Lt. Ronald E. Wedekind
Florida Highway Patrol
Bureau of Investigations
1551 E. International Speedway Blvd.
DeLand, FL 32724-8714

Dear Lt. Wedekind:

This is in response to your letter of December16, 1999, concerning a practice being followed by a Florida salvage company with respect to vehicles with electronic odometers.

As you describe the situation, when the company sells vehicles with electronic odometers, it enters the odometer reading on the titles as "999999, Warning - Not Actual Mileage." An odometer reading could be obtained for most of these vehicles by connecting them to a power source, but the company is not taking this step.

You have advised the company that it must secure a power source and read the odometer mileage unless the dash has been destroyed by fire or crash damage. You are requesting our views.

We confirm the advice you gave the company.

The Federal odometer law requires a person who transfers ownership of a vehicle to disclose the vehicle's odometer reading. The transferor must either certify that the mileage is the actual mileage, state that it represents the amount by which the mileage in excess of the designed mechanical odometer limit, or state that it is not the actual mileage and should not be relied on (49 CFR 580.5). In this case, the number 999,999 is not the odometer reading and must not be represented as such, even if accompanied by the words "Warning -- Not Actual Mileage." The company must activate the electronic odometer, note the odometer reading, and state that reading on the title when it transfers ownership. If it has reason to believe that the mileage is not the actual mileage, it may state that fact on the title. The only circumstance in which the company can transfer ownership without stating the reading on the odometer is if the odometer has been destroyed and is incapable of providing a reading.

Sincerely,
Frank Seales, Jr.
Chief Counsel
ref.580
d.1/13/00