ATLANTA, Ga. – “Within seconds, you can subtract the mileage; add the mileage; do whatever you need to on the vehicle,” mechanic Josh Ingle said.

Ingle owns Atlanta Speedometer, an instrument cluster repair company. He showed us how an odometer programming tool can help commit odometer fraud in just seconds.

“Hit enter, and it’s 1, 2, 3, and you’ll see the odometer go blank,” he said. “It’ll change and hold that information, and now this truck has 100,000 miles on it.”

Ingle says it’s no coincidence these crimes increased as the tool used to commit them became less expensive.

“When I first started my business, most of the tools to be able to do this were $10,000 or above. That’s really come down,” he said.

According to CARFAX data, more than 2.1 million cars on the road may have had their odometer rolled back this year, up more than 18% since 2021.

“Consumers lose an average of about $4,000 in value when they unknowingly buy a rolled-back car,” CARFAX spokesperson Em Nguyen said.

Nguyen says there are cars on Missouri roads right now that have rolled back odometers.

“Missouri, we have as the 26th state. It has about 24,800 suspected rollbacks. For St. Louis, it looks like it’s 38th in the top 100 metropolitan areas. That’s about 12,400 suspected odometer rollbacks,” she said.

Nguyen says Illinois is the fifth-highest state in the country, with 79,000 vehicles suspected of odometer rollbacks.

“Something like this that many people believe is that newer, digital odometers are harder to turn back in terms of mileage, but that is so far from the truth,” she said. “In fact, it’s actually harder to detect because there is no digital footprint, which is why we recommend you take a look at the CARFAX report.”

Nguyen also recommends consumers get independent inspections from trusted, trained mechanics before buying a vehicle.

“Certainly, this is trending in a very worrisome direction,” Nguyen said.