European Union issues Report on Blockchain Use for Anti-Odometer Fraud

Odometer tampering is an issue that has been actively plaguing the automotive world, as second-hand car sellers continue to tamper with the odometers of car, in order to decrease mileage. However, a report made by the Structural and Cohesion Policies Department of the European Parliament Directorate General, may showcase a fix for the problem.

According to the report, which talks about odometer tampering in-depth, blockchain technology is listed as a possible fix for the problem, which is responsible for billions of dollars-worth of losses on a yearly basis.

The study showcases that at this time, 10-50% of all cars in the second-hand markets within the European Union, have had their odometers adjusted illegally. Apart from this aspect, it also seems like roughly 40% of vehicles that are traded across the Union’s borders have rolled-back odometers. The report also outlined the fact that the second-hand car market has been deemed as the least trustworthy, due to the lack of information on the accuracy of car mileages.

According to the European Union report, blockchain technology could be easily used in order to address this problem, by recording mileage data from cars, and then allowing both buyers and government agencies to find out whether a car’s odometer has been messed around with, by making a comparison to the most recent entry on the distributed ledger, commonly referred to as a digital logbook in the report.

When compared to some of the other technologies that could be used to fix this issue, blockchain technology offers additional benefits, such as data protection, alongside with the privacy of car owners. Not only this, but the blockchain-based system would be capable of collecting data as often as it is needed, while also validating it with the help of GPS data.

A previous, similar solution to this problem was given in early spring by Bosch, which held a presentation on the possibility of using blockchain technology in order to combat odometer fraud.

Based on everything that has been outlined so far, if correctly implemented, this system would help save car buyers billions of dollars annually, as car prices drastically increase on mileage is low.

This is just one of the many studies recently conducted by the EU institutions on the potential use cases for blockchain technology. It’ll likely take a bit longer before the system is implemented on a large scale, but potential case trials could begin shortly.