II 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 164 

To improve consumer access to passenger vehicle loss data held by insurers. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 7, 2009 

Mr. ENSIGN introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

To improve consumer access to passenger vehicle loss data 

held by insurers. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Passenger Vehicle Loss 

5 Disclosure Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DISCLOSURE OF TOTAL LOSS DATA. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 32303 of title 49, United 

8 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol9 lowing: 

10 ‘‘(d) DISCLOSURE OF LOSS DATA FOR PASSENGER

11 MOTOR VEHICLES.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) SPECIFIC TOTAL LOSS DATA TO BE DIS2 CLOSED.—The Secretary of Transportation shall by 

3 regulation require all insurers and self-insurers of 

4 passenger motor vehicles to disclose to the public in 

5 a commercially reasonable, electronically accessible 

6 manner the following information for every pas7 senger motor vehicle described in paragraph (3) that 

8 has been declared a total loss by such an insurer or 

9 determined to be a total loss by such a self-insurer: 

10 ‘‘(A) The vehicle identification number of 

11 the vehicle. 

12 ‘‘(B) The date of declaration or determina13 tion of the total loss. 

14 ‘‘(C) The odometer reading on the date of 

15 the declaration or determination of total loss. 

16 ‘‘(D) A statement as to whether the pri17 mary reason for the declaration or determina18 tion of total loss is— 

19 ‘‘(i) flood or water damage; 

20 ‘‘(ii) collision or fire damage; 

21 ‘‘(iii) theft and recovery; or 

22 ‘‘(iv) some other reason. 

23 ‘‘(E) A statement as to whether, as a re24 sult of the incident that prompted the declaraVerDate Nov 24 2008 05:01 Jan 08, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S164.IS S164

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1 tion or determination of total loss, 1 or more 

2 airbags were deployed. 

3 ‘‘(2) TIME FOR DISCLOSURE.—The Secretary 

4 shall require the disclosure described in paragraph 

5 (1) to be made not later than— 

6 ‘‘(A) the date on which the insurer termi7 nates coverage on the vehicle due to the total 

8 loss of the vehicle; or 

9 ‘‘(B) the date on which the self-insurer de10 termines the vehicle to be a total loss. 

11 ‘‘(3) VEHICLES TO WHICH DISCLOSURE RE12 QUIREMENT APPLIES.— 

13 ‘‘(A) INSURERS.—Paragraph (1) applies to 

14 a declaration of total loss by an insurer for any 

15 passenger motor vehicle with respect to which— 

16 ‘‘(i) the insurer obtains from an in17 sured pursuant to a settlement resulting in 

18 the termination of the current coverage by 

19 the insurer for that vehicle; 

20 ‘‘(ii) the insurer permits the insured 

21 to retain pursuant to a settlement result22 ing in the termination of the current cov23 erage by the insurer for that vehicle; or 

24 ‘‘(iii) the insurer terminates coverage 

25 following the theft of, damage to, or other 


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1 circumstances that adversely affect the fair 

2 market value of that vehicle. 

3 ‘‘(B) SELF-INSURERS.—Paragraph (1) ap4 plies to a determination of total loss by a self5 insurer for any passenger motor vehicle that the 

6 self-insurer determines has sustained sufficient 

7 damage to be a total loss. 

8 ‘‘(4) APPLICATION WITH STATE LAWS.—The 

9 disclosure required by this subsection applies with10 out regard to whether— 

11 ‘‘(A) the insurer or self-insurer obtains a 

12 certificate of title for the passenger motor vehi13 cle under State motor vehicle titling law; 

14 ‘‘(B) the insurer or self-insurer obtains a 

15 branded certificate of title for a passenger 

16 motor vehicle under State motor vehicle titling 

17 law to connote the type of damage or condition 

18 conveyed by the disclosure of total loss data; 

19 ‘‘(C) the insurer or self-insurer files any 

20 other notification with a State motor vehicle ti21 tling agency with respect to the passenger 

22 motor vehicle; or 

23 ‘‘(D) the insurer or self-insurer disposes of 

24 or receives proceeds from the disposition of a 

25 passenger motor vehicle upon termination of 


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1 coverage following the theft of, damage to, or 

2 other circumstances that adversely affect the 

3 fair market value of that vehicle. 

4 ‘‘(5) USE OF PRIVATE SECTOR RESOURCES.— 

5 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 

6 rely on the private sector to collect, aggregate, 

7 and disclose to the public the data required to 

8 be disclosed under this subsection. 

9 ‘‘(B) LOOKUP IDENTIFIER.—The Sec10 retary shall ensure that all total loss data dis11 closed in accordance with subparagraph (A) is 

12 accessible by vehicle identification number. 

13 ‘‘(6) LIABILITY PROTECTION FOR PUBLIC DIS14 CLOSURE.—Any person performing any activity re15 lated to the public disclosure of the data under this 

16 subsection in good faith and with the reasonable be17 lief that such activity was in accordance with this 

18 subsection shall be immune from any civil action re19 specting such activity seeking money damages or eq20 uitable relief in any court of the United States or of 

21 a State. 

22 ‘‘(7) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

23 ‘‘(A) PASSENGER MOTOR VEHICLE.—The 

24 term ‘passenger motor vehicle’ means a motor 

25 vehicle with motive power designed for carrying 


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1 10 or fewer persons, including multipurpose 

2 passenger vehicles, light trucks, and motor3 cycles, but not including trailers. 

4 ‘‘(B) SELF-INSURER.—The term ‘self-in5 surer’ means a person that retains all or part 

6 of the risk of loss with respect to passenger 

7 motor vehicles it owns instead of using an in8 surer.’’. 

9 (b) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary of Transportation 

10 shall promulgate the regulations required by section 

11 32303(d) of title 49, United States Code, as added by sub12 section (a), not later than 1 year after the date of the 

13 enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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