Warranty Rate Adjustments State Legislations Missouri

Missouri State Legislation

61-4-204. Filing agreement -- product liability.

(1) A franchisee shall, at the time of application for a new motor vehicle dealer license under the provisions of 61-4-101, file with the department a certified copy of the franchisee's written agreement with a manufacturer and a certificate of appointment as dealer or distributor. The certificate of appointment must be signed by an authorized agent of the manufacturer of domestic motor vehicles whenever there is a direct manufacturer dealer agreement or by an authorized agent of the distributor whenever the manufacturer is wholesaling through an appointed distributorship. The certificate must be signed by an authorized agent of the importer of foreign-made vehicles whenever there is a direct importer-dealer agreement or by an authorized agent of the distributor whenever there is an indirect distributor-dealer agreement. The distributor's certificate of appointment must be signed by an authorized agent of the manufacturer of domestically manufactured motor vehicles or by an authorized agent of the manufacturer or importer of foreign-made motor vehicles. (2) A franchisee need not file a written agreement or certificate of appointment if the manufacturer on direct dealerships or distributor on indirect dealerships or importer on direct dealerships uses the identical basic agreement for all its franchised dealers or distributors in this state and certifies in the certificate of appointment that the blanket agreement is on file and the written agreement with the particular dealer or distributor, respectively, is identical with the filed blanket agreement and that the franchisee has filed with the department one agreement together with a list of franchised dealers or distributors. (3) A franchisor shall notify the department within 30 days of any revision of or addition to the basic agreement on file or of any franchise supplement to the agreement. Annual renewal of a certificate filed as provided in this section is not required. (4) A manufacturer shall file with the department a copy of the delivery and preparation obligations required to be performed by a dealer prior to the delivery of a new motor vehicle to a buyer. These delivery and preparation obligations constitute the dealer's only responsibility for product liability as between the dealer and the manufacturer. Any mechanical, body, or parts defects arising from an express or implied warranty of the manufacturer constitute the manufacturer's product or warranty liability only. However, this section may not affect the obligations of new motor vehicle dealers to perform warranty repair and maintenance that may be required by law or contract. Except with regard to household appliances, including but not limited to ranges, refrigerators, and water heaters, in a recreational vehicle and except with regard to a truck rated at more than 10,000 pounds gross vehicle weight, the manufacturer shall compensate an authorized dealer for labor, parts, and other expenses incurred by a dealer who performs work to rectify the manufacturer's product or warranty defect or for delivery and preparation obligations at the same rate and time the dealer charges to its retail customers for non-warranty work of a like kind, based upon a published, nationally recognized, retail flat-rate labor time guide manual if the dealer uses the manual as the basis for computing charges for both warranty and retail work. (5) (a) All claims made by the dealer pursuant to this section for compensation for delivery, preparation, warranty, and recall service, including labor, parts, and other expenses, and claims made for incentives must be paid by the manufacturer within 30 days of receipt of the claim from the dealer, except that a manufacturer of a motor home shall pay any claim within 60 days of receipt from the dealer. (b) If a claim is disapproved, the dealer must be notified in writing of the grounds for disapproval. A claim that has not been disapproved in writing within 30 days of having been received must be considered approved, and payment is due to the claimant immediately. However, the manufacturer retains the right to audit a claim for a period of 12 months following the payment of the claim. (c) A claim that has been approved and paid may not be charged back to the dealer unless the manufacturer proves that: (i) the claim was false or fraudulent; (ii) the repairs were not properly made; or (iii) the repairs were not necessary to correct the defective condition. (d) A manufacturer may not deny a claim or reduce the amount to be reimbursed to the dealer if the dealer has provided reasonably sufficient documentation demonstrating that the dealer performed the services in compliance with the written policies and procedures of the manufacturer. A manufacturer may not deny a claim based solely on a dealer's incidental failure to comply with a specific claim processing requirement, such as a clerical error or other administrative technicality that does not put into question the legitimacy of the claim. (6) Notwithstanding the terms of any agreement, the franchisor may not refuse to allocate, sell, or deliver motor vehicles, may not penalize a dealer, may not charge back or withhold payments or other things of value for which the dealer is otherwise eligible under a sales promotion, program, or contest, and may not prevent the dealer from participating in any promotion, program, or contest based on the dealer's selling of a motor vehicle to a customer who was present at the dealership and