MISSOURI CAR DEALER CHARGED WITH ODOMETER FRAUD

Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster filed criminal charges against a Springfield, Mo., used-car dealer for misrepresenting the true mileage on two cars he sold. Ashley Bolton, owner of Excel Auto Group, is charged with two counts of unlawful merchandising practices. The attorney general's investigation revealed that in 2011 and 2012, Bolton misrepresented the actual mileage of vehicles being offered for sale by Excel to two different consumers. In one count, Bolton allegedly bought a car with more than 180,000 miles then sold it representing it had 99,000 miles. In the other case, Bolton bought a car with nearly 220,000 miles then sold it less than a month later with 119,000 miles. Unlawful merchandising practices is punishable by two to four years in the Department of Corrections, or up to one year in the county jail, and/or a fine up to $5,000 or double the amount the defendant gained from the commission of the crime, not to exceed $20,000. The Missouri Department of Revenue and the Office of Odometer Fraud in the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration assisted Koster's office in the investigation. The AG's office also has a civil investigation against Bolton underway. The charges were announced during National Consumer Protection Week. Attorney General Chris Koster announced he was using the event to highlight areas where consumers can protect themselves from scammers, including when purchasing a used car.

USED CAR SCAMS

You need a used car so you start surfing Craigslist, Ebay and all of the other classified local and national sites for an afforable used car. Bam you found it right price right year you are ready to write the check. Review the following guidelines it might save you a few thousand dollars. Recently, I received a phone call from an individual that had just purchased what he described as a collectable Mercedes which supposeingly was being stored at my used car lot. The true story was that the previous owner had abandoned the vehicle on my lot as it would not run but took a picture of the car waited a couple of years and posted it on Ebay using my address as the pickup point. The guy lost about 3,000. I would never pay for a car online until I had phycially seen the car and looked at the title prior to sale. The 300. airline tickent might save you a few thousand. You buy the car: I will get you the title in 10 days: Bad Idea only pay for the car when you can look at the title and have the title in hand: and Verify that the vin number is the same as on the title. The car has never been wrecked: Take car to body shop put it on a rack and also run a carfax. This is the actually mileage: Even in this electronic age there is a device called the black box that can be pluged into a car computer and run the miles back most states reguire dealers to provide previous owners name address and phone number. Cocked Eyed 6's: On older cars if the 6's are out of line the miles have been shorn something about lining up 6's is hard to master.