Turning Back Of Speedometers

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23121, 20 August 1938, Page 16 (Supplement)

Turning Back Of Speedometers

OUTSPOKEN COMMENT IN ENGLAND

"A DEALER in America sued for turning back the speedometer on a used car has had to pay 2000 dollars punitive damages," says The Autocar, an English journal. "The practice of turning back speedometers somo way is widespread in this country also among certain classes of traders, and where it is done with deliberate intent to deceive it is nothing less than fraudulent misrepresentation. "Some firms make .a practice of turning back to zero the speedometers on the used cars they have reconditioned and offer for sale. There is a great deal to be said in favour of this. It is a simplification; it is scrupulously fair to the purchaser and allows him to make his choice on the condition of the car alone without heing influenced by the thought that. 'Anyhow, the other model has done 5000 less.' Added to which tho possibility of the original owner having 'doctored' the speedometer to the extent of 10,000 miles or so, and deceived the trader to whom ho sold the car, is eliminated. Moreover, if anything should. go wrong with the speodometer during the life of tho car and it should be sent back to the makers, it will be returned reading zero for refitting. "If a purchaser should bo deliberately misled by a firm as to the mileage of a car and his choice affected by the misrepresentation, wo should like to see him take proceedings if he discovered tho truth. A sharp lesson would bo taught to check an unwholesome practice—a practice which is indulged in, however, only by tho less reputable* firms." The position in England, as set out in The Autocar, is very similar to that in New Zealand. Reputable dealers do not reduce the mileage totals on used cars unless they turn tho whole instrument back to zero, to give tho now purchaser a "clean sheet" with which to

start. Quite apart from the question of ethics, a keen buyer will not be deceived by a falsified speedometer reading; there aro many other ways of judging the use a car lias had, apd a grave risk exists that a knowing customer will recognise that the speedometer has been tampered with, and place his order elsewhere.