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It really is somewhat of a balancing act when you buy a used vehicle, and what you're "balancing" here is price versus things like wear, tear and mileage on whatever car or truck you may be looking at. It's understood that the vehicle you're considering buying will have had a certain amount of its service life used up. On the other hand, the discount you receive when compared a new car should "counterbalance" the level of use that it received.

So then how do you determine exactly how many miles any car or truck that you can find for sale has on it? Manufacturers in fact make that as easy as determining how much gas is in the tank because there's an odometer that tallies up each and every mile or kilometer that a vehicle is driven. It's right on the dashboard. Usually right under the speedometer. Even so, be aware that most odometers "roll back" to one when they go over 100,000 miles.

So the first thing you have to consider, particularly if it's a car with a low mileage reading, is whether or not the numbers have passed 100,000, and what you're seeing is a false reading. Now all too often the seller may try to convince buyers that the number after a rollover is legitimate, so it's up to you to check it out. The place to look is down on the floor carpeting and on the pedals because if car that has been driven over 100,000 miles it will show a certain degree of corresponding wear in these places.

Now intentionally rolling back the odometer on a vehicle is a serious crime today, and it can land a person in prison doing a "multi-year" sentence. But believe it or not occasionally people still do it, and the reason is greed. You see, particularly with an expensive model that isn't visibly showing a whole lot of the wear and tear that it has received, rolling back the odometer 30, 40 or 50,000 miles can make a huge difference in the selling price. So the incentive is for sure there for someone dishonest enough to do it.

The surprising thing to most people too, is how relatively easy it is the change that odometer reading. You see, if you're like most people you imagine some highly skilled tachnitian using sound type of specialized tools to carefully change the numbers. Like a locksmith. The fact is though, that it's as easy as installing a new speedometer that more often than not was pulled out of a car at a local wrecking yard. A car that was wrecked with a much lower mileage reading.

So what you need to do if as you're reading the miles on any car or truck you're considering buying, is to ask yourself if they seem "reasonable". For instance would it seem logical that a five-year-old car would only have 20 or 30,000 miles on it? Of course not. So in a case like this, once again look things over from the drivers seat. Check the floor pedals, check the carpeting around the pedals, check the steering wheel for wear. Then you might consider having a mechanic take a look under the hood.