Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a manufacturer may require that a dealer purchase an essential tool, either directly from the manufacturer or from a 3rd party designated by the manufacturer. A manufacturer that designates any tool as special or essential, or who requires the purchase of hardware or software, whether or not designated as an essential tool, may recover from directly charge the dealer only the manufacturer's actual costs of providing any such tool, the actual costs of user fees, the actual costs of maintenance fees and other costs of any nature of software for any such tool, as long as the tool is directly available only from the manufacturer or its wholly owned subsidiary , except that this restriction does not apply to essential tools purchased by a dealer from a 3rd party designated by the manufacturer;