rolling back odometers isnt cool

The penultimate paragraph of the article (below) implies that the odometer can only be set back by 311 miles max. Guess there is no limit to how many times the odometer could have been reset back to zero. The DEIS Tester treatment seems to apply to mostly cars with "delivery" mileage, which is also the steepest part of the depreciation curve. Still, not ethical or honest.

She also added the tool could not work after the odometer reached 311 miles, or 500 kilometers.​

 

Good for Bud.

 

I'm not even surprised Florida is the main place of the investigation. It's just not worth the risk to buy a car there...new (i.e. storm damage covered up) or used. Only buy there if you are taking new delivery and physically watch the car unload.

 

So basically you could drive up to 310 miles and reset to zero? If you drove 311 miles, you can't roll it back? That's pretty odd...why would that function even exist? Is there factory testing prior to delivery where they reset it?

 

How they say it’s supposed to be used doesn’t seem to Make sense with there being a limit on the mileage of the car though

“Resetting an odometer to zero in case of a malfunction of the odometer when the pre-repair mileage is unknown is consistent with the federal odometer law,' Florin wrote.”

 

I used to see new cars driven all over my country from one dealer to another, have the mileage reset to zero, and put on the showroom floor. Lots of brands had the software, but you could only do it once, and usually only up to I think 200 miles.

Cleaned up, under the lights, with a couple of miles on them, no one ever guessed they had been driven a hundred or so miles to get there.

All that I saw, you did it in the car using Cabin controls like the trip counter reset.

 

Rob Ferretti's take on the whole mess.

 

^^^ A very enlightening video. Thanks!

 

A couple of points here

1) the Jalopcrap article that "Ferrari admitted it rolled back cars" is completely bogus (as usual for them). Yes, there is a method to reset the ODO for technical reasons but there's no financial advantage for Ferrari to do it. There may be an advantage for a dealer but not Ferrari itself. If there was corruption, it was at the dealer or service level.

2) as far as I can see there is still no evidence that anyone at a dealership took money from a client to do it.

3) this issue is not unique to Ferrari

 

I posted this on another forum also..it does sound like they did admit to changing the ODO..and financial advantage to a customer...and perhaps commission on resale...
“This internal Ferrari bulletin appears to confirm exactly what we suspected all along, that the odometer rollback device has been in place in Ferrari dealership service departments nationwide, if not worldwide, for many years [and] that the odometer rollback procedure was sanctioned at the highest organizational level,” said West Palm Beach attorney David Brodie, who represents Root.


“The practice ceased after my client, Bud Root, blew the whistle and just days after his story was picked up by the media. What remains now is to determine how pervasive this practice has been and to compel Ferrari to come clean.”

After spending 22 years selling Ferraris throughout South Florida, Root sued for libel Ferrari of Palm Beach and one of his clients, former Sara Lee Corp. CEO C. Steven McMillan.

Root claims he was fired after discovering odometers got rolled back and discussing it with McMillan, who allegedly then paid off a mechanic from the dealership to roll back his LaFerrari mileage.

Root explained in court paper the rollback — which had to be green-lit by Ferrari headquarters in Italy — instantly increased the resale value of McMillan’s $3 million-LaFerrari by $1 million, Root’s lawsuit claims.

Root says he was fired by Ferrari of Palm Beach in January 2016 for “egregious violation of business ethics,” allegedly facilitating McMillan’s rollback.


What really happened, Root says in the suit, is that he was targeted after he loudly objected to the use of the rollback device.

Root was rehired in March 2016. Since then, however, he claims Ferrari of Palm Beach engaged in a pattern of retaliation, including his move to an office that’s harder to reach by customers.

In a statement, Ferrari of North America Director of Communications Krista Florin said the company did nothing wrong or illegal.

“Resetting an odometer to zero in case of a malfunction of the odometer when the pre-repair mileage is unknown is consistent with the federal odometer law,” Florin wrote. “Ferrari determined that the risks of odometer fraud in the United States from unauthorized use of the DEIS tool outweighed the convenience of this functionality, and thus, Ferrari has informed its network with a technical bulletin of a software update to eliminate the odometer reset functionality.”

 

Florida is scam city all the way around, I asked my insurance lady why my rates kept going up even though ive never had an accident and no tickets in like 14 years and she said 70% of florida drivers dont have insurance so we have to protect against that. Not sure if thats true but even if its 35% thats too much.

 

I met Bud Root at Ferrari of Palm Beach. From my perspective he is a professional and stand up guy. This scam allegedly perpetuated by Ferrari explains why there may be many cars out there with such ridiculously low mileage. Tip of the iceberg possibly. Good for Bud for exposing it.

 

Maybe I am missing something here but if you are buying a car with extensive service records then how can you be fooled by a rolled-back odo??

Unless it was brand new, I would never buy a Ferrari without service records...no matter what the price.

 

Do people with, say, a 250 gto, even bother to keep service records? I would fathom that for at least certain models, keeping such records is fairly superfluous.

 

In regard to the vintage Ferraris I think the milage is less relevant. Of course a car with 150k miles may be worth less than a comparative car with 50k mile, but most of the time people are more interested in the cars history. Someone who is looking to spend more than 1m on a car should be diligent enough to research the car, and there are several well known Ferrari Historians who they can look to for resources. ex. Marcel

 

Agreed on the classic cars mileage is almost completely irrelevant. I'd argue on the newer cars its also not highly relevant either if you buy to enjoy as opposed to buying solely for investment purposes.

 

And I have the same point. If you have to do a smog test or DMV plate change the mileage is going to show up. If it's higher than the one on the dash I would say that's a pretty big red flag.

My insurance company asks me to verify the mileage every 6 months to insure I'm on a discount program.

If the mileage on your car is caught as cheating, imagine what the value would be. It would be CRUSHED because no one would really know how many miles it did or if it had it's service correctly. No one would want that car. "Was it 2000 miles or 20,000 miles?"

 

On the one hand I think too much is being made of 300miles....at the same time, cause of this, I see no reason for this functionality to exist.
If for some really unique reason, it needs to be done, it should be by the OEM over the Internet....not a sleazy dealer potentially with a conflict of interest...ie a profit motivation to reset cars they are selling.

 

FWIW. Rolling back a speedo in PA is a felony and they are ruthless in investigating.

 

Sorry if this has been answered already - but I'm confused as well.

How exactly does this tool work? Can you roll back to whatever number or just up to 310 miles?

 

Good for Bud Root. He is correct to object to rollback. Ferrari is dishonest at heart. Cheating potential buyers of expensive cars and supporting your best customers to be a crook.

 

My DD car insurance rate in Florida has remained consistent for the past 7 years, and is quite reasonable. The annual policy on the 308 is nearly the same price as the DD, while being worth 15x more.

Up north you get cars corroded from winter weather; down here it's obvious you should pay attention to signs of water damage. California cars are loaded with emissions crap.

And given these cars are shipped and brokered all over the nation, one should carefully examine a car no matter where you're buying it. Florida isn't unique in this.

 

I'm not entirely sure either, but that video about Rob Ferretti posted after my question seems like it could be after 310 miles is reached on the odometer. He said one of his rental 360s was incorrectly jump started by a renter and the odometer ended up reading 55,555. He went to the dealer after figuring out how many miles that guy likely put on top of the car's mileage when he picked up the rental and they reset it to that estimated number...

 

The real fun would being if Ferrari were forced to disclose the vin's of cars they authorized to be rolled back.