Search

R.I. Gen. Laws §§ 31-5.4-1 to 31-5.4-6

The term of any service contract shall be extended by any time period during which the used motor vehicle is in the possession of the dealer or their duly authorized agent for the purpose of repairing the used motor vehicle under the terms of the service contract and at any time during which repair services are unavailable due to war, invasion or strike, fire, flood, or other natural disaster (§ 31-5.4-3).

R.I. Gen. Laws §§ 6-57-1 to 6-57-2

S.C. Code Ann. §§ 38-78-10 to 38-78-120

S.D. Codified Laws §§ 58-1-3, 58-30-144

Motor vehicle service contracts offered by the manufacturer or dealer are exempt from application of the insurance code (§ 58-1-3(3)). License as insurance producer is not required of any party engaged in the sale of or issuance of vehicle service contracts (§ 58-30-144(9)).

Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 56-2-126, 47-18-1401 to 47-18-1404

Service contracts are exempt from insurance regulation (§ 56-2-126). The term of a service contract other than a motor vehicle service contract is extended by the number of days the consumer is deprived of the product while it is being repaired, plus two (§§ 47-18-1401 to 47-18-1404).

Tex. Occ. Code Ann. §§ 1304.001 to 1304.205 (West)

Utah Code Ann. §§ 31A-6a-101 to 31A-6a-110 (West)

Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 8, §§ 3301, 4247 to 4256

Automobile guarantees are insurance (§ 3301(a)(3)(B)). Forms must be approved by the commissioner. There is no requirement that rates be filed or approved. Contractor must purchase a bond or display other evidence of financial security (§ 4249). Disclosures to the consumer are required (§ 4251); certain practices and contract terms are prohibited (§§ 4253, 4254); and a violation constitutes an unfair or deceptive practice enforceable under the state’s deceptive practices statute (§ 4255(b)).

Va. Code Ann. § 59.1-435 to 59.1-441

Wash. Rev. Code §§ 48.110.010 to 48.110.904

W. Va. Code § 33-4-2

Warranties, maintenance agreements, and service contracts (defined) are excluded from insurance regulation.

Wis. Stat. §§ 616.50 to 616.62

Statute applies to service contracts for property primarily for personal, family, or household use, it does not apply to warranties or maintenance agreements; also certain provisions do not apply to vehicle service contracts (§§ 616.50, 616.52). For all contracts, forms must be approved by insurance commissioner (§ 616.56). For all contracts, sale or loan may not be conditioned on purchase of contract; deceptive or misleading terms or statements are also prohibited (§ 616.58).

Wyo. Stat. Ann. §§ 26-37-101 to 26-37-128, 26-49-101 to 26-49-111

This chapter focuses on used car warranty issues. Other chapters cover topics relevant to used car warranties, and that discussion will not be repeated here. This chapter examines warranty issues of special relevance to used cars and details laws applicable only to used car sales.

Every contract for sale carries a warranty by the seller that the title conveyed is good and its transfer rightful, and that the goods will be delivered free from any security interest or other lien or encumbrance, unless the buyer has actual knowledge (not just constructive knowledge) at the time of contracting of such encumbrance.² The seller’s lack of knowledge of the title problem is irrelevant.³ Thus this warranty will be breached when a car does not have good title, as when the car has been stolen

Unless the manufacturer’s written warranty expressly limits itself to the first purchaser, any subsequent car owner has rights under the manufacturer’s original written warranty.¹² If certain parts are covered for five years under the warranty, and a car is sold after four years, the subsequent owner has rights under the warranty’s final year.

Manufacturers offer written warranties on some used cars, even when the factory warranty is no longer in effect, as when a consumer purchases a car that the manufacturer had previously bought back under a state lemon law or as a goodwill gesture.

Used car dealers provide assurances in writing that constitute UCC express warranties more often than might be imagined.

A number of jurisdictions restrict or prohibit disclaimers of implied warranties for consumer goods more generally, typically applying as well to used cars. California, the District of Columbia, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Mississippi, Oregon, and West Virginia have particularly significant restrictions.

In cases in which the builder and seller are different legal entities, courts have been willing in certain circumstances to adapt the warranty to provide redress to the consumer against both the builder and the seller.⁶⁰ Developers who did not actually construct the house, but did the infrastructure work of site selection and preparation, have been found by some courts to have extended the implied warranty.⁶¹ When a building owner hires a contractor to convert the building into condominiums and then

Courts are divided over whether a warranty of habitability arises only when the builder sells the buyer a package of land and house, or whether it also arises when the builder builds the house on land already owned by the buyer or acquired by the buyer from a third party.

A seller of used residential property generally is not liable for the implied warranty of habitability,⁷⁶ although the original seller may be.⁷⁷ However, even if the builder uses and occupies the home for a substantial period of time, the home will rarely be deemed used.⁷⁸ A warranty of habitability may also arise in the sale of a used home if the seller substantially rehabilitates the property.⁷⁹

The implied warranty of habitability applies to multifamily homes and condominium units, and not just to single family homes.⁸⁰ It does not attach to the sale of plans and specifications for the dwelling, though those might be covered by an implied warranty of merchantability.⁸¹

The warranties of habitability and of good and workmanlike construction should be interpreted expansively. A broad warranty protects buyers from defects they cannot reasonably ascertain before the purchase, places the risk of loss on the party most able to prevent the loss or spread it across many transactions, and keeps defective homes out of the nation’s housing stock.

To breach a warranty of habitability, a house need not be literally uninhabitable. Evidence that the buyer continued to live in the house despite the defects will not defeat a claim that the warranty of habitability was breached.⁹⁶

The standard for breach of the warranty of good and workmanlike construction is one of customary skill and care, in accordance with accepted standards.¹⁰⁶ The warranty is breached when the work was not done in a “manner in which an ordinarily prudent person engaged in similar work would have performed under similar circumstances.”¹⁰⁷ The test is not perfection, but reasonableness.¹⁰⁸ Failing to comply with the construction contract may also breach