get you where you needed to go. I wouldn’t hesitate to go anywhere in any of them.

 

[SirRobyn0]

Cruel to think like this, but maybe he didn’t like his wife and kids? I couldn’t imagine telling my wife to drive something that I knew wasn’t safe.

None of our vehicles are cosmetically perfect. At the same time, I have confidence that every one of them are safe and reliable, or wouldn’t get you where you needed to go. I wouldn’t hesitate to go anywhere in any of them.

As you might image he was a first time customer so I don't know him in the least. I guess anything is possible, but I had the feeling it was more denial, you know my nice looking used car couldn't actually be an unsafe pile....

I'm in the same boat you are for our vehicles. Currently only have one vehicle I wouldn't trust for a long distance and that's my old Dodge Dakota. I've taken it on longer trips in the past, but it sits so much now I'm hesitant to trust it but only for that reason.

 

[Flatwater]

Coming to the conversion late, but here's my two cents.

The issues involves state and federal law. Your profile says you're in NM and I am not familiar with NM law whatsoever. However, I am familiar a little with California (where I used to live).and Wyoming (where I live now) laws. Neither state requires mileage on a title when applying for title or transferring / selling a vehicle if the vehicle is more than ten years old. Also, because square bodies are so old, the odometer on a square body is most likely not the true mileage because on a vehicle that old the actual mileage exceeds the odometer's mechanical limits and on California titles there is a check box for than option.

Changing out an odometer under federal, and probably most state laws, is not in itself a crime. What if an odometer was legitimately broken and needed to be replaced? You put a new odometer in that reads all zeros. If you wanted to be perfectly square with the law you would put a sticker in the door jamb that states the odometer was replaced what the mileage was when the odometer was replaced.

I'm guessing even in NM they probably don't care about mileages on vehicles this old like CA and WY, but like I said, I am unfamiliar with NM law and I don't even know if they require state inspections. If you are seriously concerned about staying on the right side of the law it may be worth a little bit of money to consult an attorney in your state who knows the in and outs of these laws.

Good luck.

My 2020 Peterbilt had to have the speedo replaced under warranty. The new unit had a zero’d odometer, but the dealer put an affidavit sticker in the door jamb stating EMC mileage, like you mentioned.