Last week’s column covered the story of a local dealer succumbing to the perfect storm of the recession and issues with licensing from PennDOT. Danielle Klinger, spokesperson for PennDOT, was kind enough to take time out of her busy schedule and answer a few of my questions about the issue.
“PennDOT is responsible for the initial titling and registration of vehicles in Pennsylvania,” she said. “The processing of an initial title in Pennsylvania includes the attachment of the vehicle’s Manufacturer Statement of Origin (MCO) to the title application.”
This MCO is where the problem arose with Chinese bikes and scooters.
“In 2008, PennDOT identified an issue with MCOs for two- and three-wheeled motorcycles, motor-driven cycles, motor scooters and motorized pedal cycles (mopeds) with a vehicle identification number (VIN) beginning with the letter L, which signifies the vehicle was manufactured in China,” Klinger said. “A number of the MCOs received were not in compliance with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration filing requirements. As a result, PennDOT implemented an additional step in the review process to validate the MCOs for these vehicles. Those that meet the requirements are approved and processed; those that are not are returned to the customer along with a letter advising them that they should contact the dealer/individual who sold them the vehicle to determine if they can provide assistance in obtaining a corrected MCO.”
This was the area of the problem that CBX Man had issues with for its customers. The plates being sent back caused so many problems with customers who wanted to ride away that day. For the dealer, this was unacceptable.
Danielle defended this action.
“This is an important consumer protection issue, since an undocumented VIN configuration could make it very difficult for the consumer to identify the vehicle’s manufacturer if it became necessary for NHTSA to issue a safety recall for these vehicles in the future,” she said. “Ultimately, this could negatively impact a customer and/or dealer of these vehicles from a liability standpoint.”
Dennis’s complaint was, “In September of 2008, PennDOT began not allowing us to issue license plates. They never notified us, and they simply began rejecting the paperwork that we sent to Harrisburg”
I asked Klinger if there was some incident that made this requirement necessary.
“The issue was discovered while working with a dealer regarding the eligibility of a motorcycle to be titled and registered in Pennsylvania,” she responded. “We turned to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and using their online verification tools for approved manufacturers and vehicle identification numbers, we began to identify some MCOs that did not meet NHTSA filing requirements to properly identify the vehicles and manufacturers.”
She informed me that there are no other motor vehicles that are required to be licensed in this way. She adds that with regard to how these vehicles came into the market with the wrong filing information, “We do not know filing information is a federal requirement.” She did not have a clear idea of how many vehicles of dealers this affected.
I asked if China was the only country that has a problem with this filing issues, and her reply was, “At this time, the vehicle manufacturers that we have identified are from China.”
I’ve contacted The Department of State’s Board of Vehicle Manufacturers, Dealers and Salespersons to see if there are any responsibilities for the dealer regarding this issue. At press time, it had not responded. However, from what I’ve been able to find out, this issue is supposed to be dealt with directly from supplier/manufacturer to the government.
When asked how long on average it takes to research the correct information and get the license back to the dealer/consumer, Klinger answered, “The turnaround time to process an application for title for one of these vehicles is one to two business days upon receipt of application for title with attached MCO.”
From Dennis’ perspective, this was much longer. In fact, too long.
Going back through some motorcycle blogs for the past few years, there was a lot of chatter about importing bikes from China. It seems that Pennsylvania is not the only state that has had issue with MCOs from China. Texas is another such state.
It appears that the state did act in good faith but its process was detrimental to at least one dealer in the area. Like most issues, it often comes down to a lack of communication between parties.
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