We sometimes hear of consumers who buy a used car and discover later that the odometer may have been tampered with, and many consumer disputes arise because of it. To increase the trustworthiness of odometers and make it convenient for consumers to check them, the Directorate General of Highways (DGH) under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, with coordination from the Department of Consumer Protection (DCP) under the Executive Yuan, has enhanced the “Odometer Check” function on the “Motor Vehicle Driver Information Service App” or “MVDIS App” for short. All you need to do is input the car’s license plate number and its date of manufacture, and you will be able to see what the car’s mileage was during its two most recent vehicle inspections.
The DCP says that when consumers want to buy a used car, they will usually take a look at the odometer first before negotiating its price with a used-car dealer. However, before they decide actually to purchase the car, normally they can only go by the odometer reading and what the dealer claims. But is the odometer reading correct? In most cases, it is not easy to check. Consequently, it is always the case that odometer-tampering suspicions arise after the purchase—and the consumer realizes he or she has been suckered. This type of consumer dispute accounts for nearly 10% of disputes involving the purchase of used cars.
Officials from the DCP and the DGH discussed how to reduce this problem many times. The outcome was the DGH’s rollout of the enhanced MVDIS App’s “Odometer Check” function on October 1, 2015. Consumers could then use this convenient mobile app to check what a car’s mileage was during its most recent vehicle check. However, considering that would-be odometer changers might try to circumvent the system if only the most recent data were shown (e.g., by changing the odometer and then having the vehicle inspected), the DGH, on the DCP’s recommendation, also added the next-most recent vehicle check mileage to the app’s output starting from November 20, 2015. Therefore, now the two most recent vehicle check mileage readings are shown, together with the dates of both vehicle checks, for greater transparency of information.
DGH statistics show that in November 2015 there were approximately 769 million cars in Taiwan, and if we subtract new cars that have not yet undergone the mandatory periodic inspection after their fifth year, then approximately 6.30 million cars, or more than 80% of the total, have had their mileage recorded at least once. The DCP thus urges consumers to make good use of the MVDIS App when buying a used car. If you compare the recorded mileage at inspection with the mileage shown the odometer, you will generally be able to decide whether the odometer has been tampered with. Moreover, this service is completely free, so there is no reason for the consumer not to use it.