(a) No person, firm or corporation shall engage in the business of manufacturing motor vehicles for sale in this state without having been issued a manufacturer's license, which license shall expire biennially on the last day of June. Application for such license or renewal thereof may be made to the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles in such form as the commissioner shall require. The commissioner may require with such application all of the following, which he may consider in determining the fitness of such applicant to engage in business as a manufacturer of motor vehicles for sale in this state:

(1) Information relating to the applicant's solvency and his financial standing;

(2) A certified copy of any warranty made by the manufacturer or any other party in whom title to such motor vehicle may have been vested prior to possession of such motor vehicle being transferred to a person licensed under the provisions of this section;

(3) A copy of the applicant's standard franchise agreement and all supplements thereto, together with a list of the applicant's authorized dealers or distributors in this state and their address. Such applicant shall notify the commissioner immediately of the appointment of any additional dealers or distributors or any revisions of or additions to the basic franchise agreement on file with him, or of any individual dealer or distributor supplements to such agreement;

(4) A certified copy of the delivery and preparation obligations of the applicant's new car dealers, which obligations shall constitute such new car dealers' only responsibility for product liability between the dealer and the manufacturer;

(5) An affidavit stating the rates such applicant pays or agrees to pay any authorized new car dealer for parts and labor used and expended by such authorized new car dealer for the manufacturer under delivery and preparation obligations under the new car warranty;

(6) A biennial license fee of two thousand three hundred dollars, which fee shall not be subject to refund or proration; and

(7) Any other pertinent matter commensurate with the safeguarding of the public interest.

(b) An application for renewal of such license filed with the commissioner after the expiration date of such license shall be accompanied by a late fee of two hundred fifty dollars. The commissioner shall not renew any license under this section which has expired for more than forty-five days.

(1971, P.A. 740, S. 2; 1972, P.A. 255, S. 2; P.A. 83-489, S. 10, 17; P.A. 84-254, S. 42, 62; P.A. 87-329, S. 16; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 91-13, S. 8, 21; P.A. 09-187, S. 17.)

History: 1972 act specified that licenses expire annually on last day of June, restated provision re copy of warranty in Subdiv. (b) and specified that license fee not subject to refund or proration in Subdiv. (f); P.A. 83-489 amended Subdiv. (f) to increase annual manufacturer's license fee from $100 to $200; P.A. 84-254 periodically increased the fee in Subsec. (f) from $200 to $400 as of July 1, 1992; P.A. 87-329 replaced subsections with subdivisions and amended Subdiv. (6), maintaining the annual license fee at the level existing on and after July 1, 1986, and decreasing the fee effective July 1, 1992, to the level formerly existing on and after July 1, 1988; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 91-13 changed license term from annual to biennial, raised fee from $300 to $2,300 and removed increase scheduled for July 1, 1992; P.A. 09-187 designated existing provisions as Subsec. (a), made a technical change therein and added Subsec. (b) re renewal of expired license, effective July 1, 2009.