BILL REQ. #:  H-1779.2 

Read first time 02/19/2003.   Referred to Committee on Transportation.

     AN ACT Relating to salvage vehicles; and amending RCW 46.12.005, 46.12.070, and 46.12.101.

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

Sec. 1   RCW 46.12.005 and 2002 c 245 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.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)) ten years before the calendar year in which the vehicle was wrecked, destroyed, or damaged, unless, after June 13, 2002, 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 and has a model year designation of a calendar year not more than twenty years before the calendar year in which the vehicle was wrecked, destroyed, or damaged. "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 2002 c 245 s 2 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)) ten 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.

Sec. 3   RCW 46.12.101 and 2002 c 279 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     A transfer of ownership in a motor vehicle is perfected by compliance with the requirements of this section.
     (1) If an owner transfers his or her interest in a vehicle, other than by the creation, deletion, or change of a security interest, the owner shall, at the time of the delivery of the vehicle, execute an assignment to the transferee and provide an odometer disclosure statement under RCW 46.12.124 on the certificate of ownership or as the department otherwise prescribes, and cause the certificate and assignment to be transmitted to the transferee. The owner shall notify the department or its agents or subagents, in writing, on the appropriate form, of the date of the sale or transfer, the name and address of the owner and of the transferee, the transferee's driver's license number if available, and such description of the vehicle, including the vehicle identification number, the license plate number, or both, as may be required in the appropriate form provided or approved for that purpose by the department. The report of sale will be deemed properly filed if all information required in this section is provided on the form and includes a department-authorized notation that the document was received by the department, its agents, or subagents on or before the fifth day after the sale of the vehicle, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and state and federal holidays. Agents and subagents shall immediately electronically transmit the seller's report of sale to the department. Reports of sale processed and recorded by the department's agents or subagents may be subject to fees as specified in RCW 46.01.140 (4)(a) or (5)(b). By January 1, 2003, the department shall create a system enabling the seller of a vehicle to transmit the report of sale electronically. The system created by the department must immediately indicate on the department's vehicle record that a seller's report of sale has been filed.
     (2) When a vehicle is sold by a private party transaction between the registered owner and a private buyer, the registered owner must disclose if the vehicle being sold was ever, to his or her knowledge, involved in an accident that destroyed the vehicle causing it to be subsequently rebuilt. The report of sale form, as provided for in subsection (1) of this section, must contain the following statement, below which the registered owner must sign, in order for the report of sale to be deemed properly filed: "The vehicle described in this report of sale has never, to my knowledge, been destroyed in an accident that caused this vehicle to be subsequently rebuilt in any way. Under penalty of perjury, I swear or affirm this information to be true to the best of my knowledge."
     (3) The requirements of subsection (1) of this section to provide an odometer disclosure statement apply to the transfer of vehicles held for lease when transferred to a lessee and then to the lessor at the end of the leasehold and to vehicles held in a fleet when transferred to a purchaser.
     (((3))) (4) Except as provided in RCW 46.70.122 the transferee shall within fifteen days after delivery to the transferee of the vehicle, execute the application for a new certificate of ownership in the same space provided therefor on the certificate or as the department prescribes, and cause the certificates and application to be transmitted to the department.
     (((4))) (5) Upon request of the owner or transferee, a secured party in possession of the certificate of ownership shall, unless the transfer was a breach of its security agreement, either deliver the certificate to the transferee for transmission to the department or, when the secured party receives the owner's assignment from the transferee, it shall transmit the transferee's application for a new certificate, the existing certificate, and the required fee to the department. Compliance with this section does not affect the rights of the secured party.
     (((5))) (6) If a security interest is reserved or created at the time of the transfer, the certificate of ownership shall be retained by or delivered to the person who becomes the secured party, and the parties shall comply with the provisions of RCW 46.12.170.
     (((6))) (7) If the purchaser or transferee fails or neglects to make application to transfer the certificate of ownership and license registration within fifteen days after the date of delivery of the vehicle, he or she shall on making application for transfer be assessed a ((twenty-five)) fifty dollar penalty on the sixteenth day and two dollars additional for each day thereafter, but not to exceed one hundred dollars. The director may by rule establish conditions under which the penalty will not be assessed when an application for transfer is delayed for reasons beyond the control of the purchaser. Conditions for not assessing the penalty may be established for but not limited to delays caused by:
     (a) The department requesting additional supporting documents;
     (b) Extended hospitalization or illness of the purchaser;
     (c) Failure of a legal owner to release his or her interest;
     (d) Failure, negligence, or nonperformance of the department, auditor, or subagent.
     Failure or neglect to make application to transfer the certificate of ownership and license registration within forty-five days after the date of delivery of the vehicle is a misdemeanor.
     (((7))) (8) Upon receipt of an application for reissue or replacement of a certificate of ownership and transfer of license registration, accompanied by the endorsed certificate of ownership or other documentary evidence as is deemed necessary, the department shall, if the application is in order and if all provisions relating to the certificate of ownership and license registration have been complied with, issue new certificates of title and license registration as in the case of an original issue and shall transmit the fees together with an itemized detailed report to the state treasurer, to be deposited in the motor vehicle fund.
     (((8))) (9) Once each quarter the department shall report to the department of revenue a list of those vehicles for which a seller's report has been received but no transfer of title has taken place.