Horizons February 2009

HORIZONS e-NEWSLETTER
Volume 2, Number 1
Member Prospect Issue 

Update to members of activities of the Automotive Warranty & Service Contract Association, plus more…

Attorney General Update

The Attorney General Multi-State investigation of the first 5 automotive warranty companies has been completed. The companies have or will be issued draft consent orders containing required terms and conditions. Your association will be monitoring the progress and working diligently on its members’ behalf to review these requirements and mitigate their impact where possible. If you have any direct or specific input, please contact Helen MacMurray, the AWSCA attorney, as soon as possible.

AWSCA TRAINING

Certified Audit Training of two-sessions -- each 90 minutes via webinar – will take place on Tuesday, March 3 and Thursday, March 5, 2009. Training will cover the following:

Marketing Laws, Legal requirements including UDAP, Fax laws, registration statutes, Do Not Call requirements, Privacy Policies & Disclosures, Outbound Telemarketing and much more. “Take away’s” will include: Registration requirements in 50 states, State Requirements for Sellers of Service Contracts plus much more. Registration fee for members is $695 for members and $1195 for non-AWSCA members. $500 of the training registration fee may be applied toward the cost of Certification when you submit your company’s application prior to May 1, 2009. Registration forms will be e-mailed very soon. We look forward to your participation.

NC ATTORNEY GENERAL:

A Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) was issued against Automotive Protection of NJ requiring them to stop illegally telemarketing in NC and collecting money from NC residents. 24 consumers complained to the AGs Consumer Protection office about the company’s illegal calls, sales tactics and refusal to pay refunds. The TRO also appears to place substantial limitations on anyone, among other things, “collecting money or executing a payment authorization from any NC consumer”. Source: Citizen-Times, Asheville NC

Best Practices for AWSCA

The “AWSCA Best Practices” have been reviewed and revised by counsel. The revised Best Practices will now be called: the AWSCA CODE OF CONDUCT, and are being reviewed by the AWSCA governing body. . Once adopted by the Board of AWSCA, they will be distributed via e-mail to each primary delegate of paid-up AWSCA member organization who can then distribute it to company personnel.

AWSCA Membership

Take this opportunity to encourage your colleague and business associates to join AWSCA. Attached is the AWSCA membership application. They’ll want to be dues paying members so they can include their opinions on one or more of the committees and vote for recommendations to the Board. Equally important, while today everyone in the industry is receiving the communications and our "open-door policy", that door has closed, and ONLY MEMBERS will be receiving news and important updates. So, please join very soon so no one misses out. 

Legislative news of possible interest:

Massachusetts:
In 2007 legislation was introduced that would prohibit service contracts from being sold unless a receipt of purchase is given to the contractor holder within a reasonable period of time. HB 3737, if enacted, would have allowed the service contract holder to return the contract within 20 days of it being mailed or 10 days of delivery. If no claim is made within that time period, the service contract would become void and the provider must refund the contract. The legislation would have imposed a 10 percent penalty per month if the refund is not credited within 45 days after it is returned. HB 3737 was substituted by H.B. 5198 which passed the House on the General Court's final legislative day for the 2007-2008 session. The new version is not yet available at this time. The Senate failed to take up the measure and will not be able to in the new session which began in January.

New York:
Assemblymen Kenneth Zebrowski recently introduced AB 1627, which prohibits companies from deceptively soliciting vehicle warranty policies by written solicitation or telemarketing to owners of motor vehicles. This measure is a re-file of A.B. 10627 from the previous session, which never received a hearing in committee.

North Dakota:
HB 1158, if enacted, would require an automobile dealer or a third-party administrator, person who issues an automobile warranty contract, automobile mechanical breakdown contract, or automobile service contract to maintain a policy of insurance which provides coverage for the dealer's or administrator's person's contractual obligation.

Other items

If you have any suggestions for us, please send me an e-mail at any time. I'll appreciate it.
Larry Hecker, Executive Director, AWSCA, Phone: 302 524 1150, larry@vpanet.org