Vehicle mileage fraud – filing a claim for financial compensation and transaction cancellation

Filing a lawsuit regarding mileage fraud with the assistance of attorney Eddie Blitstein

Attorney Eddie Blitstein has many years of experience representing plaintiffs in matters of vehicle mileage fraud. Attorney Blitstein has filed numerous lawsuits against car dealers in matters of mileage fraud. And he achieved many extraordinary successes.

Here is an example of a ruling against car dealers who sold a client of our firm a vehicle in which the mileage was falsified, and thanks to attorney Eddie Blitstein, the client was able to receive a transaction cancellation and financial compensation:

Mileage fraud (speedometer fraud) in used cars is a very common phenomenon (this is not common in new cars because they are usually sold with zero mileage). The purpose of the fraud is clear – the fewer miles the car has driven, the better its mechanical condition is generally, and the higher its value. For this reason, falsifying the mileage on a car is primarily intended to mislead the buyer into believing that they are purchasing a car in much better condition than it actually is.

Attorney Eddie Blitstein has been representing plaintiffs and defendants in automotive lawsuits for over a decade. Need professional legal advice? Contact our office.

It's not always easy to detect vehicle mileage fraud.

A person who is not familiar with the automotive world will not always know what to look for to find out whether a vehicle has indeed been falsified with a number of kilometers, therefore, the first and best advice for people who do not understand the field – never go and buy a used (or new) vehicle on your own. It is always worth consulting with someone who has purchased used vehicles in the past, and knows what basic checks to perform in order not to fall into the trap.

You can find out if the mileage on a vehicle has been falsified by checking the maintenance history.

One of the best ways to check if a vehicle's mileage has been falsified is to examine the vehicle's service book. Every time the vehicle arrives at the garage, as part of the service, the number of kilometers the vehicle has traveled up to that date is also noted. When purchasing a vehicle, it is highly recommended to ask for its service history. If it is a relatively new vehicle, a red light should come on if the seller states that he does not have the vehicle's service history, but this issue in itself should not lead to not purchasing the vehicle.

In these cases, whether it's a relatively new or an old vehicle, you can ask the seller where the vehicle was serviced and ask to take it to the garage to obtain the service history. If the seller refuses or tries to give you various excuses, this should raise your suspicions.

If you eventually received the vehicle's maintenance history and saw that the mileage changed reasonably over the maintenance period, And since, as of the date of purchase of the vehicle, the odometer does not show a lower number in relation to the maintenance history, it is likely that no mileage falsification was performed on the vehicle.

You can find out if the mileage of a vehicle has been falsified by looking at the vehicle license.

Another good way to find out if a vehicle's speedometer has been tampered with is by looking at it. On the vehicle license The latest (The latest). On the vehicle license, you can see the number of kilometers the vehicle traveled on the date of the last driving test. If the vehicle license shows a higher number of kilometers than what appears on the vehicle's odometer, this is a sign that the vehicle's mileage has been falsified.

Arriving at an authorized garage and connecting the vehicle to a computer to find out whether the vehicle's mileage has been falsified

The safest way to know if a vehicle's speedometer has been tampered with is to go to the importer's/authorized garage and connect the vehicle to a computer. This way, you can check for sure whether any changes have been made to the vehicle's systems in order to reduce the mileage.

Please note – Vehicle Inspection Institute He will not be able to perform this test, even though it is a well-known and very old phenomenon.

What do you do if it is discovered in retrospect that the vehicle's mileage has been falsified?

Falsifying vehicle mileage may lead to several consequences: 1. Canceling a car deal2. Receiving financial compensation. 3. A combination of transaction cancellation and receiving financial compensation. In the vast majority of cases, to achieve any of these outcomes you will need to submit Claim to the Magistrate's Court.

Contact the seller in writing and notify them of the discovery of falsified vehicle mileage.

Regardless of whether the vehicle was purchased from a private individual or a car dealer, it is always a good idea to keep it in writing so that there is an accurate record of what you wrote and what the seller replied to you. You can submit this documentation, if necessary, to the court as part of your claim.

Immediately after you discover that a speedometer has been counterfeited in your vehicle, you should contact the seller and inform them of this.. It is important to ask why he did not disclose this to you, and to inform him that you are demanding the transaction be canceled.

