BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 1215 Page 1 CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS AB 1215 (Blumenfield) As Amended August 18, 2011 Majority vote ----------------------------------------------------------------- |ASSEMBLY: |75-3 |(June 2, 2011) |SENATE: |30-4 |(August 30, | | | | | | |2011) | ----------------------------------------------------------------- Original Committee Reference: TRANS. SUMMARY : Requires dealers of new motor vehicle to participate in the electronic vehicle registration program of the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). Requires license plates to be attached upon receipt by the vehicle owner. Increases the maximum dealer document preparation charge that dealers may charge. Requires dealers of used vehicles to obtain National Motor Vehicle Title Information System (NMVTIS) reports. The Senate amendments : 1)Make legislative findings and declarations regarding NMVTIS. 2)Allow an $80 document processing charge (as opposed to $60 in the Assembly-passed version of this bill) for vehicles bought from a DMV business partner and a $65 charge (as opposed to $50 in the Assembly-passed version of the bill) for a vehicle bought from a dealer who is not a DMV business partner. 3)Require an electronic filing fee charged by dealers to vehicle purchasers to be no more than the actual amount the dealer is charged by a first-line service provider. 4)Prohibit dealers from displaying or offering for sale at retail a used vehicle unless the dealer first obtains a NMVTIS vehicle history report from a NMVTIS data provider for the vehicle identification number of the vehicle. 5)Require a dealer offering a used vehicle whose NMVTIS vehicle history report indicates it is or has been a junk automobile or a salvage automobile or the vehicle has been reported as a junk automobile or a salvage automobile by a junk yard, AB 1215 Page 2 salvage yard, or insurance carrier, or the certificate of title contains a brand, to post a specified disclosure notice on the vehicle while it is displayed for sale at retail and to provide a retail purchaser with a copy of the NMVTIS vehicle history report upon request prior to sale. 6)Specify that these requirements do not apply to a used vehicle for which NMVTIS does not have a record if the dealer attempts to obtain a NMVTIS vehicle history report for the vehicle. 7)Allow a NMVTIS data provider to include additional vehicle history information obtained from resources other than NMVTIS. 8)Provide that this bill does not create any legal duty upon the dealer related to the accuracy, errors, or omissions contained in a NMVTIS vehicle history report that is obtained from a NMVTIS data provider or any legal duty to provide information added to NMVTIS after the dealer obtained the NMVTIS vehicle history report. 9)Make the bill's NMVTIS -related requirements inoperative in the event that all NMVTIS data providers cease to make NMVTIS vehicle history reports available to the public and declare the Legislature's intent that the United States Department of Justice notify the Legislature and DMV in such an eventuality. 10)Exempt the sale of recreational vehicles, motorcycles, and off-highway motor vehicles from these provisions. EXISTING LAW allows: 1)A maximum document preparation charge of $55 for the sale of a new vehicle, and $45 for the lease of a new vehicle, by a vehicle dealer. 2)Newly sold vehicles to be operated without license plates until the plates are received or until the end of a six-month AB 1215 Page 3 period after the date of sale, whichever occurs first. FISCAL EFFECT : The Senate Appropriations Committee analysis cites annual DMV staff savings of $3.8 million and annual DMV fee increases of $5.8 million, both attributable to electronic registration. The loss of data sales attributable to the NMVTIS provisions will potentially cause DMV a $300-500 thousand annual loss. DMV's one-time cost for enlisting additional business partners will be fully offset by fees. AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill: 1)Required a new motor vehicle dealer to use electronic programs provided by the dealer's first-line service provider to register a vehicle it sells or leases, other than an off-highway vehicle or a recreational vehicle, if DMV permits the transaction to be processed electronically. 2)Prohibited a dealer from charging consumers an electronic filing fee in excess of $29, or the amount the dealer is charged by a first-line provider, whichever is less, for providing license plate processing, postage, fees and services and prohibits the consumer charge from being represented as a governmental fee. 3)Limited the charge a dealer may seek from a vehicle purchaser for document preparation and associated costs to a maximum of $60 if the dealer is by contract a business partner of DMV and $50 if the dealer is not a DMV business partner. 4)Allowed a vehicle displaying a copy of the sales report to be operated without license plates until the plates are received by the purchaser or upon the expiration of a 90-day period commencing from the date of sale, whichever occurs first. 