2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XV - Regulation of Trade › Chapter 100a - Motor Vehicle Damage Repair Shops › Section 2 - Motor Vehicle Repair Shop or Motor Vehicle Glass Repair Shop; Registration; Service of Process

Section 2. No person shall engage in motor vehicle repair or motor vehicle glass repair unless such person is registered as a motor vehicle repair shop or as a motor vehicle glass repair shop under this chapter. Any person desiring to be registered as a motor vehicle repair shop or as a motor vehicle glass repair shop shall make written application under oath to the deputy director on a form provided by him. Said application shall set forth the name and address of the applicant and of any other person having financial interest, direct or indirect, in the business to be conducted by the applicant, and such other information as the deputy director shall require, and shall identify at least one natural person who is in charge of the operations of the applicant. Said application shall be accompanied by a registration fee in the amount of three hundred dollars, or such other amount as the secretary of administration and finance pursuant to the provisions of section three B of chapter seven shall establish, together with two letters of recommendation for registration signed by a registered motor vehicle repair shop, a registered motor vehicle glass repair shop or by an elected public official or a member of the Massachusetts Bar. Said application shall be further accompanied by a bond upon the applicant in the sum of ten thousand dollars, payable to the deputy director or his successors with sureties approved by the deputy director and conditioned on applicant's compliance with the provisions of this chapter. Said bond shall guarantee the payment of all fines and penalties incurred by applicant as a registered motor vehicle repair shop or as a motor vehicle glass repair shop for his violations of the said provisions, and also guarantee the payment or satisfaction of any final judgments on claims by creditors against the registered motor vehicle repair shop or the registered motor vehicle glass repair shop arising in connection with business done under a certificate or registration granted under this chapter, all such payments under said bond to be limited to the amount of said bond. Such a creditor's claim however, must have been duly filed by giving written notice to the deputy director prior to the expiration of sixty days from the return, surrender of said certificate of registration or date of the filing of an affidavit of loss of the certificate of registration held by the registered motor vehicle repair shop or the registered motor vehicle glass repair shop against whom the claim is made.
The acceptance by an applicant of a certificate of registration issued by the deputy director to him as a registered motor vehicle repair shop or as a motor vehicle glass repair shop shall be deemed equivalent to an appointment by the registrant of the deputy director, or his successors in office, to be the registrant's true and lawful attorney upon whom may be served all lawful process in any action or proceeding against him or his executor or administrator, arising out of the transaction of business by him under said certificate of registration. Any process against the registrant so served shall, if said registrant is notified as hereinafter provided, be of the same legal force and validity as if served on him personally, and the mailing by the deputy director of a copy of such process to said registrant at his last address, as appearing on the deputy director's records, shall be sufficient notice to him of such service. Service of such process shall be made by delivering or mailing duplicate copies thereof together with a fee of two dollars to the office of the deputy director, and the deputy director shall forthwith send one of said copies by mail, postage prepaid, addressed to the defendant registrant named in such process at his last address as appearing on the deputy director's records.
An affidavit of the deputy director, or of any person authorized by him to send such copy, that such copy has been mailed shall be prima facie evidence thereof. One of the duplicates of such process, certified by the deputy director as having been delivered to the office of the deputy director shall be sufficient evidence of service upon him as attorney for the registrant named as defendant in the process.