Tips by Auto Technician for checking car mileage.

1. Look for loose screws or scratch marks around the dashboard. This may signal that a mechanical odometer has been manipulated with tools.

2. On mechanical odometers, make sure the digits in the odometer are lined up straight i.e particularly the 10,000 digit.

3. Test-drive the used car and see whether the speedometer sticks.

4. Check for service stickers inside the door or under the hood that may give the actual mileage. The bad guys try to find these as well, but sometimes miss one.

5. Look in the owner's manual to see whether maintenance was listed or whether pages that might have shown high mileage were removed.

6. Ask the dealer whether a computer warranty check has been run on the used car.

7. Use a commercially available computer search program that checks for mileage alterations. Some used car dealers will give you one of these for free if you ask for it.

8. Ask to see the title documents and check whether the mileage reading on the documents has been altered.

9. Check whether the steering wheel is worn smooth. Look for other signs of excessive wear on the armrest, the floor mats, the pedals, and the area around the ignition. If these items were recently replaced, that also could indicate efforts to hide the used car's true use and mileage.

10. Don't assume that mileage is accurate just because the vehicle has an electronic odometer.