Motor vehicle repair; creating the Oklahoma Motor Vehicle Consumer Protection Act; establishing certain hourly market rate for labor. Effective date.
Summary
SB 641 creates the Oklahoma Motor Vehicle Consumer Protection Act and sets new rules for charges associated with auto body repair and total-loss vehicle handling. The bill defines key terms such as administrative charges, storage rates, auto body repair shops, insurance companies, and total-loss-related services. It ties the hourly market rate for labor used for certain administrative charges to the prevailing market price under existing insurance law, and authorizes the Insurance Commissioner to adjust that rate annually for inflation beginning in 2027.
The measure also caps administrative charges related to total-loss vehicles at no more than the hourly market labor rate and limits billing to four hours. In addition, it establishes maximum daily storage rates for vehicles held by repair shops, including higher rates for certain lithium-ion battery vehicles stored under manufacturer requirements. The bill requires repair shops to provide written invoices and respond to invoice requests within eight business hours, applies the storage-rate limits to direct repair programs, and allows the Oklahoma Insurance Department to increase storage-rate caps based on market conditions and CPI-based annual adjustments through rulemaking.
Impact
The bill adds a new consumer-protection framework to Title 36 of the Oklahoma Statutes governing auto body repair charges, storage fees, and insurer reimbursement obligations in total-loss situations. It directly affects auto body repair shops, insurers, and vehicle owners by limiting certain fees, standardizing billing practices, and requiring faster invoice response times. It also gives the Insurance Commissioner and the Oklahoma Insurance Department ongoing authority to adjust labor and storage rates through inflation-based and market-based mechanisms.
Sentiment
The voting record suggests the bill had generally favorable support but not unanimous backing. It passed both chambers with clear majorities, including strong final votes in the Senate and House, indicating broad agreement on the need to regulate repair-shop and storage charges. The absence of committee transcript material limits insight into detailed debate, but the recorded votes show the measure was ultimately accepted as a consumer-protection and insurance-cost-control bill.
Contention
The likely points of contention are the price caps and billing limits imposed on auto body repair shops, especially the restriction on administrative charges and the fixed storage-rate ceilings. Repair shops may view the bill as limiting recovery of actual costs, while insurers and consumer advocates may support it as a way to prevent excessive or inconsistent charges. The special higher storage rates for lithium-ion battery vehicles and the conditions for increasing rates based on market conditions suggest lawmakers were balancing cost control with the practical realities of hazardous or specialized vehicle storage.