Florida Joins States Urging FTC to Strengthen “Used Car Rule”
Saturday, November 22nd, 2008November 21, 2008
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Florida Joins States Urging FTC to Strengthen “Used Car Rule”
TALLAHASSEE, FL – Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum today joined Attorneys General of 41 other states and territories to ask the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to strengthen “Buyer’s Guide” notices. The Attorneys General are asking that the notices indicate if used cars, trucks or SUVs for sale have been assigned titles indicating past flood or collision damage.
Under the FTC’s “Used Car Rule,” Buyer’s Guide notices must be posted on used vehicles offered for sale. The current rule requires Buyer’s Guide notices on used vehicles to tell prospective buyers whether the car is offered with a warranty, or is being sold “as-is” without a warranty.
“While the warranty information is valuable for used car buyers, the rule’s value is limited by the fact that it does not require notice about a vehicle’s damage history and prior use,” said Attorney General McCollum. “Nothing diminishes the market value of a used vehicle more than detrimental history.”
Amending the Buyer’s Guide to require this information would help prevent fraud and omissions of material facts, including a used vehicle’s damage, title, and Lemon Law History. According to the participating states, such damaged vehicles also may pose safety hazards to consumers and manufacturers void warranties on vehicles with damage histories.
“There simply is no excuse for the national Buyer’s Guide to fail to include vehicle history and title brand information” as is done in Wisconsin, the states said. “That information is readily available to dealers through private data sources and through title records accompanying vehicles they purchase at auction or take in trade. If Wisconsin dealers are required and can determine facts sufficient to make that disclosure, so too should dealers in the rest of the nation.”
The Attorneys General filed their comments with the FTC. In addition to Florida, the following states and territories joined the comments: AZ, AR, CA, CO, CT, DE, GA, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, KY, LA, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MS, MO, MT, NV, NH, NJ, NM, NY, ND, OH, OR, RI, SC, SD, TN, VT, WA, WV, WI, WY, the District of Columbia, and the Northern Mariana Islands. A copy of the comments may be found online at: http://myfloridalegal.com/webfiles.nsf/WF/MRAY-7LLLNP/$file/FTCUsedCarRule.pdf
The Florida Attorney General’s Office oversees the Florida Lemon Law Program in association with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. The Florida Lemon Law does not apply to used vehicles, only to new and demonstrator vehicles sold or long-term leased in Florida. More information about the Florida Lemon Law and Arbitration Program is available online at: http://myfloridalegal.com/pages.nsf/Main/5F1DDC32E4EDCBC885256CC900599FB4.
