11-04-2025
Wisconsin concludes odometer fraud investigation
The Brief
The Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) investigated a Lake Villa woman's car history after she found an odometer discrepancy on a CARFAX.
The state investigator ran into trouble establishing the car's chain-of-ownership due to private car sales.
CARFAX estimates there are 32,300 vehicles in Wisconsin with rolled-back odometers.
LAKE VILLA, Ill. - More than 100,000 miles were erased from her car's odometer. Now, a Lake Villa, Illinois woman has learned the outcome of a state investigation into her vehicle's history.
What we know
Dina Piazza has never been so happy to see her car on the back of a tow truck. In March, she finally sent it to a salvage yard.
"(The salvage business) came and picked it up, towed it away, and now it is out of my life," said Piazza. "I won't put anyone else through the misery of trying to fix that mess."
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It was the sixth time Piazza's car had been towed since she bought it in 2023.
"All these things were going wrong with it pretty much as soon as I bought it," said Piazza.
Dig deeper
Last year, Piazza showed Contact 6 the many problems with her 2007 GMC Acadia.
"It'll probably drive home, but along the way, who knows what will happen," Piazza said in 2024.
Piazza paid $6,000 for the car. Then, came the repair bills for its battery, sensors, fuel injectors and more.
"Thousands and thousands of dollars later, it still wasn't running," said Piazza.
After seeing a Contact 6 report about odometer fraud, Piazza got a CARFAX. The salon owner made a troubling discovery. In 2020, her car had 206,000 miles listed. In 2024, her odometer showed nearly 115,000 miles.
What's next
An investigator for the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) got to work.
"He did a very good investigation. He talked to every single person who owned the car, where they got it, whether they saw it on Craiglist," said Piazza.
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The investigation report says the car's odometer was altered at least three years ago. The investigator spoke with two of the car's former owners on the phone, who either bought or sold the car on Craigslist.
A third owner of the vehicle mailed the DOT a response to a questionnaire. He said he had no records from the sale. The state closed the case saying, without knowing who the man sold the car to, it could not "establish a clear chain-of-ownership nor a clear mileage history."
The Source
The information in this post comes from WisDOT, Piazza and CARFAX.