If the seller agrees to refund all your money in exchange for receiving the vehicle back, you will not have to go to court (but in reality, this scenario is unrealistic).

If the seller does not agree to return the money, you will be forced to file a lawsuit in court. Before filing a lawsuit in court, it is very useful to collect all the relevant documents. For example: If you have saved the seller's original ad, check whether it states the number of kilometers the vehicle has traveled up to the date the ad was published.

If you made a transaction with a car dealer, check whether you have the purchase agreement and whether you signed it. Disclosure FormIf you have not received a disclosure form from the dealer (a form that you need to sign separately from the contract) then Lawsuit against a car dealer It might become much easier.

Sending a warning letter before filing a claim to the seller

One step before filing a claim is the stage where you send Warning letter To the seller. The purpose of Letter from a lawyer It is to make it clear to the seller that your intentions are serious and that you do indeed intend to go to court if the seller's shortcomings are not corrected.

It is important to understand that the buyer also has no real interest in going to court and filing a lawsuit for a counterfeit speedometer in a vehicle, if the dispute can be resolved without going to court. Going to court involves a considerable amount of time and also the payment of fees in amounts that are far from negligible.

If, after sending the warning letter, the seller has agreed to your demands, there is no need to go to court. If not, there is no choice but to file a lawsuit.

Filing a lawsuit in court for falsifying vehicle mileage

As in other areas, in this case too, it is very worthwhile to seek the services of a lawyer who is knowledgeable in the specific field relevant to your claim. In this case Car Claims LawyerA lawyer who has previously filed lawsuits regarding vehicles, whether against individuals or against car dealers, and won these lawsuits.

Falsifying vehicle mileage is an issue that many judges do not understand, so it is important to have a lawyer by your side who knows how to convince the judge that you were actually sold a vehicle that is much inferior to what was advertised by the seller.

It is important to understand that a claim for falsifying the vehicle's odometer will not only deal with the issue of canceling the transaction, but also with receiving financial compensation for the buyer for the damages he suffered up to the stage of filing the claim, and also a demand for compensation for Mental anguishThis is one of the reasons why it is advisable for the seller to reach agreements before a lawsuit is filed against him for falsifying the vehicle's mileage, because in this way he may minimize his damages.

Examples of court rulings that support the demand to cancel a transaction when falsifying vehicle mileage

תא"מ 2891-11-19 סמי גילקרוב נ' רז מנדלסון

therefore, The gap between the speedometer's odometer reading and the actual odometer reading reveals a discrepancy., בהתאם לסעיף 11 לחוק המכר, שכן לכל הפחות עסקינן ב"נכס שאינו מתאים מבחינה אחרת למה שהוסכם בין הצדדים" (ס"ק (5)).

Moreover, we are concerned with a hidden inconsistency. Since the plaintiff immediately notified the defendant of the inconsistency, in accordance with Section 15 of the Sales Law, he is entitled to rely on this inconsistency. and cancel the agreement between them.

ת"א 61785-07-23 עלי סעד נ' אדם עטאללה

מספר הקילומטרים שעבר רכב משומש, הוא מידע מהותי בעסקת מכירה על ידי עוסק ברכב, ועל כן המחוקק מצא לכלול נתון זה ברשימת פריטי המידע שמוכר רכב משומש חייב בגילויים ואף הדגיש שיש למסור נתון זה "Accurately".

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As stated in our case, the information regarding the number of kilometers the vehicle has traveled is information that the legislator also found to be essential and therefore required the vehicle dealer to provide complete details. and accurate Regarding it also in the due disclosure form.

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Failure to record any data regarding the vehicle's mileage – Secondly, the defendant did not record in the statement of facts any data regarding the number of kilometers of the vehicle, even though there is a special rubric in the statement of facts for the number of kilometers, and he chose to leave it blank.