5)Required a license plate issued by California or by any other state or jurisdiction to be attached to the vehicle upon receipt. 6)Made it unlawful, effective October 1, 2012, for a dealer to sell a new motor vehicle, other than a motorcycle or off-highway vehicle, unless that dealer is a private industry partner of DMV. 7)Established an effective date of July 1, 2012, for all the AB 1215 Page 4 other provisions of this bill noted above. COMMENTS : In 2001, DMV established an Electronic Vehicle Registration (EVR) program in which dealers who enter into contracts as DMV "business partners" may participate at their option. At this time it is estimated about half of new car dealers participate in the program and no more than 40% of new cars are registered electronically. This bill would require all new vehicle dealerships to register the cars that they sell through the EVR program, beginning July 1, 2012. This would have the effect of allowing vehicle license plates to reach consumers within weeks rather than months while potentially saving DMV millions of dollars for the cost of processing registration materials received in a paper format. (Proponents cite estimates of $14 for DMV to process a paper registration application as opposed to $7 for an electronic one.) Quicker distribution of license plates coupled with this bill's requirement for license plates to be installed by vehicle owners upon receipt might also result in a reduction in the number of vehicles riding through toll facilities without being billed for a toll, since the primary means of toll evasion enforcement is through photographs taken of the license plates of offending vehicles. DMV regulations currently allow participating dealers to levy an optional consumer charge of up to $29 per registration to recoup their costs. This bill eliminates that optional charge while at the same time allowing dealers to pass on to consumers only their actual cost for processing transactions and mailing license plates, which currently ranges from $18-$20. This bill also updates the maximum charge a dealer may assess on the sale of a new vehicle for the processing of documents from the current limit of $55 for vehicle sales and $45 for vehicle leases, to $80 for DMV business partners and $65 for all other dealers. Supporters of this bill note that current delays in the delivery of license plates as well as delays in their being installed by vehicle owners have "led to many drivers circumventing toll payment. In 2010, 734,000 vehicles did not pay a toll to the Bay Area Toll Authority, resulting in lost toll revenue of $3.7 million and lost toll fines totaling $22 million. In 2010, the lost toll revenue for the (Orange County) Transportation Corridor Agencies (TCAs) was $2 million." On this point, AB 1215 Page 5 however, the TCAs contend the bill "will not solve this problem nor change scofflaw behavior." While the TCAs do not oppose the bill, they feel the toll evasion problem is more a question of willful behavior, rather than a delay in receiving new plates. Toll agencies would prefer that the bill establish a penalty for failure to install plates when they are received (it is currently a "fix-it" ticket). While such a provision is not included in AB 1215 (Blumenfield), the bill nevertheless moves in a positive direction by having plates delivered earlier and at least requiring their immediate installation. As to the bill's increase in allowable document processing charges, supporters claim that it will help offset the new EVR requirement as well as accounting for the dozens of documentary burdens already imposed on dealers. Even with this increase, they say, "the document processing charge will still be tied for the lowest in the country even though dealer costs to comply with government requirements to sell or lease a vehicle already range from $75 for a simple transaction (involving the purchase of a new car negotiated in English by a buyer and co-buyer with good credit and no trade-in) to $180 for a complex transaction (involving the purchased of a used vehicle by a foreign language buyer and co-buyer with poor credit and a trade-in)." The cap on document preparation fees has been raised a number of times over the last 25 years. In 1987, it was raised from $20 to $25. Four years later it was increased to $35. In 1996, a limit of $45 was established. Most recently, in 2006, the fee for new car sales was increased to $55, although for vehicle leases, it remained at $45. There have been a number of statutes enacted in the last several years that have increased or altered dealer document requirements, including new insurance disclosures, foreign language contract translation requirements, consumer identification verification requirements, and changes to documents required by changes to the Smog Check program, among others. Significantly, the Car Buyers Bill of Rights, AB 68 (Montañez), Chapter 128, Statutes of 2005, imposes substantial new document requirements on motor vehicle