Section 417-B. Mandatory disclosures by second-hand dealers prior to resale  


Latest version.
  • 1.  Upon  the sale or transfer of title by any dealer of any second-hand
      motor vehicle which was manufactured  or  assembled  on  or  after  July
      first,  nineteen  hundred  ninety-one and designed as a nineteen hundred
      ninety-two or later model and which the dealer knows or  has  reason  to
      know  that such vehicle is not equipped with a tamper-resistant odometer
      as  provided  in  subdivision  forty-six  of   section   three   hundred
      seventy-five  of  this  chapter, the dealer shall execute and deliver to
      the buyer  an  instrument  in  writing  in  a  form  prescribed  by  the
      commissioner  setting  forth the following information in ten point, all
      capital  type:  "IMPORTANT:  THIS  VEHICLE  IS  NOT  EQUIPPED   WITH   A
      TAMPER-RESISTANT  ODOMETER."  Such notice that a vehicle is not equipped
      with a tamper-resistant odometer shall also be conspicuously printed  on
      the motor vehicle's certificate of title.
        2.  The  failure  of  a  dealer to deliver to the buyer the instrument
      required by this section or the delivery  of  an  instrument  containing
      false  or  misleading  information  shall constitute a violation of this
      section.
        3. A consumer injured by a violation of  this  section  may  bring  an
      action  to  recover damages. Judgment may be entered for three times the
      actual damages suffered by a consumer or one hundred dollars,  whichever
      is  greater.  A  court  also  may  award reasonable attorneys' fees to a
      prevailing plaintiff buyer.
        4. a. Upon any violation of this section, an application may  be  made
      by  the  attorney  general in the name of the people of the state of New
      York to a court or justice having jurisdiction to issue  an  injunction,
      and  upon  notice to the defendant of not less than five days, to enjoin
      and restrain the continuance of the violation. If it shall appear to the
      satisfaction of the court or justice that  the  defendant  has  violated
      this  section,  an  injunction  may  be  issued by the court or justice,
      enjoining and restraining any further violation, without requiring proof
      that any person has, in fact, been injured or damaged  thereby.  In  any
      such  proceeding,  the court may make allowances to the attorney general
      as provided in paragraph six of subdivision (a) of section  eighty-three
      hundred   three  of  the  civil  practice  law  and  rules,  and  direct
      restitution.
        b. Whenever the court shall determine that a violation of this section
      has occurred, it may impose  a  civil  penalty  of  not  more  than  one
      thousand  dollars  for each violation. In connection with an application
      made under this subdivision, the attorney general is authorized to  take
      proof  and  to  make  a determination of the relevant facts and to issue
      subpoenas in accordance with the civil practice law and rules.