Senate panel advances bill setting rules for dealer pay on warranty repairs after hours dispute

A North Dakota Senate committee advanced House Bill 15-15 on a 4‑2 vote after nearly three hours of testimony and debate over how dealers should be paid for labor when performing warranty repairs.

Proponents and opponents agreed the bill addresses how many hours a manufacturer must reimburse a dealer for warranty work; they disagreed over what method should determine that time. Levi Andress, a registered lobbyist with GA Group representing the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, told the committee the alliance offered two amendment approaches: an “actual time” measure (amendment 03/2003) that would pay dealers for every minute a technician documents working on a repair, and a “rebuttable presumption” approach (03/2002) that would presume a dealer’s documented request for extra time is reasonable unless the manufacturer denies it in writing and provides reasons.

The bill as introduced would allow dealers to use third‑party time guides. Andress said the manufacturers’ chief objection is the use of third‑party guides; he said his clients offered the two alternatives to address that concern. “The problem that the bill seeks to solve is how many hours of labor a manufacturer should pay the dealer when the dealer performs work on a vehicle under a manufacturer's warranty. It’s all about the hours,” Andress said.

Dealers’ representatives urged the committee to preserve the…