dealers resulting in increased costs. AB 68 requires a car dealer selling a used vehicle for less than $40,000 to offer the buyer a two-day contract cancellation option agreement; requires car dealers who finance a sale to disclose the price of additional products, services, or other items included in the contract; and requires AB 1215 Page 6 dealers who finance a sale to disclose the buyer's credit score. As noted above, dealers maintain that complying with all these requirements costs them $75 for a simple transaction and up to $180 for a complicated transaction. Examined in a historical context, it is probably fair to say that document preparation fees have not kept pace with the increasing cost that dealers face in meeting mandated paperwork requirements. This is certainly true in the instance of vehicle leases, whose current fee limit has been in place through 15 years of inflation and new mandates. On the other hand, one might question why the cost of document preparation is not simply built into the sale (or lease) price of a vehicle, just as any number of other costs are recovered through the price structure. Regarding NMVTIS, which is an electronic database that provides consumers with information about a vehicle's condition and history, this bill could assist consumers who are on a car lot comparing two vehicles side by side. If one vehicle has a warning and one does not, the consumer is able to make an informed decision after asking the dealer to see a copy of the NMVTIS report. Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety (CARS), in support, contends: "Vehicles with a history of prior major damage tend to be unsafe, and worth far less than similar undamaged vehicles. For example, they may lack air bags, have bent frames that make them prone to tipping over in an emergency braking situation, or have electronic systems that are corroding and will inevitable malfunction because the vehicle was submerged in flood water. In fact, whether a vehicle was totaled or not may be the single most important piece of information that car buyers need to know, in order to make an informed comparison between two otherwise similar vehicles?AB 1215 promises to be a vitally important next step toward curbing salvage and rebuilt wreck frauds and ensuring that NMVTIS fulfills its potential for benefiting the public." CarFax, which opposes the bill, expresses concern that "mandating NMVTIS alone may provide used car consumers with a false sense of security" and that this bill would offer "no incentive for the seller to research beyond NMVTIS to study other more inclusive vehicle history reports which would disclose hazardous safety data not disclosed by NMVTIS." To address their concerns, CarFax proposes allowing dealers to obtain either a NMVTIS or a commercially available vehicle AB 1215 Page 7 history report (thus allowing dealers to use CarFax reports instead of NMVTIS). The California New Car Dealers, in response assert: "While Car Fax and Experian Auto Check provide valuable information that is beneficial to consumers and dealers, their title database information is proprietary and not subject to oversight by any governmental entity. Commercial providers who acquire vehicle title information from entities other than NMVTIS purchase their information on an ad hoc basis through commercial contracts with certain states, insurers and other entities. These contracts are not subject to federal review, are subject to amendment, cancellation, or expiration, and do not cover all entities required to report information to NMVTIS. No entity is statutorily required to provide information to Car Fax, Auto Check, or any other commercial vehicle history database?Nothing in the bill restricts the ability of commercial providers, like Car Fax, from providing the additional accident and other information they obtain through their own sources beyond NMVTIS." Legislative history: AB 1001 (Núñez) of 2005 would have increased the document preparation fee for vehicle sales to $55 from the then-maximum level of $45. That bill was vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger who said he did "not believe California consumers should be saddled with another hidden fee." SB 44 (Torlakson), Chapter 623, Statues of 2006, raised the document preparation fee to its present level of $55, but only for vehicle sales, not for leases - which remained at $45. AB 1939 (DeSaulnier) of 2008 would have raised the document preparation fee to $65 for both vehicle sales and vehicle leases. That bill passed the Assembly floor but died in the Senate without having been heard in policy committee. Related legislation: SB 125 (Emmerson) of 2011 would allow for the impoundment of a vehicle that is registered to a chronic evader of toll payments until all outstanding tolls and all required penalties are paid to the issuing agency. At this time, SB 125 remains in the Senate Committee on Transportation and Housing. Analysis Prepared by : Howard Posner / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093 FN: 0002053 AB 1215 Page 8