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Online Car Insurance Verification in Mississippi Mississippi lawmakers are trying once again to get an online car insurance verification system set up in their state after Gov. Haley Barbour vetoed a similar proposal last session, Online Auto Insurance News reports. It might be a while before we see whether Gov. Barbour finds the tweaks made by the bill’s authors to be satisfactory. But if the legislation does get signed into law this time around, it may have some uninsured motorists scrambling to find a cheap down payment auto insurance policy. Having a verification system set up in the state would make it much easier for police and Department of Revenue employees to find out the
coverage status of particular drivers. That means uninsured motorists would be that much more likely to get caught and slapped with fines and other penalties. The verification system would work by aggregating policy information from insurers on all the cars registered in the state. If a registered auto shows up as having no matching insurance policy, state officials would be able to suspend the license or registration and hit the driver with a $300-$500 fine. Police would also be able to access the database. If an officer were to pull a driver over for a separate in-
The Promoting Automotive Repair, Trade and Sales (PARTS) Act, a new bill introduced to the U.S. House of Representatives, proposes to reduce the patent period car companies have on their collision repair parts from 14 years to 2.5 years (30 months). H.R. 3889 was introduced on Feb. 2 by Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) to the House Judiciary Committee. A similar bill is currently being prepared in cooperation with the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. The bill would amend title 35 of current U.S. design patent law whereby automotive manufacturers may enforce their design patents on
collision repair parts against alternative suppliers. Both members serve on the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Competition and the Internet. Lofgren introduced auto parts patent legislation in the last Congress. The new subsection reads as follows: “It shall not be an act of infringement of such design patent to make or offer to sell within the United States, or import into the United States, any article of manufacture that is similar or the same in appearance to the component part that is claimed in
See Mississippi Verifies, Page 4
U.S. House Judiciary Members Introduce Auto Parts Bill, Aims to Limit Parts Patent Protection
See PARTS bill, Page 24
VOL. 3 ISSUE 1 MARCH 2012
State Farm’s Testing of Parts Ordering System Among News, Discussion at CIC Meeting by John Yoswick
Speaking at the January Collision Industry Conference (CIC) in Palm Springs, State Farm’s George Avery said that PartsTrader, the electronic parts ordering system the insurer expects it will eventually require its Select Service shops to use, is currently being tested at one repair facility and soon will be at another location. He declined to identify the shops, saying that it is too early in the testing “to put those folks under the microscope and ask, ‘What do you think of the new system?’” The announcement was just one of the parts-related issues discussed at CIC. The CIC “Parts and Materials Committee” shared the results of a preliminary survey of 11 of the com-
panies offering electronic parts locating and procurement systems to the industry. Committee member Mary Lou Lubrano of Car-Part.com reported, for example, that about the same number of those companies Ron Reichen, said insurers pay Oregon Shop for use of their Owner, said systems as those carriers’ reported that said they are return rates don’t appear to match up funded by parts with those reported vendors; two of by vendors the companies said shops pay for the systems. “I would argue that shops pay for all of them, because having nine disSee CIC Report, Page 8
State Farm Pays Attorney’s Fees and Costs for Two Cases Brought by Ray Gunder After agreeing to pay in full for procedures and materials previously denied, State Farm has now also agreed to pay for all attorney fees and costs on two claims brought by Ray Gunder on behalf of his customers. Upon State Farm’s October 10th, 2011 written denial to provide consideration for a plethora of recommended and necessary repair procedures and materials, Gunder, owner of the 44 year old Gunder’s Auto Center in Lakeland, FL, instructed his legal counsel, Attorney Brent Geohagan, to prepare the necessary steps to file a lawsuit against the nationwide insurer at the request of and authorization by his customer. The lawsuit was prepared and filed on October 25th along with a Civil Remedy Notice (CRN) which was accepted by the courts on December 16th, 2011. State Farm’s
legal counsel responded in a letter to Gunder’s Attorney dated January 19th, 2012 stating, in part, “at all times State Farm acted in good faith and fairly and honestly toward its insured, with due regard for its insured’s interest.” Furthermore the correspondence states, in part, “State Farm has decided to exercise its rights under Florida law to avoid unnecessary litigation. Accordingly, enclosed is a check made payable to you and Raymond Gunder in the amount of $1090.70—which is the amount demanded in the CRN, plus statutory interest. This amount is paid to ensure that any alleged violations are cured in accordance with the statute of Florida law and to preclude unnecessary litigation. Again, State Farm’s payment should not be construed as an admission of any See Gunder, Page 6
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