The Michigan House Committee on Transportation was set to hold a hearing Dec. 7 on House Bills 4832 and 4833, amendments to Michigan’s salvage vehicle statutes, but the hearing was called off. House Bills 4832 and 4833 would eliminate salvage vehicle agents and create an unregulated foreign vehicle buyer’s definition. The legislation would have allowed bidders from anywhere in the country, with no defined license, to bid on vehicles located in Michigan without a license from the secretary of state and without reporting and meeting recordkeeping requirements for law enforcement required of Michigan salvage buyers.
This legislation would negatively impact Michigan jobs, law enforcement capability, state and local revenues and consumers and small businesses, according to the Automotive Service Association (ASA). These bills would create a foreign salvage buyers definition, eliminating the licensed dealer requirements, establishing some undefined license from any state or jurisdiction and provide foreign buyers with a competitive advantage – since they would not be required to incur the same costs of compliance incurred by Michigan’s licensed buyers, the association noted.
ASA believes the legislation also threatens quality jobs in the auto recycling industry, allowing foreign buyers operating at lower costs to purchase and remove vehicles from Michigan, and negatively impacts in-state auto recyclers by sending jobs out of state to foreign buyers. It also would open up the state’s salvage pools to the Internet with no regulations for reporting of title transfers, required by federal law, ASA noted.
In addition, it would make no provision for the collection or distribution of taxes or other fees on the sales of out-of-state vehicles through Michigan salvage auctions. Finally, the proposal would eliminate the secretary of state’s ability to suspend foreign salvage vehicle buyer’s licenses for certain violations of Michigan law, according to ASA.
ASA says it has sent a letter to the chairman of the Michigan Committee on Transportation and its members, urging them to oppose these amendments.
More information:
To view the letter, visit ASA’s legislative website at www.TakingTheHill.com.
