Odometer fraud: Commerce Commission turns a blind eye

The Commerce Commission is turning a blind eye to odometer fraud at the expense of car dealers, legitimate odometer certifiers, and the public, says National’s Commerce spokesman, Brian Connell.

He is commenting on reports from a specialist car inspection company Optimech International, that some cars imported from Japan have had their odometers wound back by up to 100,000 kilometres.

Both Customs and the Commerce Commission have decided against investigating.

“The commission is sending mixed messages – on one hand they say that car dealers have a responsibility to the public to provide true and accurate information, on the other hand they ignore evidence suggesting the information received by car dealers may be inaccurate,” says Mr Connell.

“This is a complete double standard from an organisation that has threatened used car dealers with prosecution if they don’t provide full and correct information on vehicles for sale.”

The Commerce Commission’s decision follows revelations that Government officials based in Japan to inspect these vehicles had their expenses paid for by the companies whose cars they were inspecting.

“Both the Commerce Commission and the Government have been alerted to this and neither has acted. This reeks of double standards and conflict of interest,” says Mr Connell.

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