This State Has the Most Auto-Related Scams

By Douglas A. McIntyre Published Mar 21, 7:30AM EDT

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This State Has the Most Auto-Related Scams — © DuxX / Getty Images

Cars are hard to come by right now. Supply chains, particularly those for the microchips that run electronics and navigation systems, have been nearly cut off. This is not expected to change soon. This supply-demand imbalance has driven up the prices of both new and used cars. Based on the most recent consumer price index figures for February, car prices rose more than almost any other item.

Car prices and model availability have contributed to how long people keep cars. According to IHS Markit, the average age of a car on the road last year was 12.1 years. That is an increase from 9.6 years in 2002. That, in turn, has caused a need for more car repairs, and this process is not always straightforward.

The last thing anybody wants is to be the victim of an auto-related scam. The likelihood someone would be a victim of a scam depends partly on the state they live in.

To identify the state with the most auto-related scams, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed data on the number of auto-related scams reported to the Federal Trade Commission in the first three quarters of 2021 as compiled and analyzed by BuyAutoInsurance.com. Forty-eight states and the District of Columbia were ranked on the number of auto-related scam reports per 100,000 residents.
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Unfortunately, scams, including auto-related scams, are not uncommon. They include auto parts and repairs scams, auto renting and leasing scams, and auto financing scams. There are also scams related to auto services and warranties. The incidence of scams varies enormously from state to state.

Nevada topped the scam list with more than 49 reports per 100,000, and then the District of Columbia with 47. Nevada is synonymous with gambling (think Las Vegas and Reno), but buying, leasing or operating an automobile should not be a roll of the dice against a scammer.

Here are the details on Nevada:

Auto-related scam reports per 100,000 residents: 49.4
Number of auto-related scam reports: 1,523 (22nd most)
Population: 3,080,156 (20th smallest)

Click here to see which states have the fewest auto-related scams.
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About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.