Interpretation ID: nht75-5.42

DATE: 09/23/75

FROM: AUTHOR UNAVAILABLE; Frank A. Berndt; NHTSA

TO: Mr. and Mrs. Sten Keinzler

TITLE: FMVSR INTERPRETATION

TEXT: This is in response to your letter of September 8, 1975, concerning apparent alteration of the odometer on the 1971 Pontiac Ventura II you traded in to Mosher Motor Sales.

The Motor Vehicle Information and Cost Savings Act (Pub. L. 92-513) prohibits disconnection, resetting, or alteration of a vehicle odometer with intent to change the number of miles indicated thereon. It also requires the execution of a written disclosure of a vehicle's mileage at the time ownership of a vehicle is transferred. A false statement on the disclosure form, knowingly made by the transferor, is considered a violation of the Act.

Violation of any of these requirements, committed with the intent to defraud, makes available to the buyer a civil remedy in the amount of $ 1,500 or treble damages, whichever is greater. To obtain this remedy the Act provides that a private civil action be instituted in State or Federal court.

The situation you describe in your letter indicates that there have been at least two violations of the Act by the dealer to whom you traded your car. If the person who purchased the vehicle from him becomes aware of the violations they will be able to sue according to the procedure described above. The only danger that exists for you relates to the absence of an odometer disclosure statement executed by you at the time you gave up possession of the car. If an eventual owner of the car discovers that the mileage has been altered he may sue everyone who ever owned the vehicle.

I would therefore suggest that you now execute an odometer disclosure statement indicating what the mileage was on the car at the time you turned it over to Mosher. I have enclosed the odometer disclosure regulation promulgated pursuant to the Act which contains a sample disclosure form. You may want to state somewhere on the document the reasons for your not having provided the statement at the time you sold your car. You can then send the document to the dealer by certified mail and retain your receipt as evidence that he received it. You may also find it a good idea to retain a copy of the odometer disclosure you complete.

Mosher Motor Sales is in violation of the law if it does not provide you with an odometer disclosure statement for the vehicle you purchased. A letter will be sent from this office informing the dealership of its noncompliance. You should demand that you be given a statement that conforms to the one required by law since it will serve as protection for you should that vehicle's mileage every be questioned.

Based upon the information you have provided it appears that Mosher Motor Sales may be violating the Federal odometer law. If you question the accuracy of the mileage currently indicated on the odometer of the car you purchased from them there are several means by which you may be able to establish that there has been an alteration. First, you may be able to obtain copies of prior odometer disclosure statements that certify the mileage on the vehicle at various points in the past. If these statements are unavailable, you may want to question prior owners of the vehicle as to what they recall the mileage being when they gave up possession. Your State Department of Motor Vehicles should be able to tell you how to trace back the chain of title. Some States record the mileage on vehicles at the time they are inspected and others enter mileage directly on the title document which is often filed with the State. These would be possible leads to finding out whether the mileage is accurate. Finally, an experienced mechanic may be able to determine if an odometer has been disconnected or altered.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has no authority under the Cost Savings Act to conduct investigations to determine if there has been a violation of the odometer provisions. For this reason, we must rely on private individuals such as yourselves to notify us of violations. We will alert Mosher to the fact that we have received a complaint concerning them and inform them of the penalties for noncompliance.

Thank you very much for your letter.

Sincerely,

Enclosure

Sept 8, 1975

National Highway Traffic Safety Admin. 900 7th Street, N.W. Washington, D. C. 20590

Dear Sir:

On July 30, 1975, we bought a used 1971 Mercury Cougar. We used as trade-in a 1971 Pontiac Ventura II, D.#209750. We were not given a written "Odometer Disclosure Statement" nor did we sign one for our Pontiac that we trade-in.

Later (Illegible Words) stopped to see our old Pontiac that was out on the lot to be sold. My husband noticed the odometer reading. It read that there were only a couple of hundred miles over 38,000. I know that when we traded in the cougar over 58,000 miles. We do have proof that the mileage was in the 50,000.

When we found out that it was against the law not to get an odometer disclosure statement for the used car we bought sign one for the car we traded in, and saw that the mileage had been changed in the Pontiac, we even (Illegible Word) to the dealer to take care of it. They say they didn't know the mileage on the Cougar and the Pontiac was read.

The dealer (Illegible Word) got the Cougar from is Mosher Motor Sales, 310 West State Blvd., Fort Wayne, Indiana.

The other day I read an article in the (Illegible Words) Journal that says whom to write to regarding this matter. So we are turning the matter over to you.

Sincerely,

Steven & (Illegible Word) Kiengler 205 S. Liberty St. (Illegible Words), Indiana 46701

Copy also sent to Attorney General State of Indiana Indianapolis, Indiana