German car club warns of mileage fraud GERMANY'S influential ADAC motoring club has accused carmakers of not doing enough to stop mileage fraud caused by the mass-scale rolling back of odometers. According to the ADAC, about 30 per cent of all second-hand cars in the country are being sold with illegally "corrected" odometers which mask the vehicle's real mileage. The practice means that many motorists are paying over the odds for a car which is more used than the dishonest dealer claims. Costly repairs, higher depreciation and lower resale costs are the downside for the fraud victims. The car club estimates that the cost of the cheating amounts to 6 billion euros ($A8.7 billion) annually. The cost per manipulated car was put at an average of 3000 euros ($A4330). ADAC experts claim modern cars are particularly prone to odometer hacking, since the mileage recorders are electronic rather than mechanical devices. Modern odometers are governed by software which can be tampered with using specialist equipment. The high exposure to mileage fraud came to light in a survey conducted by the ADAC and the University of Magdeburg. Engineers inspected the electronic systems of cars from the leading German makers and discovered numerous software vulnerabilities. Germany's VDA manufacturer's federation said makers were constantly updating measures aimed at thwarting mileage manipulation.