Graid cars in the US and Canada, sold as good in Romania. What do samsari put instead of airbags

A group of samsari has brought to several European states, including Romania, about 16,500 severely damaged cars in the US and Canada, to resell them after superficial repairs.

The cars were superficially repaired before being sold. Photo archive

Graid cars in the US and Canada have been sold in different European countries. The investigation, which involved about 1,000 officers from different countries, shows that cars have arrived in different ports, including Klaipėda, and to avoid high customs taxes, the suspects have filed false invoices in which they declared the value of the cars. The damage in this case exceeds 31 million euros, investigators say.

According to them, a preliminary investigation was initiated for the tax evasion committed by an criminal group. During the investigation he discovered that the imported cars were repaired very weakly, residues of fabrics or clothing being “installed” instead of the airbags. Some of these vehicles have already been identified in Germany and removed from the roads, but the exact number of cars of this kind are still in use, investigators say, according to Lrt.Lt.

The authorities in Lithuania have informed that the criminal group is active in several European countries, including Germany, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Romania, Hungary, Ukraine, Portugal, the Netherlands and Belgium.

The Financial Offense Investigation Service (FIS), which contributed to the investigation together with the European Prosecutor's Office, announced that 18 Lithuanians, two Latvians and a Russian who was active in Bulgaria were detained in the file.

Hidden damage is still a widespread problem in Eastern Europe

The information shows that in the cross -border transactions with used cars – representing 1 in 20 vehicles sold in Europe – there are particular chances of committing fraud. The annual researches of CARVERTICAL for calculating the market transparency index have shown that the least transparent countries are Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Estonia. A large proportion of cars that have the kilometer back and have suffered damages, a park of outdated vehicles and high import rates make these markets that are considered extremely non -transparent and risky.

Eastern European consumers usually have a lower purchasing power compared to those in Western Europe. Therefore, there is a high demand for cheaper cars, the ones running often preferred to the detriment of the new ones. Importers and dealers take advantage of this type of demand by bringing older or damaged vehicles from richer or US countries and selling them at lower prices.

CARVERTICAL DATA also highlights that about 7.2 % of cars imported to Europe come from the United States. A significant part of these are damaged vehicles that have been purchased at the auctions supported by insurance companies, vehicles that are often repaired and resold at attractive prices.

The statistics and the number of cases detected by the fraud emphasize that it is essential to check the history of any run car you want to buy because they could endanger your life due to the damages suffered in the past.

“There are frequent cases where a car is damaged in one country, repaired cheaply and then sold in another. Many vehicles that have been involved in major accidents in the US are imported into Europe. A report presenting the car's history allows you to find out which parts of the vehicle were damaged and how much the costs of repairs were estimated. You can share this information with a professional mechanic so that it can carefully inspect how the affected areas were repaired“Says Matas Buzelis, an expert from CARVERTICAL.

Western Europe countries are experiencing larger losses

Hiding damages is not the only type of scam that car samsarians use to take advantage of used vehicle buyers. In March 2025, Carvertical estimated that frauds involving the forgery of mileage costs European countries around 5.3 billion EUR annually, even in a conservative scenario. The actual impact can be higher given that many cases remain undetected.

Even if the change of the odometer is a serious problem that costs European economies billions of euros every year, the decisions made by the governments of certain countries are more favorable to the sellers of dishonest car than the used car buyers. This is due to the fragmented implementation of the GDPR, the access rights of the data subjects, the difficulties of cross -border exchange and other difficulties that significantly complicates the access of the buyers of cars to the cars they want to buy.

“Today, the essential information in the history of vehicles such as mileage, accidents, property records and numbers remain captive in the databases of private corporations or in national databases, creating perfect conditions for committing fraud.”Says Rokas Medonis, CEO of Carvertical.

The latest research has also shown that although fraud that involve changing the odometer are a widespread problem, their financial impact is greater in Western Europe compared to Eastern European countries.

Evaluating the number of cars checked by CARVERTICAL, their average market value and fraud rate in each country, the study estimates that the United Kingdom loses around 1.4 billion euros due to the manipulation of the odometers, France loses 1.15 billion euros, and Germany 1.1 billion euros.