For many car enthusiasts who modify their vehicle, some electrical tape gets rid of the annoying check engine light they don’t want to address. But for normie used car shoppers this trick can come with huge headaches as some unscrupulous sellers, including small dealerships, are using our technique to scam people.
Learn about a famous blind automotive engineer.
You see, most normal people don’t pay attention to all the dummy lights which illuminate briefly when they first turn the engine over. A lot of people don’t even notice something like the check engine light until it’s been on for a while. They don’t realize the car they bought has some lights covered up.
We’re not talking about the quick and dirty method of slapping some tape on the outside of the instrument cluster, something you might have done with your ride. These used car sellers are opening up the assembly and putting tape over the lights behind the cover, like what you see in the Atlanta News First report video we’ve included.
Since most gauge clusters have a black background (remember the white faces when they were popular? Those were cool.) the black electrical tape just blends right in. Then when months later the car has all kinds of problems, the new owner finds out they bought a ride riddled with problems.
Of course this sort of thing is illegal, but used car salesmen have a reputation for a reason. The unscrupulous ones can be quite practiced at covering up all kinds of stuff, like using JB weld on a broken frame or plenty of Bondo and a cheap paint job to cover up a rusting-out body.
When it comes to things like odometer and check engine light fraud, those are illegal. If you find you’ve been had on either one, contact your local authorities at the DMV or get an attorney to see what options you have for recourse.
Image via Atlanta News First/YouTube
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