Surprisingly, the practice of turning back the odometer on a used car still happens, and it happens to plain old family sedans most often. Why? These cars are in high demand and they represent a large portion of the used vehicles in the market.
Unscrupulous private sellers may resort to this practice, but it rarely happens at dealers who have a large volume of used cars on their lot. Private sellers may want the extra cash a low mileage car will bring in, but dealers already have access to lots of low mileage cars.
Since the smaller family autos are inexpensive to drive, they are in demand. Thus, turning back the odometer can bring a good price. There are ways to spot a vehicle that has more mileage than the odometer shows.
Poorly aligned numbers on old style odometers stand out, as do scratches where someone pried off the odometer cover. On newer cars, sometimes the service records list the mileage. If not, you have to judge by the wear that shows. Very worn seats, pedals that have the rubber worn off and just general interior wear indicate a high mileage car. If there are brand new floor mats, be sure to check the carpet underneath them. Just trust your instincts and shop at reliable dealers to help avoid autos will rolled back odometers.