Overview of Odometer Fraud in the Russian Car Market
In Russia, estimates put the share of used cars with rolled odometers around 33 percent. This figure comes from the Russian Association of Automobile Dealers, ROAD, and was shared with socialbites.ca. When advertisements include only limited usage history, Avito Avtotek conducted a regional study showing mileage inflation typically ranges from 17 to 24 percent depending on the area.
The highest share of rolled odometers was recorded in the Krasnodar Territory at 24 percent. Following regions include Samara, Chelyabinsk, Rostov, and Bashkiria with around 23 percent, illustrated in the accompanying infographic.
According to Avito Avtotek figures, certain brands show a greater tendency to understate mileage in listings. Ford dealers lead with about 32 percent, while Land Rover, Infiniti, and Mitsubishi average around 31 percent. Cadillac, Volvo, and Mercedes-Benz also appear frequently in this pattern.
What is the price impact for buyers?
Prices for cars vary significantly with mileage. A typical example from classified ads shows a 2016 Renault Logan with more than 300 thousand kilometers offered at roughly 650 thousand rubles. The same model with the same year and equipment but only 48 thousand kilometers can fetch about 950 thousand rubles.
For a Toyota Camry, the price gap tied to mileage is even larger. A vehicle with 37 thousand kilometers may cost over 1.1 million rubles more than one with 218 thousand kilometers.
Mileage inflation remains a major concern in the professional dealer community and is occasionally exploited by unscrupulous market participants.
The ROAD press service outlined a staged approach: first, there should be mandatory recording of odometer readings during ownership changes, technical inspections, repairs, and insurance. At present, recording odometer data is optional.
In the next step, proposals include penalties for falsifying odometer readings, initially administrative and eventually criminal penalties.
Who is challenging the practice?
Dmitry Rogov, founder of RogovMobil, notes that premium European brands imported into Russia from the European Union face a higher risk of low mileage being reported. He cites examples where high-mileage European cars look remarkably clean, and even a diesel Audi A6 with 300 thousand kilometers can appear almost new at a glance, leading to concerns about underreporting. Rogov explains that many cars brought from Europe for resale carry risk due to mileage misrepresentation.
When new three-year-old cars enter the market, mileage is often adjusted to a psychological target of 50 or 100 thousand kilometers. This practice targets buyers who lack detailed knowledge, focusing their search on classifieds rather than dealer histories.
Older cars also fall into a risky category. Many buyers avoid mileage figures above 200–300 thousand kilometers, which heavily influences price. Yet some buyers tolerate inflated odometer numbers, especially in the secondary market.
Today a prospective buyer can check a vehicle’s history using multiple databases that compile data from many sources. Dishonest sellers respond by attempting to reset odometer readings to the last verified value when reversing mileage, warns Maxim Shelkov, head of the Autocriminalist expert center.
For instance, if a vehicle currently shows 200 thousand kilometers, but the previous record was 120 thousand, a seller may list 125–130 thousand to appear credible, Shelkov notes. This pattern is most common in cars three to four years old, whose factory warranties have expired. Often, the first owner followed service intervals and had the vehicle serviced at a dealer, fixing the mileage in the process. The mileage may be adjusted again in subsequent ownerships.
Shelkov warns that both second and third owners can engage in this practice. A car with incorrect mileage is frequently offered for sale at a premium, sometimes 20–30 percent higher than its true value. The manipulation is easier to detect in gray market dealers but can also appear in official dealerships. In such cases, a vehicle may still be handed to an authorized dealer if the misreporting is not uncovered at purchase.