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This entry was published on 2014-09-22
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SECTION 392-E
Using false statements or altering mileage registering devices
General Business (GBS) CHAPTER 20, ARTICLE 26
§ 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.