Nearly a third of all second-hand cars sold in Germany have been rigged by unscrupulous dealers, who wind back the odometers and trick customers into paying more for alleged low-mileage examples, a report claims.
Germany's ADAC car club warns that private buyers are most likely to be hit by the fraudulent practice, which is often difficult to detect, especially if service documents have also been forged.
The club said cars made from 2000 onwards, when mechanical odometers were phased out in favour of digital versions, were particularly prone to manipulation.
Devices for resetting a car's mileage could now be bought for the equivalent of less than $US10,000 ($A10,820) and the fraud carried out within the space of 30 seconds, said the ADAC.
Cheaper copies from China of the equipment were offered for sale at a fraction of that price.
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The warning comes as a dealer went on trial in Munich for allegedly tampering with the odometers of dozens of high-mileage Italian luxury cars. Prosecutors said the man bought the cars cheaply and sold them at a premium to unwitting customers.
Among the brazen cases cited by the ADAC in Germany, where millions of second-hand cars change hands annually, was another case in Munich in 2011. A car was seized by police after it turned out that the dealer had rewound the true mileage of 700,000 kilometres back to 150,000 kilometres.
Under German law, dealers have to take back a "clocked" car and refund the sale price only if the buyer can prove that it was deliberately tampered with.
ADAC experts advised customers to examine a second-hand car carefully if the claimed mileage appears not to match the general condition.
Telltale signs of high mileage include thoroughly worn seats and rubber mats.
