California used-car buyers can go shopping armed with new protections Jan. 1.
That's when two new laws, Senate Bill 95 and Assembly Bill 647, take effect.
SB 95, the California Car Buyers Protection Act, requires auto dealers to pay off outstanding liens before selling or trading a used car.
AB 647 gives the public access to a national database of title, theft and other vehicle information.
The bills were backed by consumer protection groups and criminal justice officials.
State Sen. Ellen Corbett, D-San Leandro, said her SB 95 will help consumers already struggling in the economy.
"This law will give consumers confidence that they will be protected when they purchase or trade in a vehicle," she said.
The recession has put scores of car dealers out of business, and Corbett said some of them left consumers with unpaid liens on vehicles they traded in, perhaps on top of a second loan on a vehicle purchased at the dealership.
Under SB 95, dealers must pay outstanding liens on traded-in vehicles before they trade or sell the vehicle, and payment must occur within 21 days.
Rosemary Shahan, president of the Sacramento-based nonprofit Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety, said SB 95 "will help law enforcement agencies crack down on violations before hundreds of car buyers have their credit ruined at a single dealership."
Assemblywoman Mariko Yamada, the Davis Democrat who authored AB 647, said it would require the state department of motor vehicles to comply with federal law and allow consumers access to the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System, or NMVTIS.
NMVTIS is an electronic vehicle- history database maintained by the U.S. Department of Justice. It enables states, law enforcement agencies and consumers to verify and exchange information on vehicle titles and whether a car has been stolen, salvaged, junked or flooded.
Yamada said California is the only state that provides information to the national database but restricts consumer access to that information.
Bill supporters found that incredible, noting that six California metropolitan areas ranked in the nation's top 10 for per-capita car theft rates: Modesto, San Diego, Bakersfield, Stockton, San Francisco-Oakland and Fresno.
Yamada also noted that consumers have been paying $29.99 to obtain a vehicle history from a vendor, or "nearly 10 times more than a state- issued report would cost."
"As more people look to buy used cars during this financial downturn, this legislation gives California car buyers access to life-saving data at a competitive price," Yamada said.
The Justice Department projects that once all states are fully participating in the database, it will save the American public between $4 billion and $11.3 billion annually by curbing vehicle theft, salvage fraud, odometer fraud and related crimes.
E-mail reporter Mark Glover at mglover(at)sacbee.com.
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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