[atlas:bill]

AN ACT Relating to salvage vehicles; and amending RCW 46.12.005 and 46.12.070.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

Sec. 1. RCW 46.12.005 and 1996 c 26 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:

The definitions set forth in this section apply throughout this chapter.

(1) The words "delivery," "notice," "send," and "security interest" have the same meaning as these terms are defined in RCW 62A.1-201; the word "secured party" has the same meaning as this term is defined in RCW ((~~62A.9‑105~~)) 62A.9A-102.

(2) "Salvage vehicle" means a vehicle whose certificate of ownership has been surrendered to the department under RCW 46.12.070 due to the vehicle's destruction or declaration as a total loss or for which there is documentation indicating that the vehicle has been declared salvage or has been damaged to the extent that the owner, an insurer, or other person acting on behalf of the owner, has determined that the cost of parts and labor plus the salvage value has made it uneconomical to repair the vehicle. The term does not include a motor vehicle having a model year designation of a calendar year that is at least six years before the calendar year in which the vehicle was wrecked, destroyed, or damaged, unless, after the effective date of this act and immediately before the vehicle was wrecked, destroyed, or damaged, the vehicle had a retail fair market value of at least the then market value threshold amount. "Market value threshold amount" means six thousand five hundred dollars or such greater amount as is then in effect by rule of the department in accordance with this section. If, for any year beginning with 2002, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, United States Department of Labor, or its successor, for the West Region, in the expenditure category "used cars and trucks," shows an increase in the annual average for that year compared to that of the year immediately prior, the department shall, by rule, increase the then market value threshold amount by the same percentage as the percentage increase of the annual average, with the increase of the market value threshold amount to be effective on July 1st of the year immediately after the year with the increase of the annual average. However, the market value threshold amount may not be increased if the amount of the increase would be less than fifty dollars, and each increase of the market value threshold amount will be rounded to the nearest ten dollars. If an increase in the market value threshold amount is not made because the increase would be less than fifty dollars, the unmade increase will be carried forward and added to later year calculations of increase until the unmade increase is included in an increase made to the market value threshold amount.

Sec. 2. RCW 46.12.070 and 1990 c 250 s 28 are each amended to read as follows:

Upon the destruction of any vehicle issued a certificate of ownership under this chapter or a license registration under chapter 46.16 RCW, the registered owner and the legal owner shall forthwith and within fifteen days thereafter forward and surrender the certificate to the department, together with a statement of the reason for the surrender and the date and place of destruction. Failure to notify the department or the possession by any person of any such certificate for a vehicle so destroyed, after fifteen days following its destruction, is prima facie evidence of violation of the provisions of this chapter and constitutes a gross misdemeanor.

Any insurance company settling an insurance claim on a vehicle that has been issued a certificate of ownership under this chapter or a certificate of license registration under chapter 46.16 RCW as a total loss, less salvage value, shall notify the department thereof within fifteen days after the settlement of the claim. Notification shall be provided regardless of where or in what jurisdiction the total loss occurred.

For a motor vehicle having a model year designation at least six years before the calendar year of destruction, the notification to the department must include a statement of whether the retail fair market value of the motor vehicle immediately before the destruction was at least the then market value threshold amount as defined in RCW 46.12.005.