that the dealer did not know or could not have reasonably known that the motor vehicle would be shipped to a foreign country. There is a rebuttable presumption that the dealer did not know or could not have reasonably known that the vehicle would be shipped to a foreign country if the motor vehicle is titled in the United States. (7) A franchisor may not recover or seek to recover any of its costs for compensating a dealer for warranty work, including labor and parts, or for the dealer's participation in incentives by imposing on the dealer any charge or surcharge to the wholesale price paid by the dealer to the franchisor for any product, including motor vehicles and parts. (8) A franchisor may reasonably and periodically audit a motor vehicle dealer to determine the validity of paid claims or charge-backs for customer or dealer incentives. (9) A dealer has 60 days from the date of notification by a manufacturer of a denial or a charge-back to the dealer to resubmit a claim for payment or compensation if the claim was denied for a dealer's incidental failure as set forth in subsection (5)(d), regardless of whether the denial or charge-back was a direct or an indirect transaction. (10) A dealer has 90 days after the expiration of a franchisor incentive program, or a longer time if provided by the franchise agreement, to submit a claim for payment or compensation under the program. (11) Notwithstanding the terms of a franchise agreement or other contract with a dealer and except as provided in subsection (5)(c), after the expiration of 1 year after the date of payment of a motor vehicle claim or 1 year from the end of a program that does not exceed 1 year in length, whichever is later, a franchisor may not: (a) charge back to a dealer, whether directly or indirectly, the amount of a claim that has been approved and paid by the franchisor under an incentive program; (b) charge back to a dealer, whether directly or indirectly, the cash value of a prize or other thing of value awarded to the dealer under an incentive program; or (c) audit the records of a dealer to determine compliance with the terms of an incentive program. (12) Subsection (11) does not prohibit a franchisor from making charge-backs to a dealer for fraud at any time as permitted by subsection (5)(c). (13) The dealer shall furnish the purchaser of a new motor vehicle with a signed copy of the manufacturer's delivery and preparation requirements indicating that each of those requirements has been performed. Franchisor's duties to franchisee-- schedule of compensation--claims payment--retail rate calculation--audit authority. 407.828. 1. Notwithstanding any provision in a franchise to the contrary, each franchisor shall specify in writing to each of its franchisees in this state the franchisee's obligations for preparation, delivery, and warranty service on its products.

The franchisor shall fairly and reasonably compensate the franchisee for preparation, delivery, and warranty service required of the franchisee by the franchisor. The franchisor shall provide the franchisee with the schedule of compensation to be paid to the franchisee for parts, labor, and service, and the time allowance for the performance of the labor and service for the franchisee's obligations for preparation, delivery, and warranty service. 2. The schedule of compensation shall include reasonable compensation for diagnostic work, as well as repair service and labor for the franchisee to meet its obligations for preparation, delivery, and warranty service. The schedule shall also include reasonable and adequate time allowances for the diagnosis and performance of preparation, delivery, and warranty service to be performed in a careful and professional manner. In the determination of what constitutes reasonable compensation for labor and service pursuant to this section, the principal factor to be given consideration shall be the prevailing wage rates being charged for similar labor and service by franchisees in the market in which the franchisee is doing business, and in no event shall the compensation of a franchisee for labor and service be less than the rates charged by the franchisee for similar labor and service to retail customers for non-warranty labor and service, provided that such rates are reasonable. The primary factor in determining a fair and reasonable compensation for parts under this section shall be the prevailing amount charged for similar parts by other same line-make franchisees in the market in which the franchisee is doing business and the fair and reasonable compensation for parts shall not be less than the amount charged by the franchisee for similar parts to retail customers for nonwarranty parts, provided that such rates are reasonable. If another same line-make franchisee is not available within the market, then the prevailing amount charged for similar parts by other franchisees in the market shall be used as the primary factor. 3. A franchisor shall perform all warranty obligations, including recall notices; include in written notices of franchisor recalls to new motor vehicle owners and franchisees the expected date by which necessary parts and equipment will be available to franchisees for the correction of the defects; and reasonably compensate any of the franchisees in this state for repairs required by the recall. Reasonable compensation for parts, labor, and service shall be determined under subsection 2 of this section. 