Ferrari Odometer Scandal Brought to Light by Wrongful Termination Lawsuit

When a high end vehicle like a Ferrari is purchased, the buyer expects to be treated with respect and honesty by both the car dealership and automobile manufacturer.

However, many purchasers of these expensive cars have become aware of a Ferrari odometer scandal in which dealerships and the car manufacturer have allegedly partnered together to deceive customers regarding the amount of miles truly on their cars.

Allegedly, some dealerships have used proprietary technology to “roll back” the odometers of certain high end Ferraris, deceiving customers about how many miles were on the car. If this indeed has been happening, both the dealership and the car manufacturer would stand to benefit, as this can dramatically increase the perceived value of the vehicle.

An odometer is the gauge on a car that logs how many miles the car has been driven.

The public was first alerted to the Ferrari odometer scandal last year when a whistleblower filed a wrongful termination lawsuit because he knew about and made public what Ferrari and Ferrari dealerships were doing.

This Ferrari salesperson became aware of the fact that certain dealerships, while using the Ferrari DEIS Tester system, also rolled back the odometers of previously owned Ferraris. This DEIS Tester system is also used for other things, but can be used to reset an odometer.

Sometimes, the plaintiff claimed, dealerships even rolled the odometers back to zero. If this happened, the dealerships would be able charge significantly more for the cars with “lesser” mileage.

Rolling back odometers is not only deceptive but it is also generally illegal. In fact, federal law prohibits the tampering of the odometer of any car.

Unlawful manipulation of an odometer is known as odometer fraud. Odometer fraud can be met with stiff consequences such as jail time. In fact, according to the Department of Justice, odometer fraud is a growing problem in the used car industry.

The DOJ estimates annual consumer loss for odometer fraud at between $4 billion and $10 billion. People commit odometer fraud by changing the odometer on their own cars for resale, to recoup on a lease, or to turn over other cars they have purchased to new buyers. Car dealerships may also do this on used cars they sell. All of this is considered fraudulent, and are federal crimes.

The salesperson who brought the Ferrari odometer scandal to light claims he discovered that they had used the Ferrari DEIS Tester system to roll back the odometer on a Ferrari it sold to a wealthy client. Dealerships allegedly can use the DEIS Tester to roll back an odometer if they have the approval of Ferrari itself. This suggests that both Ferrari and the Palm Beach dealership knew about the alleged odometer rollback when it happened.

Recently, it was brought to light by the Daily Mail that Ferrari knew that Ferrari service techs were doing this sort of thing and tampering with odometers. On certain models, this sort of tampering can raise the price of a Ferrari upwards of $1 million.

The Ferrari odometer scandal is an important consumer issue because it could bring the value of any used Ferrari into question.

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