N.J.S.A. 56:12-18.1 — Motor vehicle dealer, possession, consumer, resale, lease, delete consumer's personal information; violations, penalties; definitions.

56:12-18.1 Motor vehicle dealer, possession, consumer, resale, lease, delete consumer's personal information; violations, penalties; definitions. 1. a. Whenever a motor vehicle dealer takes possession of a motor vehicle from a consumer for the purpose of resale or lease, the motor vehicle dealer shall offer to delete the consumer's personal information in the motor vehicle, including, but not limited to, navigation history, paired phones, and garage door codes, by performing data clearing protocols in accordance with the Guidelines for Media Sanitization developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology using techniques specified by the vehicle manufacturer to overwrite data or by using a menu option to reset the device to original factory settings. b. A motor vehicle dealer who violates the provisions of this section shall be subject to a civil penalty of $500 for a first offense, and $1,000 for any subsequent offense, to be collected and enforced by the Director of the Division of Consumer Affairs in the Department of Law and Public Safety in a summary proceeding pursuant to the "Penalty Enforcement Law of 1999," P.L.1999, c.274 (C.2A:58-10 et seq.). The Superior Court shall have jurisdiction over proceedings for the enforcement of the penalty provided by this section. c. A motor vehicle dealer may charge a reasonable fee for services performed in connection with the requirements of this section. The dealer shall disclose the fee to the consumer prior to performing the service and shall advise the consumer that the consumer may attempt to delete the personal information themselves or through another vendor. d. As used in this section: "Motor vehicle" has the same meaning as defined in R.S.39:1-1. "Motor vehicle dealer" means any business that engages in selling or leasing motor vehicles to consumers. L.2023, c.314. 56:12-29 Findings, intentions. 1. The Legislature finds that the purchase of a new motor vehicle is a major, high cost consumer transaction and the inability to correct defects in these vehicles creates a major hardship and an unacceptable economic burden on the consumer. It is the intent of this act to require the manufacturer of a new motor vehicle, or, in the case of a new motor vehicle that is an authorized emergency vehicle, the manufacturer, co-manufacturer, or post-manufacturing modifier, to correct defects originally covered under warranty which are identified and reported within a specified period. It is the further intent of this act to provide procedures to expeditiously resolve disputes between a consumer and a manufacturer, co-manufacturer, or post-manufacturing modifier when defects in a new motor vehicle are not corrected within a reasonable time, and to provide to award specific remedies where the uncorrected defect substantially impairs the use, value, or safety of the new motor vehicle. L.1988, c.123, s.1; amended 2009, c.324, s.1.

This is the verbatim text of N.J.S.A. 56:12-18.1, retrieved from the New Jersey Legislature's public statute corpus. Statutes are amended periodically — for the most current version, check the external source link above. Kyzer is not a law firm and this page is not legal advice.