How not to be cheated when you purchase a car

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When selling used cars, it is not uncommon for buyers to be deceived. In some cases, sellers simply conceal certain information in order to sell the car with the greatest profit for themselves. In this situation, the buyer risks getting a car in a worse condition than he or she wanted and incurring monetary losses (for repairs, maintenance). In other cases, it is a matter of fraud and manipulation of documents, which can be a real problem for the buyer, as we are talking about the illegality of the transaction and serious losses. How not to be cheated when buying a car? In this article we will tell you what ways of deception can be used by sellers of used cars, and how to avoid them.

The most common types of auto sales fraud

Different countries use different methods to cheat on the sale of used cars. We will cite a few types of fraud that are the most common and relevant to almost every country:

• mileage tampering – the most common manipulation, the purpose of which is to hide from the buyer the real wear and tear of mechanisms and the condition of the car;
• falsification of documents (selling a car on a duplicate) – used in the sale of cars that are listed as stolen, if there are encumbrances that prevent the sale – seizure, pledge and others;
• cosmetic repairs for the purpose of more profitable sale of the car after road accidents, insurance cases.

Mileage manipulation

Mileage fraud is one of the biggest problems in the used car market worldwide. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that no tools are available to identify the perpetrator of mileage cheating, leaving the hands of crooked sellers free.

For many used car sellers, deliberately reducing the odometer reading is a common practice. This practice is often used if the kilometerage of the car reaches 200-400 thousand and expensive maintenance is to be performed. Mileage can be reduced and in the case of damage to the dashboard after an accident. This type of deception is also used when importing a car from a country where taxes depend on the mileage.

Twin cars

The term “twin cars” is used to describe a fraudulent scheme in which a car with serious problems or defects is sold under the guise of a similar but more attractive vehicle. Before buying a car, it should be checked to avoid the risk of fraud, including making sure that the car is not a  “twin cars”.

Twin cars are also called clones. As a rule, these are illegally imported or stolen cars, cars with serious damage from an accident, which are sold under the documents of another real car with a clean history. To create a clone, fraudsters make duplicate documents and forge the vehicle’s VIN code. As a result, two different vehicles are operated on the same documents.

It is very difficult to identify “twin cars”, but if it happens, the buyer becomes the only person affected, as the police seize such a car.

In order to calculate the twin car, the buyer should pay attention to these points:

• usually “lookalikes” are sold by proxy;
• prices for such cars are much lower than the average market price;
• most often “clones” are fresh models (not older than 5 years).