ככל שאכן היה ברשותו רישיון רכב במעמד מכירת הרכב, כפי שטען, הרי שלא הייתה מניעה לכל הפחות לרשום בזכרון הדברים כי בהתאם לרישיון הרכב מספר הקילומטרים הקיים ברכב נכון ליום 19.03.22 (כ-9 חודשים לפני מועד הקניה) הוא 294,781 ק"מ (כפי שנרשם ברישיון הרכב שבתוקף עד ליום 19.03.24) בפרט כאשר מספר הקילומטרים שהופיע על לוח השעונים היה נמוך באופן משמעותי (נכון ליום 27.06.23 – 144,345 ק"מ בלבד) כך שהנתבע ידע שהרכב גמע לכל הפחות כ-294 אלף ק"מ במועד בו נמכר לתובע. אלא שהנתבע גם לא רשם בזכרון הדברים את מספר הקילומטרים שהופיע במועד המכירה בלוח השעונים של הרכב.

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Not only that, even if the defendant gave the plaintiff the vehicle license, this does not obviate the need to provide a disclosure form as determined by the legislator, especially when even in the statement of facts itself the defendant did not record any number of kilometers that the vehicle had traveled. Moreover, the legislator did not believe that the mileage details recorded in the vehicle license were sufficient to meet the disclosure requirement, and the law stipulated that this information should have appeared explicitly and on a separate form – a disclosure form.

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הנתבע גם אינו יכול להתבסס על המילים המחייבות פירוט מספר הקילומטרים "ככל הידוע לעוסק ברכב" בסעיף 4(ב) לחוק, שכן המחוקק מחייב את העוסק לפרט Accurately The number of kilometers the vehicle has traveled is an item that the legislator found to be essential to the transaction and therefore had to deepen the examination of the matter and provide full details.

תא"מ 22022-03-14 אירינה לדיזינסקי נ' טרייד אין דיל 2001 (2002) בע"מ

המחוקק אמר את דברו וציין כי יש לפרט את הפרטים במדויק. לכל הפחות המונח "במדויק" חייב להתייחס לפרטים שהעוסק ברכב ידע עליהם או שהיה עליו לדעת עליהם.

בנסיבות שבהן מר ביטון העיד באופן ברור שהרכב עבר 220,000 ק"מ לא ניתן כל הסבר מניח את הדעת מדוע בטופס הגילוי נרשם המספר 200,000 ק"מ. תשובה ולפיה "כי הודענו ללקוחה שזה מעל 200,000 ק"מ" לאו תשובה היא, בכל הכבוד הראוי. המונח מעל 200,000 ק"מ הוא מונח מעורפל ולא מדויק ואינו תואם את הרציונל שקבע המחוקק שעיקרו פשוט: להביא לידיעת הקונה פרטים מדויקים ככל האפשר.

Beyond that, in my opinion, it is not enough to provide information based on a hypothesis or estimate alone. This is a simple technical figure and there is no justification for settling for a hypothesis without at least making an attempt to ascertain the exact figure. The defendant should have conducted an exhaustive and comprehensive investigation regarding the exact number of kilometers in the vehicle. A review of the vehicle license T/1 clearly indicates that the number of kilometers indicated therein is correct as of 03.11.2010. Considering that this is a date 3 years prior to the execution of the transaction, the plaintiff must have assumed that a real change had occurred since that figure was recorded until the date of the transaction.

A period of 3 years is a considerable period of time that would require the defendant to conduct a more exhaustive inspection in relation to the number of kilometers. The defendant did not conduct such an inspection and was satisfied with an assessment only, which is not enough.

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In short, the defendant violated the duty of disclosure to which it is obligated under the law. Furthermore, I believe that in view of the simple possibility that the defendant had to ascertain the more accurate information, either by contacting the licensing office or by locating the previous licenses it had, the defendant did not act as a reasonable dealer would have acted in the circumstances of the case, and thus violated the duty of disclosure that it owed to the plaintiff and was negligent towards her.

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בהתאם לחוק היה על הנתבעת לפרט בטופס הגילוי במדויק את מספר הקילומטרים ככל שהיה ידוע לה. העובדה כי המחוקק טרח לציין את המילה "Accurately" מבהירה היטב את כוונת המחוקק ולפיה על העוסק ברכב, בעניינו הנתבעת לפעול לבירור כל המידע הרלבנטי ולגלותו לתובעת. ציון השערה אינו בגדר פעולה של ממש ואין בו די.

In light of the aforementioned deception, the plaintiff is entitled to cancel the transaction also for this reason, and in such a situation, a mutual restitution obligation applies and the plaintiff is entitled to compensation for damages that she has proven and which arise from that violation.

Frequently asked questions about vehicle mileage fraud