It appears change is afoot in the Ohio salvage vehicle industry. On Tuesday, the state legislature's House Insurance Committee adopted an amendment to SB273, a series of changes which propose to revise a bevy of sections of the Revised Code that deals with consumer protection laws in the salvage industry.

And one organization is voicing its concern on how the bill will affect consumers, if passed on a full vote.

The United Coalition of Ohio Auto Recyclers (UCOAR) issued a statement of disappointment at what it called the "erosion" of consumer protections in the amendment to Senate Bill 273 in yesterday's House Insurance Committee. 

George Sapir, a spokesperson for UCOAR, said the following:

"Important consumer protections in Senate Bill 273 were eliminated yesterday during the House Insurance Committee meeting.  Elements that were undermined were the electronic reporting database and the reporting requirements to that database.  These measures are not only critical to curb the use of the auto salvage market to facilitate theft but also to ensure that vehicles certified for destruction are not resold to unsuspecting buyers.

"While the amendment gives the Department of Public Safety and the Bureau of Motor Vehicles enforcement authority, the end result would be meaningless.  Without the reporting requirements in the bill, there is nothing to enforce.  We will have a market with even more dangers than before.

"Licensed automobile recyclers do the right thing with the cars they buy at auction, and we should continue to promote laws that do the right thing in this industry.  Senate Bill 273 already presented questionable impacts to our State and, with this amendment, the bill has gotten even worse.

"We call on the members of the House Insurance Committee to vote NO on the current version of Senate Bill 273 when it comes for a full vote."

Highlighting the bill in more detail, as listed by the Committee, the Revised Code deals with the following situations: “to permit a motor vehicle salvage dealer or scrap metal processing facility to obtain a salvage certificate of title to a junk motor vehicle under certain circumstances, to permit salvage motor vehicle auctions and pools to auction and sell salvage motor vehicles to persons other than motor vehicle salvage dealers, to permit a person whose acquisition and disposal of salvage motor vehicles is incidental to the person's primary business to sell salvage motor vehicles at retail to or through a salvage motor vehicle auction or pool, to require salvage motor vehicle auctions and pools to keep an electronic record of all sales of salvage motor vehicles, and to make other changes in the motor vehicle salvage dealer law,” as listed by the committee.

The amendment to SB273, if passed on a full vote, will amend sections 505.871, 4501.25, 4505.061, 4505.11, 4738.01, 4738.02, 4738.03, 4738.17, and 4738.99, to enact sections 3937.19, 4738.021, 4738.022, 4738.023, and 4738.031, and repeal section 4738.18 of the Revised Code.

Some of the most interesting amendments on the docket would perhaps change the way salvage vehicles are obtained in the state of Ohio as well as what constitutes a salvage unit.

For example, under Sec. 4505.11. of the bill, the legislation states: "At the time any salvage motor vehicle is sold at auction or through a pool, the salvage motor vehicle auction or salvage motor vehicle pool shall give a copy of the certificate of salvage title or a copy of the certificate of title marked "FOR DESTRUCTION" to the purchaser."

For more information and to read the full bill and proposed amendment, see http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/bills.cfm?ID=129_SB_273.

Editor’s Note: Stay tuned to AutoRemarketing.com for more updates on this legislation and insight into how it will affect the salvage industry.