II 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3707 

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

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 20, 2006 

Mr. LOTT 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 thereof the 

9 following: 

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) stolen and recovered; or 

22 ‘‘(iv) some other reason. 

23 ‘‘(E) A statement as to whether, as a re24 sult of the incident that prompted the declaraVerDate Aug 31 2005 22:59 Aug 02, 2006 Jkt 049196 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3707.IS S3707

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1 tion or determination of total loss, one or more 

2 airbags were deployed. 

3 ‘‘(2) WHEN DISCLOSED.—The Secretary shall 

4 require the disclosure to be made no later than— 

5 ‘‘(A) when the insurer terminates coverage 

6 on the vehicle due to its total loss; or 

7 ‘‘(B) when the self-insurer determines the 

8 vehicle to be a total loss. 

9 ‘‘(3) VEHICLES TO WHICH DISCLOSURE RE10 QUIREMENT APPLIES.— 

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

12 an insurer’s declaration of total loss for any 

13 passenger motor vehicle— 

14 ‘‘(i) which the insurer obtains from an 

15 insured pursuant to a settlement resulting 

16 in the termination of the insurer’s current 

17 coverage for that vehicle; 

18 ‘‘(ii) which the insurer permits the in19 sured to retain pursuant to a settlement 

20 resulting in the termination of insurer’s 

21 current coverage for that vehicle; and 

22 ‘‘(iii) if not described in clause (i) or 

23 (ii), for which the insurer terminates cov24 erage following the theft of, damage to, or 


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1 other circumstances that adversely affect 

2 the fair market value of that vehicle. 

3 ‘‘(B) SELF-INSURERS.—Paragraph (1) ap4 plies to a self-insurer’s determination of total 

5 loss 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 The Secretary shall rely on the private sector to col6 lect, aggregate, and disclose to the public the data 

7 required to be disclosed under this subsection. The 

8 Secretary shall, however, ensure that all total loss 

9 data required to be disclosed under this subsection 

10 is accessible by vehicle identification number. 

11 ‘‘(6) LIABILITY PROTECTION FOR PUBLIC DIS12 CLOSURE.—Any person performing any activity re13 lated to the public disclosure of the data under this 

14 subsection in good faith and with the reasonable be15 lief that such activity was in accordance with this 

16 subsection shall be immune from any civil action re17 specting such activity seeking money damages or eq18 uitable relief in any court of the United States or of 

19 a State. 

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

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

22 term ‘passenger motor vehicle’ means a motor 

23 vehicle with motive power designed for carrying 

24 10 or fewer persons, including multipurpose 


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1 passenger vehicles, light trucks and motor2 cycles, but not including trailers. 

3 ‘‘(B) SELF-INSURER.—The term ‘self-in4 surer’ means a person that retains all or part 

5 of the risk of loss with respect to passenger 

6 motor vehicles it owns instead of using an in7 surer.’’. 

8 (b) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary of Transportation 

9 shall promulgate the regulations required by section 

10 32303(d) of title 49, United States Code, within 1 year 

11 after the date of enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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