Bought a car with rolled-back mileage? Most don't know that in Serbia, imprisonment is foreseen for this
As many as 76 percent of European used car buyers do not know who to report fraud to when they discover that the mileage on a vehicle has been tampered with, while almost 90 percent doubt they can recover lost money at all, according to the latest automotive market research. Although the common belief is that these machinations go unpunished, in Serbia, intentional mileage manipulation is treated as a criminal offense of fraud, punishable by a prison sentence of six months to five years.
TL;DR
- 76% of European used car buyers don't know who to report mileage fraud to.
- Nearly 90% of buyers doubt they can recover money lost to mileage fraud.
- In Serbia, intentionally tampering with car mileage is a criminal offense with potential prison sentences.
- Approximately 4% of used cars in Serbia show manipulated mileage, with an average reduction of 73,000 km.
- A lack of unified data and difficulty in proving fraud are major reasons why these scams persist.
- Until mandatory cross-border data exchange on vehicle technical condition is adopted by the EU, independent pre-purchase inspections are crucial.