Indiana car dealer accused of rolling back odometers by 14 million miles

The state says the dealership removed the odometers from at least 216 vehicles and then sold them to unsuspecting customers.

Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita filed a lawsuit against KBB Auto Sales, alleging they rolled back the odometers of at least 216 vehicles and then sold them to unsuspecting customers. Worse, the attorney general’s office says these were not just minor setbacks, but massive setbacks totaling more than 14 million miles (22,530,816 km) combined.

To put this staggering figure into perspective, the average setback would be 64,815 miles (104,310 km) per vehicle. Additionally, NASA notes that the average distance to the Moon is 238,855 miles (384,400 km), so the combined trip back is equivalent to 29 round trips to the Moon.

More: Government arrests car dealer who rolled back odometer more than 218,000 miles

In the lawsuit, the state of Indiana said the dealership would purchase vehicles at auction and then “significantly” reduce their mileage. This would have been done either by replacing the instrument cluster or using an odometer restoration tool.

The AG alleges that the dealership’s owners and employees violated the Indiana Deceptive Consumer Sales Act, the Indiana Odometer Act, the Federal Odometer Act, and the Indiana Odometer Act. unfair practices of motor vehicles. As such, they seek “injunctive relief, consumer restitution, treble damages, civil penalties, costs and other relief.”

For damages alone, the state is seeking “three times the actual damages or $10,000, whichever is greater, for the benefit of each buyer.” The state is also seeking a civil penalty of $1,500 for each violation of the Indiana Odometer Act and $5,000 for each violation of Indian Code § 24-5-0.5-3(a) and (b), which covers misleading sales to consumers as well as unfair, abusive or deceptive acts.

Although this is only a brief overview of the lawsuit, it appears to be a pretty strong case since the State’s Exhibit A is a “table identifying 216 KBB Auto Sales vehicles sold to specific consumers in the Indiana, the mileage of each vehicle at the time of acquisition by KBB. Auto Sales (“KBB Acquisition Mileage”), the approximate mileage of each vehicle at the time of sale of the vehicle by KBB Auto Sales to each consumer (“KBB Sale Mileage”), and the date of sale of the vehicle to each consumer ( “Date of sale)”.

It remains to be seen how things will play out in court, but Attorney General Rokita said: “These unethical tactics deceive consumers into purchasing these vehicles with discounted odometers. They end up with cars and trucks with higher mileage and more wear and tear than they thought. It’s also worth noting that low mileage vehicles cost more and that’s probably what the dealer was looking for.

H/T to Wish TV