Yes. Turning back, resetting, or disconnecting a car’s odometer with intent to change the mileage it shows is a misdemeanor under California’s Vehicle Code, separate from general theft or fraud charges. Federal law separately punishes the same conduct with civil penalties and, for a knowing and willful violation, up to 3 years in prison.

The California odometer offenses

California’s Vehicle Code addresses odometer tampering in three sections:

  • Vehicle Code section 28051 is the rollback statute: it is unlawful to disconnect, turn back, advance, or reset a vehicle’s odometer “with the intent to alter the number of miles indicated on the odometer gauge.”
  • Vehicle Code section 28050 makes it unlawful to advertise for sale, sell, use, or install any device that causes an odometer to register mileage other than the true mileage driven, measured within the manufacturer’s designed tolerance.
  • Vehicle Code section 28051.5 targets the tool: it is unlawful to advertise for sale, sell, or use any device designed primarily to turn back or reset an odometer to reduce the miles it shows.

Repairs are treated differently. The same article of the Vehicle Code does not prevent servicing, repairing, or replacing an odometer if the mileage shown stays the same. If it cannot stay the same, the odometer must be set to zero, and the person doing the work must attach a written notice to the left doorframe giving the prior mileage and the date of the work. Removing or altering that notice with intent to defraud is prohibited (Vehicle Code section 28053).

The penalty: a misdemeanor

A Vehicle Code violation is an infraction unless the article of the code that classifies violations provides otherwise (Vehicle Code section 40000.1). Vehicle Code section 40000.15 is one of those exceptions: it lists Sections 28050, 28050.5, 28051, and 28051.5 among the provisions whose violation “shall constitute a misdemeanor, and not an infraction.”

None of the odometer sections states its own fine or jail term, so the general Vehicle Code misdemeanor penalty in Vehicle Code section 42002 applies: the court can impose a fine of no more than $1,000, a county jail term of no more than six months, or both.

Federal law: two separate penalty tracks

Odometer tampering is also a federal violation. 49 U.S.C. section 32703 prohibits:

  • advertising, selling, using, installing, or having installed a device that makes an odometer register a mileage different from the miles actually driven;
  • disconnecting, resetting, or altering an odometer, or having that done, intending to change the mileage it registers;
  • with intent to defraud, operating a vehicle on a street, road, or highway while knowing its odometer is disconnected or not operating; and
  • conspiring to violate that section or sections 32704 or 32705.

49 U.S.C. section 32709 then sets two different penalties:

  • Civil penalty. A person who violates the federal odometer chapter is “liable to the United States Government for a civil penalty of not more than $10,000 for each violation.” Each vehicle or device involved is a separate violation, and the maximum for a related series of violations is $1,000,000. The Secretary of Transportation imposes the penalty, and the Attorney General brings a civil action to collect it. Federal regulations adjust these amounts for inflation: 49 CFR 578.6(f) currently sets them at $13,676 per violation and $1,364,624 for a related series.
  • Criminal penalty. A person who knowingly and willfully violates the chapter “shall be fined under title 18, imprisoned for not more than 3 years, or both.” If the violator is a corporation, the same penalties also apply to a director, officer, or individual agent who knowingly and willfully authorizes, orders, or performs the violating act.

The civil penalty in section 32709(a) does not require a knowing and willful violation; the criminal penalty does. Depending on the facts, rolling back an odometer to sell one car can expose someone to a California misdemeanor charge, a federal civil penalty, and, if done knowingly and willfully, a federal criminal charge.

What this page does not cover

These laws target altering what the odometer shows and the tools used to do it. What a seller tells a buyer, and the title or registration paperwork in a sale, raise separate questions this page does not answer. Taking or keeping someone else’s car is a different subject, covered on the vehicle theft page.

If you are being investigated or charged over a vehicle’s mileage, whether as a private seller, a dealer, or someone who installed or sold the equipment, the Law Offices of David S. Chesley can review the facts with you. Call (800) 755-5174.