https://www.thedrive.com/news/fedex-accused-of-largest-odometer-rollback-fraud-in-history-with-used-vans

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 1. News

FedEx Accused of Largest Odometer Rollback Fraud in History With Used
Vans

FedEx allegedly replaced odometers on used vans and intentionally
sold them with inaccurate mileage.

byNico DeMattia| PUBLISHED Jun 25, 2023 1:10 PM EDT
News
via Getty Images
via Getty Images.
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Once FedEx vans reach the end of their package-delivering lives,
they're resold and repurposed for various purposes. Many of them are
turned into food trucks, as their size and boxy shape are perfect for
mobile kitchens. However, FedEx is facing a lawsuit for selling such
vans, as it's being accused of the largest odometer rollback fraud in
history.

The lawsuit accuses FedEx of replacing the odometers in many of its
vans with new ones that read zero miles, using the vans for a bit
longer after that, and then selling them at auction with 100,000
miles or less on the new odometers. With such low indicated mileage,
business owners were buying the vans for top dollar, thinking that
there were still pretty fresh. However, their real mileage was
sometimes as much as four times the odometer readout, thus leading to
countless mechanical issues that would cost the customers far more
money. In some cases, the issues would be so severe, the vans were
useless and businesses went bust.

According to KTNV Las Vegas, Tom Layton of Henderson, Nevada first
noticed FedEx's odometer rollbacks in 2017. Layton, who's been buying
and selling trucks and vans for 36 years, bought a FedEx
Freightliner truck with around 180,000 indicated miles. When he sold
the truck, his buyer hooked it up to a computer that told them the
real mileage was around 400,000 miles. Layton filed his own lawsuit
back then, which is separate from the class-action lawsuit FedEx is
currently facing.

Since then, customers from California, Tennessee, New Jersey,
Florida, and Virginia have all noticed odometer rollbacks on former
FedEx vehicles.

<em>Freightliner MT45</em> | <em>via Getty Images</em>
Freightliner MT45 | via Getty Images

FedEx didn't always sell its retired vans. Once they hit about
350,000 miles, they would usually scrap the vans. It wasn't until
2011 that FedEx started auctioning old vans off through its fleet
company, Holman Fleet Leasing (also a defendant in the lawsuit). The
lawsuit alleges that both FedEx and Holman intentionally replaced the
odometers to artificially inflate the values of the vans, so they'd
sell for higher prices at various auctions throughout the United
States. Then, according to the accusations, both companies would
split the profits.

"FedEx, with the knowledge and assistance of Holman, replaced
thousands of odometers on FedEx/Holman Vehicles," the lawsuit states.
"Though odometers, as automotive components, do occasionally wear out
or malfunction and need to be replaced, there was no valid reason for
this large-scale replacement of the odometers on FedEx/Holman
Vehicles, other than to perpetuate their agreement to commit odometer
fraud."

It isn't illegal to replace odometers and it isn't even illegal to
sell vehicles with odometers that have inaccurate mileage readouts.
However, to do so, a disclaimer needs to be made by the seller,
indicating to the buyer that its mileage readout is inaccurate and
that the odometer was replaced. According to the lawsuit, neither
FedEx nor Holman did that.

"Defendants purposely failed or refused to attach such a warning
because they intended to mislead potential buyers of the vehicles."

However, FedEx denies the allegations. "We are aware of the
allegations made in the complaint and will vigorously defend the
lawsuit," a FedEx representative told Spectrum News.

The Drive reached out to FedEx for a comment and will update this
statement if we get one.

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