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Lawmakers want to ramp up scrutiny of the state’s used-car industry, which has found itself in hot water following a scathing November 2018 report which found New Jersey’s industry to be rife with deceptive practices, consumer abuses and unlawful sales practices.

The first measure, Assembly Bill 4770, also known as the Used Car Buyers’ Bill of Rights, would ramp up state regulations for used car dealerships by adopting several of the recommendations laid out in the report, which was authored by the State Commission of Investigation.

A second measure, Assembly Bill 4771, also known as the Used Motor Vehicle Licensing Act, would establish an eight-member State Board of Used Motor Vehicle Dealers to oversee licensing of used car dealers.

The SCI first detailed in 2015 the alleged abuses of “multi-dealer locations,” which set up hundreds of front locations for dealers to rent cubicles in spaces they never physically occupied in order to comply with the requirements for receiving a used car sales license.

“The act is a consumer protection measure which aims to address longtime concerns of used car buyers,” A4770 sponsor Assemblyman Paul Moriarty, D-4th District, said in a Thursday statement.

“No buyer should walk away from a purchase feeling as if they were taken advantage of and they should have some recourse if the car dealer misrepresented the quality of the vehicle,” Moriarty added.

The SCI’s 18-page report, titled Gaming the System II: Abuses in the Used-Car Industry, detailed dozens of consumer complaints from those who purchased used cars. The report was a follow-up to the SCI’s 2015 report, which found that little had changed in terms of clamping down on consumer abuse in the industry.

Many dealers sold cars without a title, and the buyers would wait in some cases up to a year before they could get one.

In several cases, a family member would be a used-car licensee on behalf of a relative ineligible for the license because of their criminal or financial records, acting as a “straw owner.”

November’s report found many used-car dealers sold near-junk cars “as is,” meaning the seller would not perform any repairs on the car.

The dealers would deploy a series of smoke and mirrors to serve as roadblocks for consumers seeking repair costs or refunds — for instance, MDL dealers would deliberately have no physical location that buyers could visit, or if there was a physical location it would be an empty lot or abandoned building.

A4771 would ban “as is” sales and require the dealers to disclose inaccurate odometer information, whether the vehicle sustained damage in a flood, car accident or fire and if those damages could compromise the car’s safety.

Dealers would have to disclose if car’s title was inscribed such notations as “junk,” “non-repairable,” “manufacturer repurchase” or “salvage.”

The bill also requires contract provisions for consumers, when purchasing the used vehicle, that provides recourse for returning the vehicle should the need arise.

Fines would be $10,000 for a first offense and $20,000 for any more offenses.

Under A4770, the State Board of Used Motor Vehicle Dealers would operate out of the Division of Consumer Affairs. It would include four licensed used car dealers, three members of the public and a member of the state department.