South Carolina Code 56-14-120. Warrantors; warranty labor; dealer reimbursement; warranty audits; warranty claims; violations of this chapter
(1) specify in writing each of its dealer obligations, if any, for preparation, delivery, and warranty service on its products;
Terms Used In South Carolina Code 56-14-120
- Dealer: means any person, firm, corporation, or business entity licensed or required to be licensed under this chapter to sell new recreational vehicles to the retail public. See South Carolina Code 56-14-10
- Fraud: Intentional deception resulting in injury to another.
- Line make: means a specific series of recreational vehicle products that:
(a) are identified by a common series trade name or trademark;
(b) are targeted to a particular market segment, as determined by their decor, features, equipment, size, weight, and price range;
(c) have lengths and interior floor plans that distinguish the recreational vehicles from other recreational vehicles with substantially the same decor, equipment, features, price, and weight;
(d) belong to a single, distinct classification of recreational vehicle product type having a substantial degree of commonality in the construction of the chassis, frame, and body; and
(e) the manufacturer/dealer agreement authorizes a dealer to sell. See South Carolina Code 56-14-10 - Recreational vehicle: means a motorhome, travel trailer, fifth-wheel trailer, or folding camping trailer designed to provide temporary living quarters for recreational, camping, or travel use, as defined herein. See South Carolina Code 56-14-10
- Transient customer: means a customer who is temporarily traveling through a dealer's area of sales responsibility. See South Carolina Code 56-14-10
- Warrantor: means any person, firm, corporation, or business entity, including any manufacturer or supplier that provides a written warranty to the consumer in connection with a new recreational vehicle or a part, accessory, or component. See South Carolina Code 56-14-10
(2) compensate the dealer for warranty service required of the dealer by the warrantor; and
(3) provide the dealer the schedule of compensation to be paid and the time allowances for the performance of any work and service. The schedule of compensation must include reasonable compensation for diagnostic work as well as warranty labor.
(B) Time allowances for the diagnosis and performance of warranty labor must be reasonable for the work to be performed. In the determination of what constitutes reasonable compensation under this section, the principal factors to be given consideration shall be the actual wage rates being paid by the dealer, and the actual retail labor rate being charged by the recreational vehicle dealers in the community in which the dealer is doing business. The compensation of a dealer for warranty labor may not be less than the lowest retail labor rates actually charged by the dealer for like nonwarranty labor as long as such rates are reasonable.
(C) The warrantor shall reimburse the dealer for any warranty part at actual wholesale cost plus a minimum thirty percent handling charge and the cost, if any, of freight to return such part to the warrantor.
(D) Warranty audits of dealer records may be conducted by the warrantor on a reasonable basis, and dealer claims for warranty compensation may not be denied except for cause, such as performance of nonwarranty repairs, material noncompliance with the warrantor’s published policies and procedures, lack of material documentation, fraud, or misrepresentation.
(E) The dealer shall submit warranty claims within forty-five days after completing work.
(F) The dealer immediately shall notify the warrantor verbally or in writing if the dealer is unable to perform any warranty repairs within ten days of receipt of verbal or written complaints from a consumer.
(G) The warrantor shall disapprove warranty claims in writing within forty-five days after the date of submission by the dealer in the manner and form prescribed by the warrantor. Claims not specifically disapproved in writing within forty-five days shall be construed to be approved and must be paid within sixty days of submission.
(H) It is a violation of this chapter for any warrantor to:
(1) fail to perform any of its warranty obligations with respect to its warranted products;
(2) fail to include, in written notices of factory campaigns to recreational vehicle owners and dealers, the expected date by which necessary parts and equipment, including tires and chassis or chassis parts, will be available to dealers to perform the campaign work. The warrantor may ship parts to the dealer to effect the campaign work, and, if such parts are in excess of the dealer’s requirements, the dealer may return unused parts to the warrantor for credit after completion of the campaign;
(3) fail to compensate any of its dealers for authorized repairs effected by the dealer on recreational vehicles or products damaged in manufacture or transit to the dealer, if the carrier is designated by the warrantor;
(4) fail to compensate any of its dealers in accordance with the schedule of compensation provided to the dealer pursuant to this section if performed in a timely and competent manner;
(5) intentionally misrepresent in any way to purchasers of recreational vehicles that warranties with respect to the manufacture, performance, or design of the vehicle are made by the dealer as warrantor or cowarrantor; or
(6) require the dealer to make warranties to customers in any manner related to the manufacture of the recreational vehicle.
(I) It is a violation of this chapter for any dealer to:
(1) fail to perform predelivery inspection functions, as specified by the warrantor, in a competent and timely manner;
(2) fail to perform warranty service work authorized by the warrantor in a competent and reasonably timely manner on any transient customer‘s vehicle of a line make sold or serviced by that dealer;
(3) fail to accurately document the time spent completing each repair, the total number of repair attempts conducted on a single unit, and the number of repair attempts for the same repair conducted on a single vehicle;
(4) fail to notify the warrantor within ten days of a second repair attempt which impairs the use, value, or safety of the vehicle;
(5) fail to maintain written records, including a consumer’s signature, regarding the amount of time a unit is stored for the consumer’s convenience during a repair; or
(6) make fraudulent warranty claims or misrepresent the terms of any warranty.