II 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 202 

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

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 12, 2009 

Mr. ENSIGN (for himself, Mr. NELSON of Florida, Mr. FEINGOLD, Mr. DORGAN, and Mr. CORKER) 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 of 2009’’. 

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: 


rfrederick on PROD1PC67 with BILLS
2 

•S 202 IS

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

2 MOTOR VEHICLES.— 

3 ‘‘(1) SPECIFIC TOTAL LOSS DATA TO BE DIS4 CLOSED.—The Secretary of Transportation shall by 

5 regulation require all insurers and self-insurers of 

6 passenger motor vehicles to disclose to the public in 

7 a commercially reasonable, electronically accessible 

8 manner the following information for every pas9 senger motor vehicle described in paragraph (3) that 

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

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

12 ‘‘(A) The vehicle identification number of 

13 the vehicle. 

14 ‘‘(B) The date of declaration or determina15 tion of the total loss. 

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

17 the declaration or determination of total loss. 

18 ‘‘(D) A statement as to whether the pri19 mary reason for the declaration or determina20 tion of total loss is— 

21 ‘‘(i) flood or water damage; 

22 ‘‘(ii) collision or fire damage; 

23 ‘‘(iii) theft and recovery; or 

24 ‘‘(iv) some other reason. 


rfrederick on PROD1PC67 with BILLS
3 

•S 202 IS

1 ‘‘(E) A statement as to whether, as a re2 sult of the incident that prompted the declara3 tion or determination of total loss, 1 or more 

4 airbags were deployed. 

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

6 shall require the disclosure described in paragraph 

7 (1) to be made not later than— 

8 ‘‘(A) the date on which the insurer termi9 nates coverage on the vehicle due to the total 

10 loss of the vehicle; or 

11 ‘‘(B) the date on which the self-insurer de12 termines the vehicle to be a total loss. 

13 ‘‘(3) VEHICLES TO WHICH DISCLOSURE RE14 QUIREMENT APPLIES.— 

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

16 a declaration of total loss by an insurer for any 

17 passenger motor vehicle with respect to which— 

18 ‘‘(i) the insurer obtains from an in19 sured pursuant to a settlement resulting in 

20 the termination of the current coverage by 

21 the insurer for that vehicle; 

22 ‘‘(ii) the insurer permits the insured 

23 to retain pursuant to a settlement result24 ing in the termination of the current cov25 erage by the insurer for that vehicle; or 


rfrederick on PROD1PC67 with BILLS
4 

•S 202 IS

1 ‘‘(iii) the insurer terminates coverage 

2 following the theft of, damage to, or other 

3 circumstances that adversely affect the fair 

4 market value of that vehicle. 

5 ‘‘(B) SELF-INSURERS.—Paragraph (1) ap6 plies to a determination of total loss by a self7 insurer for any passenger motor vehicle that the 

8 self-insurer determines has sustained sufficient 

9 damage to be a total loss. 

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

11 disclosure required by this subsection applies with12 out regard to whether— 

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

14 certificate of title for the passenger motor vehi15 cle under State motor vehicle titling law; 

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

17 branded certificate of title for a passenger 

18 motor vehicle under State motor vehicle titling 

19 law to connote the type of damage or condition 

20 conveyed by the disclosure of total loss data; 

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

22 other notification with a State motor vehicle ti23 tling agency with respect to the passenger 

24 motor vehicle; or 


rfrederick on PROD1PC67 with BILLS
5 

•S 202 IS

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

2 or receives proceeds from the disposition of a 

3 passenger motor vehicle upon termination of 

4 coverage following the theft of, damage to, or 

5 other circumstances that adversely affect the 

6 fair market value of that vehicle. 

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

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

9 rely on the private sector to collect, aggregate, 

10 and disclose to the public the data required to 

11 be disclosed under this subsection. 

12 ‘‘(B) LOOKUP IDENTIFIER.—The Sec13 retary shall ensure that all total loss data dis14 closed in accordance with subparagraph (A) is 

15 accessible by vehicle identification number. 

16 ‘‘(6) LIABILITY PROTECTION FOR PUBLIC DIS17 CLOSURE.—Any person performing any activity re18 lated to the public disclosure of the data under this 

19 subsection in good faith and with the reasonable be20 lief that such activity was in accordance with this 

21 subsection shall be immune from any civil action re22 specting such activity seeking money damages or eq23 uitable relief in any court of the United States or of 

24 a State. 

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


rfrederick on PROD1PC67 with BILLS
6 

•S 202 IS

1 ‘‘(A) PASSENGER MOTOR VEHICLE.—The 

2 term ‘passenger motor vehicle’ means a motor 

3 vehicle with motive power designed for carrying 

4 10 or fewer persons, including multipurpose 

5 passenger vehicles, light trucks, and motor6 cycles, but not including trailers. 

7 ‘‘(B) SELF-INSURER.—The term ‘self-in8 surer’ means a person that retains all or part 

9 of the risk of loss with respect to passenger 

10 motor vehicles it owns instead of using an in11 surer.’’. 

12 (b) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary of Transportation 

13 shall promulgate the regulations required by section 

14 32303(d) of title 49, United States Code, as added by sub15 section (a), not later than 1 year after the date of the 

16 enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


rfrederick on PROD1PC67 with BILLS