The California legislature is considering a measure that would give consumers more information about used cars they're thinking of buying while protecting them from odometer fraud and other scams.
"Disclosing vehicle-accident history in California is imperative to putting safe cars on the road and protecting the safety of our citizens," said Sen. Tom Torlakson, D-Antioch, the bill's author. "Without disclosure, Californians are at risk of purchasing unsafe and unreliable vehicles."
Police now take more than 500,000 car-accident reports in California each year, including about 25,000 "totaled" vehicles. Nearly half of the totaled vehicles are rebuilt and sold, often without the purchaser's knowing the cars had been salvaged.
Presently, state law doesn't permit the state's Division of Motor Vehicles to share its accident information with consumers and private companies like CARFAX, which has a nationwide database covering every car manufactured since 1981.
Torlakson's bill would permit DMV to make the data available to CARFAX and other companies that contracted with the DMV. The private companies would then make the reports available to consumers and dealers.
California would be the 35th state to make the information public.
"The bill doesn't mandate that a seller provide the history of a vehicle," said Robert Oakes, Torlakson's press secretary. "However, many car dealers already provide CARFAX (reports) to buyers."
"We encourage consumers to be knowledgeable when they make a purchase," whether they're buying from a dealer or a private party, Oakes said.
Existing California law protects consumers from buying totaled or "salvage" vehicles but scam artists have found ways around the protections.
Currently, when a vehicle is totaled the title must be surrendered to DMV and a salvage certificate is then issued. But some unscrupulous sellers are re-titling cars in other states, "washing" the title and removing the salvage designation.
If Torlakson's bill passes, information about the accident that caused the car to be totaled would appear in the CARFAX report, making it available to consumers and dealers.
The Independent Auto Dealers of California is among those supporting the measure. "We are and have been in favor of full disclosure of any flaws in the vehicle," said Scott Macaulay, whose group includes more than 11,000 used-car dealers.
"This bill would protect us too," he said, explaining that many consumers are not "up front" when they sell their car to a dealer. "We want to sell a quality product. We want to pass on the protection to consumers."
