In addition to any other requirements of this chapter, the department shall do all of the following:

(a) Establish procedures to assist owners or lessees of new motor vehicles who have complaints regarding the operation of a qualified third-party dispute resolution process.

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(b) Establish methods for measuring customer satisfaction and to identify violations of this chapter, which shall include an annual random postcard or telephone survey by the department of the customers of each qualified third-party dispute resolution process.

(c) Monitor and inspect, on a regular basis, qualified third-party dispute resolution processes to determine whether they continue to meet the standards for certification. Monitoring and inspection shall include, but not be limited to, all of the following:

(1) Virtual or onsite inspections of each qualified third-party dispute resolution process not less frequently than twice annually.

(2) Investigation of complaints from consumers regarding the operation of qualified third-party dispute resolution processes and analyses of representative samples of complaints against each process.

(3) Analyses of the annual surveys required by subdivision (b).

(d) Notify the Department of Motor Vehicles of the failure of a manufacturer to honor a decision of a qualified third-party dispute resolution process to enable the Department of Motor Vehicles to take appropriate enforcement action against the manufacturer pursuant to § 11705.4 of the Vehicle Code.

(e) Submit a biennial report to the Legislature evaluating the effectiveness of this chapter, make available to the public summaries of the statistics and other information supplied by each qualified third-party dispute resolution process, and publish educational materials regarding the purposes of this chapter.

(f) Adopt regulations as necessary and appropriate to implement this chapter and subdivision (d) of § 1793.22 of the Civil Code.

(g) Protection of the public shall be the highest priority for the department in exercising its certification, regulatory, and disciplinary functions. Whenever the protection of the public is inconsistent with other interests sought to be promoted, the protection of the public shall be paramount.

(Amended by Stats. 2023, Ch. 510, Sec. 2. (SB 887) Effective January 1, 2024.)