Interpretation ID: aiam1538
President
Linch-Jones
Inc.
131 Honeysuckle Lane
Smyrna
GA 30080;
Dear Mr. Linch: This is in response to your letter of June 4, 1974, inquiring as to th validity of your odometer disclosure statement.; The odometer disclosure requirements prescribed at 49 CFR Part 58 specify that a seller must provide his purchaser with a written statement that declares the mileage indicated on the vehicle odometer at the time of the transfer. If that mileage is known by the transferor to differ from the number of miles actually traveled by the vehicle, this must also be included in the disclosure statement in the form specified in the regulations.; The statement suggested in your letter inserts the word 'may' into th aspect of the disclosure statement pertaining to mileage registration that is inaccurate for reasons other than calibration error. Although the statement as you have phrased it is not a direct violation of the Act, it is in conflict with the intended purpose of the disclosure statement to inform the purchaser of a vehicle as to the accuracy of the mileage registered on the odometer. In order to accomplish this purpose it has been determined that where the seller of a vehicle has good reason to believe that the mileage registered on the odometer differs from the vehicle's true mileage he must so inform the buyer in positive terms. This insures a conscious effort to determine the accuracy of the vehicle's odometer will bemade (sic) by the seller and prevents him from transferring ownership of a vehicle in a manner that could mislead the buyer.; In the situation where the transferor is uncertain whether the mileag is accurate, he must determine whether there is a credible basis for an assumption that the mileage is either correct or incorrect. If he has good reason to believe that the mileage is inaccurate, even though he is not positive, he should check the statement saying that the mileage indicated on the odometer is incorrect.; We urge you to phrase your odometer disclosure statement in the manne prescribed in the odometer regulation.; The full odometer statement enclosed in your letter appears correct However, I should point out that the transferor's signature and the date of the statement must appear on the form in order for it to be complete.; For your information I am enclosing a copy of the odometer regulatio which includes the odometer disclosure statement form.; Yours truly, Richard B. Dyson, Assistant Chief Counsel