§17A-6A-8a Compensation to dealers for service rendered. - West Virginia Statutes

§17A-6A-8a. Compensation to dealers for service rendered.
(1) Every motor vehicle manufacturer, distributor or wholesaler, factory branch or distributor branch, or officer, agent or representative thereof, shall:

(a) Specify in writing to each of its motor vehicle dealers, the dealer's obligation for delivery, preparation, warranty and factory recall services on its products;

(b) Compensate the motor vehicle dealer for warranty and factory recall service required of the dealer by the manufacturer, distributor or wholesaler, factory branch or distributor branch or officer, agent or representative thereof; and

(c) Provide the dealer the schedule of compensation to be paid the dealer for parts, work and service in connection with warranty and recall services and the time allowance for the performance of the work and service.

(2) In no event may:

(a) The schedule of compensation fail to compensate the dealers for the work and services they are required to perform in connection with the dealer's delivery and preparation obligations, or fail to adequately and fairly compensate the dealers for labor, parts and other expenses incurred by the dealer to perform under and comply with manufacturer's warranty agreements and factory recalls;

(b) Any manufacturer, distributor or wholesaler, or representative thereof, pay its dealers an amount of money for warranty or recall work that is less than that charged by the dealer to the retail customers of the dealer for nonwarranty and nonrecall work of the like kind; and

(c) Any manufacturer, distributor or wholesaler, or representative thereof, compensate for warranty and recall work based on a flat-rate figure that is less than what the dealer charges for retail work.

(3) It is a violation of this section for any manufacturer, distributor, wholesaler or representative to require any dealer to pay in any manner, surcharges, limited allocation, audits, charge backs or other retaliation, if the dealer seeks to recover its nonwarranty retail rate for warranty and recall work.

(4) All claims made by motor vehicle dealers pursuant to this section for compensation for delivery, preparation, warranty and recall work, including labor, parts and other expenses, shall be paid by the manufacturer within thirty days after approval and shall be approved or disapproved by the manufacturer within thirty days after receipt. When any claim is disapproved, the dealer shall be notified in writing of the grounds for disapproval. No claim which has been approved and paid may be charged back to the dealer unless it can be shown that the claim was false or fraudulent, that the repairs were not properly made or were unnecessary to correct the defective condition or the dealer failed to reasonably substantiate the claim in accordance with the written requirements of the manufacturer or distributor in effect at the time the claim arose. No charge back may be made until the dealer has had notice and an opportunity to support the claim in question. No otherwise valid reimbursement claims may be denied once properly submitted within manufacturers' submission guidelines due to a clerical error or omission or based on a different level of technician technical certification or the dealer's failure to subscribe to any manufacturer's computerized training programs.

(5) Notwithstanding the terms of a franchise agreement or provision of law in conflict with this section, the dealer's delivery, preparation, warranty and recall obligations constitutes the dealer's sole responsibility for product liability as between the dealer and manufacturer, and, except for a loss caused by the dealer's failure to adhere to these obligations, a loss caused by the dealer's negligence or intentional misconduct or a loss caused by the dealer's modification of a product without manufacturer authorization, the manufacturer shall reimburse the dealer for all loss incurred by the dealer, including legal fees, court costs and damages, as a result of the dealer having been named a party in a product liability action.