§ 417-B Mandatory disclosures by second-hand dealers prior to resale
VTL § 417-B
§ 417-b. Mandatory disclosures by second-hand dealers prior to resale.
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.
