Complete Home & Office Legal Guide/Complete Home and Office Legal Guide (Chestnut) (1993).ISO/tut/odometer.stb

Text File | 1993-08-01 | 12KB | 270 lines

/* Here is the full text of the Motor Vehicle Information and
Costs Savings Act regarding odometer fraud. */


15 United States Code

Section 1981- Findings

The Congress hereby finds that purchases, when buying motor
vehicles, rely heavily on the odometer reading as an index of the
condition and value of such vehicle;that purchasers are entitled
to rely on the odometer reading as an accurate reflection of the
mileage actually traveled by the vehicle; that an accurate
indication of the mileage traveled by a motor vehicle assists the
purchaser in determining its safety and reliability; and that
motor vehicles move in the current of interstate and foreign
commerce or affect such commerce. It is therefore the purpose of
this title to prohibit tampering with odometers on motor vehicles
and to establish certain safeguards for the protection of
purchasers with respect to the sale of motor vehicles having
altered or reset odometers.

/* The purpose of all of this is that the U.S. Congress cannot
act generally in respect to whatever it might want. There must be
a constitutional basis for the power. The commerce clause is the
most usual means for Congress to make general business
regulations.*

Section 1982- Defined terms

As used in this title--

     (1) The term "dealer" means any person who has sold 5 or
more motor vehicles in the past 12 months to purchasers who in
good faith purchase such vehicles for purposes other than resale.

/* This definition excludes those who wholesale only; they are
covered by Section (2). */

     (2) The term "distributor" means any person who has sold 5
or more vehicles in the past 12 months for resale.

     (3) The term "odometer" means an instrument for measuring
and recording the actual distance a motor vehicle travels while
in operation; but shall not include any auxiliary odometer
designed to be rest by the operator of the motor vehicle of
recording mileage on trips.

     (4) The term "repair and replacement" means to restore to a
sound working condition by replacing the odometer or any part
thereof or by correcting what is inoperative.

     (5) The term "transfer" means to change ownership by
purchase, gift or any other means.

     (6) the term "title" means the certificate of title or other
document issued by the Stated indicating ownership.

     (7) The term "leased motor vehicle" means any motor vehicle
which is leased to a person for a term of at least 4 months by a
lessor who has leased 5 or more vehicles in the past 12 months.

     (8) The term "auction company" means any person who takes
possession (whether through consignment or bailment or through
any other arrangement) of a motor vehicle owned by another person
for selling such motor vehicles at an auction.

Section 1983- Devices causing odometer to register than true
mileage driven prohibited

No person shall advertise for sale, sell, use, or install or
cause to be installed, any device which causes an odometer to
register any mileage other than the true mileage driven. For
purposes of this section, the true mileage driven is that mileage
driven by the vehicle as registered by the odometer with the
manufacturer's designed tolerance.

Section 1984- Change of mileage indicated on odometer prohibited

No person shall disconnect, rest, or alter or cause to be
disconnected, reset or altered, the odometer of any motor vehicle
with intent to change the number of miles indicated thereon.

Section 1985- Operation of motor vehicles with knowledge of
disconnected or nonfunctional odometer prohibited

No person shall, with intent to defraud, operate a motor vehicle
on any street or highway knowing that the odometer of such
vehicle is disconnected or non-functional.


Section 1986- Conspiracy to violate odometer requirements

No person shall conspire with any other person to violate
sections 1983, 1984, 1985, 1987 and 1988.

Section 1987- Lawful service and repair

(a) Nothing in this title shall prevent the service, repair, or
replacement of an odometer, provide the mileage indicated thereon
remains the same as before the service, repair or replacement.
Where the odometer is incapable of registering the same mileage
as before such service, repair, or replacement, the odometer
shall be adjusted to read zero and a notice in writing shall be
attached to the left door frame of the vehicle by the owner or
his agent specifying the mileage prior to repair or replacement
of the odometer and the date on which it was repaired or
replaced.

(b)(1) No person shall fail to adjust an odometer or affix a
notice regarding such adjustment as required pursuant to
subsection (a) of this section.

(2) No person shall, with intent to defraud, remove or alter any
notice affixed to a motor vehicle pursuant to subsection (a) of
this section.

Section 1988. Disclosure requirements upon transfer of ownership
of motor vehicle

(a) Promulgation of rules. /*This section gives the Secty. of FTC
the right to make regulations.*/

(b) Violation of rules and giving false statements to transferees
prohibited. No transferor shall violate any rules prescribed
under this section or give a false statement to a transferee in
making any disclosure required by such rule.

(c) Acceptance of incomplete written disclosure by transferees
acquiring ownership for resale prohibited. No transferee, who,
for purposes of resale, acquires ownership of a motor vehicle
shall accept any written disclosure required by any rules
prescribed under this section if such disclosure is incomplete.

(d)(1)(A) Any motor vehicle the ownership of which is transferred
may not be licensed for use in any State unless the transferee,
in submitting an application to a State for a title upon which
such license will be issued, includes which such application the
transferor's title and, if that title contains the space referred
to in paragraph (2)(A)(iii), a statement, signed and dated by the
transferor, of the mileage disclosure required under subsection
(a).

(B) This paragraph shall not apply to any transfer of ownership
of a motor vehicle which has not been licensed before the
transfer.

(2)(A) Any motor vehicle the ownership of which is transferred
may not be licensed for use in any State unless the title which
is issued by the State to the transferee following such
transfer--

     (i) is set forth by means of a secure printing process (or
other secure process);

     (ii) indicates the mileage disclosure required to make under
subsection (a); and

     (iii) contains a space for the transferee to disclose (in
the event of a future transfer) the mileage at the time of such
future transfer and to sign and date such disclosure.

(B) The requirements of subparagraph (A) shall not be construed
to require a State to verify, or preclude the State from
verifying, the mileage information contained in the title.

(C) In the case of a transferor to whom title to a motor vehicle
has been issued by any State and such title is, at the time of a
transfer of such motor vehicle, physically held by a lienholder,
nothing in this subsection shall be construed to prohibit for
purposes of the mileage disclosure requirements of this section
the use of a written power of attorney (if otherwise permitted by
State law) in a form, and under reasonable conditions, prescribed
by rule by the Secretary before Feb. 1, 1989. The rule shall (i)
ensure disclosure on the power of attorney document of the actual
mileage by the person exercising the power of attorney in the
space referred to in paragraph (2)(A)(iii). The rule, consisted
with the purposes of this Act and the need to facilitate
enforcement thereof, shall prescribe that the form issued by the
State to the transferee in accordance with paragraph (2)(A)(i),
shall prescribe that the person granted such power of attorney
shall retain a copy of such power of attorney and shall submit
the original back to the State with