§ 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.