An Act To Eliminate Unnecessary Regulatory Burdens on Motor Vehicle Dealer-to-dealer Transactions
Maine Legislature, Session 127, LD 0976
Committee: Labor, Commerce, Research and Economic Development
Sponsors: FREDETTE
Amends: 10 MRSA §1475

Legislative Document 
No. 976 
H.P. 673 
House of Representatives, March 18, 2015 
An Act To Eliminate Unnecessary Regulatory Burdens on Motor 
Vehicle Dealer-to-dealer Transactions 
Reference to the Committee on Labor, Commerce, Research and Economic Development 
suggested and ordered printed. 
ROBERT B. HUNT 
Clerk 
Presented by Representative FREDETTE of Newport. 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. 1.  10 MRSA §1475, sub-§1, as amended by PL 1991, c. 824, Pt. A, §16, is 
further amended to read: 
1.  Written disclosure statement. No Except for a dealer that is also a car rental 
company as provided in subsection 6, a dealer may not sell, negotiate the sale of, offer for 
sale or transfer any used motor vehicle, including any used motor vehicle transferred to 
another dealer, unless the dealer affixes to the vehicle a conspicuous written statement 
containing the information required by subsection 2-A. 
Sec. 2.  10 MRSA §1475, sub-§3, as amended by PL 2003, c. 240, §1, is further 
amended to read: 
3.  Written statement. A Except for a dealer that is also a car rental company as 
provided in subsection 6, a dealer shall obtain from the seller of a used motor vehicle a 
written statement containing the following information: 
A.  The make, model, model year and any identification or serial numbers of the 
motor vehicle; 
B.  The name and address of the seller, the principal use to which the motor vehicle 
was put by the seller, such as personal transportation, police car, daily rental car, taxi 
or other descriptive term; 
C.  A statement identifying any and all mechanical defects known to the seller at the 
time of sale; and 
D.  A statement identifying the type of damage, if any, that the vehicle has sustained, 
such as fire, water or substantial collision damage, if such information is known to 
the seller. 
Any dealer who offers for sale to consumers a repossessed vehicle that has been obtained 
by the dealer through any transaction other than a retail sale is not subject to the 
provisions of this subsection. 
A dealer is not subject to the provisions of this subsection if that dealer offers for sale to 
consumers a used motor vehicle that has been obtained by the dealer through an auction 
located outside the State at which buyers are limited to licensed dealers and the seller of 
the used motor vehicle is neither a resident of this State nor a dealer licensed in this State, 
if the dealer clearly discloses on the written disclosure statement required by subsections 
and 2-A that the vehicle was acquired at an out-of-state auction and that historical 
information regarding mechanical defects and substantial damage is not available. 
The seller of the used motor vehicle shall sign and date this written statement and the 
dealer who buys the vehicle shall maintain a record of it for 2 years following the sale of 
the motor vehicle. 
As used in subsection 2-A and this subsection, "substantial collision damage" means any 
damage to a motor vehicle from a collision when the costs of repair of that damage, at the 
time of repair, including replacement of mechanical and body parts, exceed $2,000. 
Sec. 3.  10 MRSA §1475, sub-§6 is enacted to read: 
6.  Exceptions.  A dealer that is a car rental company with a location in at least one 
other state is exempt from the provisions of subsections 1 and 3 when selling or 
transferring a used motor vehicle at wholesale to another dealer. 
SUMMARY 
This bill exempts a car rental company acting in the capacity of a dealer and having a 
location in at least one other state from current law requiring giving or receiving written 
disclosure statements when selling a used motor vehicle at wholesale to another dealer.