Mileage scam: how to get rid of it?

Despite the onboard electronics, it is still possible for unscrupulous used car sellers to change the odometer count

The 'brakeometer' equipment that is placed behind the dashboard causes the mileage count to be frozen (Photomontage: Gabriel Fernandes | AutoPapo)
By Boris Feldman
Published on 2026-02-04 at 06:00 PM
Updated on 2026-02-04 at 06:30 PM

Well, there is a bad habit of some shopkeepers and car owners to reduce the car’s odometer to display a lower mileage than the one actually driven. They think they are smart, but the courts consider this embezzlement.

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And now electronics has perfected the process, creating the ‘travaodometer’. This means that the car moves, but the odometer remains stationary and it is very simple, just place the equipment behind the dashboard.

However, if you suspect, for example, that the car has driven more than 100 thousand kilometers for other indications and on the odometer it is showing 32 thousand, it is possible to find out if there was really a fraud. A specific computer connected to the electronic center knows exactly how many kilometers the car has traveled. If the change really happened, then it can trigger article 171.

Boris Feldman

Journalist and engineer with 50 years of experience in the automotive press. Led newspaper and television teams and hosts the AutoPapo program on radio stations across the country.

Boris Feldman
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