N.Y. General Business Law § 392-e: Using false statements or altering mileage registering devices

§ 392-e. Using false statements or altering mileage registering

devices. 1. Upon the transfer of ownership of a motor vehicle, the

seller shall enter on any instrument executed by him, including any form

prescribed by the commissioner of motor vehicles, and on any other bill

of sale, certificate, or evidence of title or condition given by him at

the time of transfer or sale, the mileage said motor vehicle purports to

have been operated as the same appears upon the odometer in such motor

vehicle. In the event that such odometer mileage is known to the seller

to be less than such motor vehicle has actually travelled, the seller

shall enter upon any said transfer instrument or statement "True mileage

unknown." In the event that it is known to the seller that the mileage

indicated on such odometer is beyond its designed mechanical limits, he

shall state the total cumulative mileage on the aforesaid prescribed

transfer instruments. Any person, firm, partnership, or corporation who

gives a false statement to a transferee under the provisions of this

section, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, provided, however, that no

person, firm, partnership, or corporation shall be convicted under the

section where a vehicle has been resold in reliance on the required

statement of the prior owner and pursuant to the provisions of

subdivision one, two, three and four of section three hundred

ninety-two-e.

2. A person, firm, partnership, or corporation who shall misrepresent

the mileage of a motor vehicle to a transferee by the execution and

delivery of the written statement required in the preceding paragraph

hereof and which in fact is false, or who shall misrepresent such

mileage to a transferee by disconnection, changing, or causing to be

disconnected or changed any mileage registering device on a motor

vehicle so as to thereby indicate a lesser mileage than such motor

vehicle has actually travelled, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

2-a. (a) No person, firm, partnership, or corporation shall, prior to

the transfer of ownership of a motor vehicle, misrepresent by any

statement, express or implied and which in fact is false, the mileage

said motor vehicle purports to have been operated as the same appears on

the odometer in such motor vehicle. Nothing contained herein shall be

deemed to supercede the provisions of any other subdivision of this

section.

(b) A violation of this subdivision shall be subject to a fine not to

exceed five hundred dollars for each violation; provided, however, that

a knowing or willful violation of this subdivision shall be subject to a

fine not to exceed one thousand five hundred dollars for each such

violation. No person, firm, partnership, or corporation shall be deemed

to have violated this subdivision where the vehicle is sold, offered for

sale, or advertised for sale in reliance on the required statement of

the prior owner and pursuant to the provisions of subdivisions one, two,

three and four of this section.

(c) Unless the misrepresentation was made with an intent to defraud,

the provisions of paragraphs (a) and (b) of this subdivision shall not

apply to a statement made regarding a vehicle the most current ownership

document for which is a salvage certificate or like document issued by a

state or jurisdiction or regarding a vehicle sold by a salvage pool

registered under section four hundred fifteen-a of the vehicle and

traffic law.

3. Nothing herein contained shall prevent the service, repair or

replacement of a mileage registering device, provided the mileage

indicated thereon remains the same as before the service, repair or

replacement; or provided the mileage registering device reads zero and a

notice in writing is attached to the left front door frame of the

vehicle by the owner or his agent, indicating the mileage prior to

replacement and the date on which it was replaced. Any unauthorized

removal of such notice so affixed shall constitute a violation of

subdivision two of section three hundred ninety-two-e.

4. This section shall not apply to new motor vehicles. A new motor

vehicle is one sold or transferred by a manufacturer, distributor or

dealer and which has not been placed in consumer use or has not been

used as a demonstrator.