Posted on 06/25/2023 10:42:40 AM PDT by nickcarraway
The company, along with Holman Automotive Group, has been accused of rolling back the odometers of thousands of old delivery trucks.
Odometer fraud is big business in the U.S. Estimates say the scheme costs consumers over $1 billion a year. And while it’s largely been relegated to sketchy dealers and private sellers on Craigslist you probably shouldn’t buy from, it apparently isn’t just there. On Friday, Automotive News reports that FedEx and Holman Automotive have been accused of rolling back the odometers of old delivery trucks in a new lawsuit.
Companies like FedEx ordinarily get rid of their delivery trucks when they hit their operational limit, usually around 350,000 miles, but, in the suit, plaintiffs say a scheme involving old trucks started over a decade ago, when FedEx decided to stop scrapping the trucks and sent them to auto auctions instead.
... the lawsuit states, FedEx beginning in or around 2011 pursued another revenue stream by remarketing the fleet vehicles instead of destroying them. Holman is accused of mutually agreeing with FedEx to commit odometer fraud as part of the remarketing enterprise.
FedEx is accused of not only resetting the odometers of the vehicles that sold, but also not disclosing which vehicles had their odometers replaced. Holman, which managed FedEx’s commercial fleet, is accused of selling the vehicles for more than they’re worth due to the incorrect odometers.
One of the plaintiffs in the case is Tom Layton, a commercial truck dealer based in Henderson, Nevada. Speaking to Las Vegas’ KTNV, Layton says in 2017 he sold an old FedEx truck to a contractor in Washington state, who made the discovery and accused Layton of the fraud initially.
“About a month after the sale, the FedEx contractor contacted me and said, ‘hey! What are you trying to pull here? And I said, ‘what’s wrong?’ And he said, ‘I took this into Freightliner and had the vehicle hooked up to the computer. And it has over 400,000 miles. And your odometer says 180,000 miles’.
That’s when Layton says he “found out that the odometer was changed by FedEx, not by any car dealership.”
The suit is potentially on behalf of thousands of people across the country who purchased one of these vehicles. A spokesperson for Holman told Automotive News the company doesn’t comment on pending litigation, while a FedEx rep said the company “will vigorously defend the lawsuit.”
Really? I mean rolling back speedometers is as American as bait and switch!
Do not give this much credence, IMHO...
“...which vehicles had their odometers replaced.”
It’s interesting that they couldn’t just hack the odometer electronics. In fact, the main vehicle computer kept track of total miles irrespective of what the odometer read. They are not very bright not knowing that the main computer was continuing to track total miles and thinking they could get away with the scam by changing the odometer. (if that is indeed correct)
Why?
I didn’t work for Ferris Beuller.
There are two possibilities. One is that the lawsuit is bogus. The other is that FedEx isn’t paying off the necesssary woke groups enough for protection.
When I was in high school, we used to unscrew the odo shaft from the transmission of my buddy’s dad’s Delta 88. My friend’s old man used to check the mileage before and after letting him take it out for the night. We also flipped over the air cleaner cover so it made that Rocket 350 sound badass. Oh, by the way, I now drive for FedEx.
Amazing how flipping the air cleaner made them sound.
Somebody looking to shake down FEDEX.
Meeeeeeeeehhhhhhhmmmmmmmrieeeeeees!
Here’s hoping you eventually turned the corner on basic ethics! LOL
Back in the seventies, we had the same situation, but just drove around parking lots backwards!
Someone that knows what to look for can spot a vehicle being advertised as having 50k miles, if it actually has 150k. There are lots of clues.
When I was a teenager, all the cheap used car lots had funky paint jobs and odometers that read about 40k miles.
I don’t know the particulars of FedEx’s truck purchasing but having driven for them I do know they keep their trucks for a long time.
I’ve personally driven tractors with over a million miles.
I’ve driven vans with well over 200K.
I don’t think it would make sense to rollback the odometer just to get a better deal for it when sold.
I had to replace an electronic dashboard on a car and when the new one was installed the car all of a sudden had 40k fewer miles.
Given the size and history of FEDEX, plus having seen the movie, I have a difficult imagining a “speedometer” scandal...
IAC, here behind enemy lines in Maryland, the only important FEDEX “scandal” is the stadium where the Redskins play...
Fedex when you absolutely positively have to roll back the miles!
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