Passed by the House March 1, 2011 Yeas 97   FRANK CHOPP ________________________________________ Speaker of the House of Representatives Passed by the Senate April 4, 2011 Yeas 49   BRAD OWEN ________________________________________ President of the Senate | I, Barbara Baker, Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives of the State of Washington, do hereby certify that the attached is HOUSE BILL 1215 as passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate on the dates hereon set forth. BARBARA BAKER ________________________________________ Chief Clerk | |
Approved April 14, 2011, 10:25 a.m. CHRISTINE GREGOIRE ________________________________________ Governor of the State of Washington | April 14, 2011 Secretary of State State of Washington |
State of Washington | 62nd Legislature | 2011 Regular Session |
Read first time 01/17/11. Referred to Committee on Transportation.
AN ACT Relating to clarifying the application of the fifteen-day storage limit on liens for impounded vehicles; and amending RCW 46.55.130.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec. 1 RCW 46.55.130 and 2006 c 28 s 1 are each amended to read
as follows:
(1) If, after the expiration of fifteen days from the date of
mailing of notice of custody and sale required in RCW 46.55.110(3) to
the registered and legal owners, the vehicle remains unclaimed and has
not been listed as a stolen vehicle, or a suspended license impound has
been directed, but no security paid under RCW 46.55.120, then the
registered tow truck operator having custody of the vehicle shall
conduct a sale of the vehicle at public auction after having first
published a notice of the date, place, and time of the auction, and a
method to contact the tow truck operator conducting the auction such as
a telephone number, electronic mail address, or web site, in a
newspaper of general circulation in the county in which the vehicle is
located not less than three days and no more than ten days before the
date of the auction. For the purposes of this section, a newspaper of
general circulation may be a commercial, widely circulated, free,
classified advertisement circular not affiliated with the registered
tow truck operator and the notice may be listed in a classification
delineating "auctions" or similar language designed to attract
potential bidders to the auction. The notice shall contain a
notification that a public viewing period will be available before the
auction and the length of the viewing period. The auction shall be
held during daylight hours of a normal business day. The viewing
period must be one hour if twenty-five or fewer vehicles are to be
auctioned, two hours if more than twenty-five and fewer than fifty
vehicles are to be auctioned, and three hours if fifty or more vehicles
are to be auctioned.
(2) The following procedures are required in any public auction of
such abandoned vehicles:
(a) The auction shall be held in such a manner that all persons
present are given an equal time and opportunity to bid;
(b) All bidders must be present at the time of auction unless they
have submitted to the registered tow truck operator, who may or may not
choose to use the preauction bid method, a written bid on a specific
vehicle. Written bids may be submitted up to five days before the
auction and shall clearly state which vehicle is being bid upon, the
amount of the bid, and who is submitting the bid;
(c) The open bid process, including all written bids, shall be used
so that everyone knows the dollar value that must be exceeded;
(d) The highest two bids received shall be recorded in written form
and shall include the name, address, and telephone number of each such
bidder;
(e) In case the high bidder defaults, the next bidder has the right
to purchase the vehicle for the amount of his or her bid;
(f) The successful bidder shall apply for title within fifteen
days;
(g) The registered tow truck operator shall post a copy of the
auction procedure at the bidding site. If the bidding site is
different from the licensed office location, the operator shall post a
clearly visible sign at the office location that describes in detail
where the auction will be held. At the bidding site a copy of the
newspaper advertisement that lists the vehicles for sale shall be
posted;
(h) All surplus moneys derived from the auction after satisfaction
of the registered tow truck operator's lien shall be remitted within
thirty days to the department for deposit in the state motor vehicle
fund. A report identifying the vehicles resulting in any surplus shall
accompany the remitted funds. If the director subsequently receives a
valid claim from the registered vehicle owner of record as determined
by the department within one year from the date of the auction, the
surplus moneys shall be remitted to such owner;
(i) If an operator receives no bid, or if the operator is the
successful bidder at auction, the operator shall, within forty-five
days, sell the vehicle to a licensed vehicle wrecker, hulk hauler, or
scrap processor by use of the abandoned vehicle report-affidavit of
sale, or the operator shall apply for title to the vehicle.
(3) A tow truck operator may refuse to accept a bid at an abandoned
vehicle auction under this section for any reason in the operator's
posted operating procedures and for any of the following reasons: (a)
The bidder is currently indebted to the operator; (b) the operator has
knowledge that the bidder has previously abandoned vehicles purchased
at auction; or (c) the bidder has purchased, at auction, more than four
vehicles in the last calendar year without obtaining title to any or
all of the vehicles. In no case may an operator hold a vehicle for
longer than ninety days without holding an auction on the vehicle,
except for vehicles that are under a police or judicial hold.
(4)(a) ((In no case may)) The accumulation of storage charges
applied to the lien at auction under RCW 46.55.140 may not exceed
fifteen additional days from the date of receipt of the information by
the operator from the department as provided by RCW 46.55.110(3) plus
the storage charges accumulated prior to the receipt of the
information. However, vehicles redeemed pursuant to RCW 46.55.120
prior to their sale at auction are subject to payment of all
accumulated storage charges from the time of impoundment up to the time
of redemption.
(b) The failure of the registered tow truck operator to comply with
the time limits provided in this chapter limits the accumulation of
storage charges to five days except where delay is unavoidable.
Providing incorrect or incomplete identifying information to the
department in the abandoned vehicle report shall be considered a
failure to comply with these time limits if correct information is
available. However, storage charges begin to accrue again on the date
the correct and complete information is provided to the department by
the registered tow truck operator.