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Hi my son has been having a prob with his odometer making noise & wiring breaking down in dash. He took it to a mechanic who removed it & replaced it with a 2nd hand odo meter etc. The odo was 40,000 more than his original odo reading. As it is a diesal this would be a huge expense to buy another 40,000 kms & devalues his vehicle as more kms shown than driven. Pulled up speeding the following day. explained to Police that the odo was wrong - was advised to have corrected. Took back to mechanic who wound the new 2nd hand odo back to original kms of his vehicle. Problem is: should the mechanic have replaced with a new odometer, has my son done anything wrong as he had work done in good faith and has there been legal issues for garage with LTSA regarding odometer rewinding.

Ideally, the speedo head should always be replaced with a brand new component but that is not always practical for many makes and models on our roads.

There are companies that specialise in speedo-head repairs and will, under certain conditions, change an odometer reading on a used unit to reflect the original reading.

Garages normally remove the speedo-heads and then send the second-hand units to these specialists for alteration.

As a general rule, the specialist will ask for evidence to support the request to alter the odometer. For example, documentation supporting what the odo reading was at the last Warrant of Fitness or they may ask for the original unit to be sent to them as well so they can verify the actual odometer reading.

They may even ask the garage to confirm the ownership details of the vehicle concerned.

If a second-hand unit is fitted and the odometer is left unchanged (regardless of a petrol or diesel vehicle), the owner should send a letter to the NZTA outlining the reasons for the change, current and past odometer readings and include copies of receipts from the repairer.

That address is:

NZTA
Motor Registry Centre
PO Box 1947
Palmerston North 4440.