I'm sure there is way to tamper with an odometer. But is there a way to tell if your odometer has been tampered with? I just bought the car and had it sent out for a passenger occupancy sensor to a local, non-mini wiring shop. When I picked it up, the battery was dead and the odometer was one mile less than when I dropped it off.
Should I just chalk this up as a mysterious glitch?
I didn't think anything of it till I showing a code for a misfire on #4.
I have proof, I took a photo of the odo when I dropped it off and another when I picked it up.

 

Maybe they backed the car into the shop thus reversing the mileage.
Seriously though, I can't think of any reason as to WHY they would do this. It's not easy and they have nothing to gain from it.
The electronics on these cars can do some crazy things when the battery voltage gets low. I would think it's just a glitch.

 

Beuller? Beuller?

I'd agree that it sounds like a low voltage glitch in the system. Electronics can be a fickle mistress.

 

Of more interest, did they successfully replace the faulty sensor? If so, what was the cost?

 

Haha! No! Still looking for a sensor. Probably going to be very expensive.

 

Someone reported that their odometer kept resetting to a previous number: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...resetting.html
In your case I think it was more likely a malfunction rather than tampering.

 

Getting an Odometer reset is not easy and when we do it we send them out. Most likely a glitch.