The seller of the used motor vehicle shall sign and date this written statement and the dealer who buys the vehicle shall maintain a record of it for 2 years following the sale of the motor vehicle.

As used in subsection 2-A and this subsection, "substantial collision damage" means any damage to a motor vehicle from a collision when the costs of repair of that damage, at the time of repair, including replacement of mechanical and body parts, exceeded by 3 times the amount of damage that would at the time of the collision have required a report of the collision to a law enforcement agency under the provisions of Title 29-A, section 2251 exceed $1,500.

Emergency clause. In view of the emergency cited in the preamble, this Act takes effect when approved.

SUMMARY

Public Law 1999, chapter 61, effective September 18, 1999, increased the monetary amount of property damage for which a motor vehicle accident must be reported from $500 to $1,000. By doing so, this legislation also indirectly altered the definition in the used car information laws of the phrase "substantial collision damage." This definition states that substantial collision damage need not be disclosed to consumers unless the cost of repairing that damage exceeded by 3 times the amount of property damage for which a motor vehicle accident must be reported. Therefore, the passage of Public Law 1999, chapter 61 means that car dealers now need not disclose substantial collision damage unless the cost of repairing it exceeds $3,000.

This bill would maintain the past statutory requirement that collision damage that costs more than $1,500 to repair must be disclosed to consumers.