1,650 odometer rollbacks on secondhand cars were discovered in 2018, according to a new year report by Car-Pass, a nonprofit organisation that provides the required certificate with every secondhand car sold. The average rollback per car was 64,326 kilometres. However, Car-Pass discovered one van whose odometer was rolled back from 572,670 to 65,173 kilometres. In 2017, 1,557 cases of odometer fraud with Belgian secondhand cars were found.
According to Car-Pass, more Belgians look for secondhand cars abroad. However, "an increase in imports, increases the risk of fraud as well," said Michel Peelman, managing director of Car-Pass to Het Nieuwsblad.
"From 1 January 2020, car manufacturers and importers will be obligated to inform Car-Pass of the odometer reading from their central database when the vehicle is imported to Belgium. In the absence of European legislation, this federal legislation is not a minute early," he added.
Additionally, Car-Pass found that 38% of all detected fraud cases were imported vehicles from the Netherlands, which came to light thanks to the exchange of meter readings between Car-Pass and the Dutch RDW. As a result, fraud with Dutch vehicles has fallen by 58% in 2 years, according to Car-Pass.
Maïthé Chini
The Brussels Times
