2022 New York Laws
GBS - General Business
Article 26 - Miscellaneous
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.