Repeal of Provision Relating to Motor Vehicle Insurance Cost Reporting

Floor Speech

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Mr. KELLY. I thank the gentlelady from California.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge the passage of H.R. 5859. This legislation repeals a requirement that auto dealers provide consumers with an insurance cost booklet.

I actually know about this because I am an automobile dealer, and I've spent 45 years in the showroom and on the lots. To the best of my recollection--and we service anywhere from 800 to 1,000 people a month--nobody has ever come into our showroom and ever asked for that booklet. It just never happens. This booklet has information that is useless and totally irrelevant to the average consumer.

Let me read from the booklet:

The table presents vehicles' collision loss experience in relative terms, with 100 representing the average for all passenger vehicles. Thus, a rating of 122 reflects a collision loss experience that is 22 percent higher, or worse, than average while a rating of 96 reflects a collision loss experience that is 4 percent lower, or better, than average.

It goes on to say:

It is unlikely your total premium will vary more than 10 percent depending upon the collision loss experience of a particular vehicle.

It then goes on to say that, if you really want to find out about the insurance, what you really need to do is to contact the insurance carriers or the companies directly.

Do you know what? I didn't want to base it just on what I know. I've talked to a lot of my friends who are also in the automobile business, and I've asked them, Have you ever had anybody walk in the store and ask for this? They've said, Absolutely not. It has never happened.

We called the NHTSA hotline, the booklet hotline. The representative said--and this is NHTSA's representative--I have no idea about the booklet. He said, Do you know what you need to do? You need to call your insurance agent. Now, this is NHTSA's person. This is their hotline.

Last month--again, not relying on my 45 years of experience--I went back into our store, and I went to one of our sales meetings. I asked our guys and our girls, who have a combined sales experience of 250 years, Listen, I've never had this happen, but has anybody ever come in and asked for this insurance collision loss booklet? Nobody--nobody--had heard of it. Nobody has ever come in--zero, nada--and asked for that booklet.

Now, here is the deal. Dealers have to have this booklet available. Should somebody ask for it and you can't provide it, there is a fine of $1,000 per occurrence with a max of $400,000. That's what the fine is capped at. So, if somebody comes into the showroom and asks for the booklet and you don't have it and you get audited on it, it's $1,000. Unfortunately, the government caps it at $400,000.

So, when you look at these things, again, the unintended consequences have such a dire effect on the American people. These are taxpayer dollars that are being wasted on information that is irrelevant, never asked for. Nobody cares about it. So I join my colleagues.

I thank Mr. Owens, and I also thank Mr. Harper and Mrs. Bono Mack for bringing this forward today. It is another waste of taxpayer money that serves no purpose to the American people. I urge the passage of H.R. 5859.

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