Back to all

Odometer Rollback on Your Elgin, Illinois Vehicle

June 18, 2018

 

How do Elgin drivers know if an odometer is telling the truth?

Well, back in '86, Congress passed the Truth-in-Mileage Act to protect Illinois consumers against mileage fraud. It says a Illinois seller must certify the mileage reported is the actual mileage.

To have your odometer checked in Elgin, Illinois, stop by Tuffy Auto Service Center Elgin:

Tuffy Auto Service Center Elgin
395 S. Randall Rd
Elgin, Illinois 60123

 

If it isn't, the seller must say why; for example, maybe the odometer is past its mechanical limits. Some older odometers only go to 99,999 and then start over at 0. Or, the odometer has been tampered with, broken or replaced.

If the seller tells you the mileage isn't accurate, there's not much chance of putting a good number to it. And there's the unscrupulous seller who claims the reading is true, but it isn't. What can Elgin vehicle owners do?

You can go to www.CarFax.com, where, for a small fee, they'll give you a comprehensive vehicle history search on your vehicle, showing local Elgin, Illinois, ownership history, accident reports, total-loss events, manufacturer buybacks, Lemon reports and warranty status.

You can get a mileage history by checking with the local Illinois DMV (or wherever you happen to be) and other verified sources looking for inconsistencies in the mileage reported when the car was bought and sold. If there are signs of odometer rollback, now you'll know.

If so, proceed with caution. Or, negotiate a lower price. Or just walk away. There's always another vehicle.

Tuffy Auto Service Center Elgin
395 S. Randall Rd
Elgin, Illinois 60123
847-717-4682

Need Service?

Request a Quote

More articles from Tuffy Elgin

Smooth Operator (Shock Absorbers)

February 15, 2026

When you are comfortably headed down the road, you may not realize how many of the imperfections in the driving surface are being smoothed out, so you hardly feel most of them. You can thank your shock absorbers for a lot of that comfort, and its important to make sure you keep your shocks in go... More

Making Sense of the O2 Sensor (Oxygen Sensor Replacement)

February 8, 2026

As you know, todays vehicles rely on a lot of computers in them to keep them running clean and efficiently. Those computers depend on information delivered by several sensors throughout the engine and exhaust system. And one of the most important is the oxygen sensor. Known as the O2 sensor f... More

Go with the Flow (MAF Sensor Replacement)

February 1, 2026

If your vehicle has an internal combustion engine, it depends on two things to make propulsion power for you to be able to motor on down the road: fuel and air. The engine mixes the two in just the right proportion so that they can be ignited, creating a series of tiny explosions that are coordi... More