4. No franchisor shall require a franchisee to submit a claim authorized under this section sooner than thirty days after the franchisee completes the preparation, delivery, or warranty service authorizing the claim for preparation, delivery, or warranty service. All claims made by a franchisee under this section shall be paid within thirty days after their approval. All claims shall be either approved or disapproved by the franchisor within thirty days after their receipt on a proper form generally used by the franchisor and containing the usually required information therein. Any claims not specifically disapproved in writing within thirty days after the receipt of the form shall be considered to be approved and payment shall be made within fifteen days thereafter. A franchisee shall not be required to maintain defective parts for more than thirty days after submission of a claim. 5. A franchisor shall compensate the franchisee for franchisor-sponsored sales or service promotion events, including but not limited to, rebates, programs, or activities in accordance with established written guidelines for such events, programs, or activities, which guidelines shall be provided to each franchisee. 6. No franchisor shall require a franchisee to submit a claim authorized under subsection 5 of this section sooner than thirty days after the franchisee becomes eligible to submit the claim. All claims made by a franchisee pursuant to subsection 5 of this section for promotion events, including but not limited to rebates, programs, or activities shall be paid within ten days after their approval. All claims shall be either approved or disapproved by the franchisor within thirty days after their receipt on a proper form generally used by the franchisor and containing the usually required information therein. Any claim not specifically disapproved in writing within thirty days after the receipt of this form shall be considered to be approved and payment shall be made within ten days. 7. In calculating the retail rate customarily charged by the franchisee for parts, service, and labor, the following work shall not be included in the calculation: (1) Repairs for franchisor, manufacturer, or distributor special events, specials, or promotional discounts for retail customer repairs; (2) Parts sold at wholesale; (3) Engine assemblies and transmission assemblies; (4) Routine maintenance not covered under any retail customer warranty, such as fluids, filters, and belts not provided in the course of repairs; (5) Nuts, bolts, fasteners, and similar items that do not have an individual part number; (6) Tires; and (7) Vehicle reconditioning. 8. If a franchisor, manufacturer, importer, or distributor furnishes a part or component to a franchisee, at no cost, to use in performing repairs under a recall, campaign service action, or warranty repair, the franchisor shall compensate the franchisee for the part or component in the same manner as warranty parts compensation under this section by compensating the franchisee at the average markup on the cost for the part or component as listed in the price schedule of the franchisor, manufacturer, importer, or distributor, less the cost for the part or component. 9. A franchisor shall not require a franchisee to establish the retail rate customarily charged by the franchisee for parts, service, or labor by an unduly burdensome or time-consuming method or by requiring information that is unduly burdensome or time consuming to provide, including, but not limited to, part-by-part or transaction-by-transaction calculations. A franchisee shall not request a franchisor to approve a different labor rate or parts rate more than twice in one calendar year. 10. If a franchisee submits any claim under this section to a franchisor that is incomplete, inaccurate, or lacking any information usually required by the franchisor, then the franchisor shall promptly notify the franchisee, and the time limit to submit the claim shall be extended for a reasonable length of time, not less than five business days following notice by the franchisor to the franchisee, for the franchisee to provide the complete, accurate, or lacking information to the franchisor. 11. (1) A franchisor may only audit warranty, sales, or incentive claims and charge-back to the franchisee unsubstantiated claims for a period of twelve months following payment, subject to all of the provisions of this section. Furthermore, if the franchisor has good cause to believe that a franchisee has submitted fraudulent claims, then the franchisor may only audit suspected fraudulent warranty, sales, or incentive claims and charge-back to the franchisee fraudulent claims for a period of two years following payment, subject to all provisions of this section. (2) A franchisor shall not require documentation for warranty, sales, or incentive claims more than twelve months after the claim was paid. (3) Prior to requiring any charge-back, reimbursement, or credit against a future transaction arising out of an audit, the franchisor shall submit written notice to the franchisee along with a copy of its audit and the detailed reason for each intended charge-back, reimbursement, or credit. A franchisee may file a complaint with the administrative hearing commission within thirty days after receipt of any such written notice challenging such action. If a complaint is filed within the thirty days, then the charge-back, reimbursement, or credit shall be stayed pending a hearing and determination of the matter under section 407.822*. If the administrative hearing commission determines that any portion of the charge-back, reimbursement, or credit is improper, then that portion of the charge-back, reimbursement, or credit shall be void and not allowed.