A dealer shall complete and maintain for a period of at least five years a record of the purchase and sale or lease of all vehicles purchased, sold, or leased by him or her. The records shall consist of:

Terms Used In Washington Code 46.70.120

  • Department: means the department of licensing, which shall administer and enforce the provisions of this chapter. See Washington Code 46.70.011
  • Director: means the director of licensing. See Washington Code 46.70.011
  • Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). Source: OCC
  • Listing dealer: means a used mobile home dealer who makes contracts with sellers who will compensate the dealer for obtaining a willing purchaser for the seller's mobile home. See Washington Code 46.70.011
  • person: may be construed to include the United States, this state, or any state or territory, or any public or private corporation or limited liability company, as well as an individual. See Washington Code 1.16.080
  • Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
  • Trust account: A general term that covers all types of accounts in a trust department, such as estates, guardianships, and agencies. Source: OCC
  • Vehicle: means and includes every device capable of being moved upon a public highway and in, upon, or by which any persons or property is or may be transported or drawn upon a public highway, excepting devices moved by human or animal power or used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks. See Washington Code 46.70.011
  • Vehicle dealer: means any person, firm, association, corporation, or trust, not excluded by subsection (18) of this section, engaged in the business of buying, selling, listing, exchanging, offering, brokering, leasing with an option to purchase, auctioning, soliciting, or advertising the sale of new or used vehicles, or arranging or offering or attempting to solicit or negotiate on behalf of others, a sale, purchase, or exchange of an interest in new or used motor vehicles, irrespective of whether the motor vehicles are owned by that person. See Washington Code 46.70.011
(1) The license and title numbers of the state in which the last license was issued;
(2) A description of the vehicle;
(3) The name and address of the person from whom purchased;
(4) The name of the legal owner, if any;
(5) The name and address of the purchaser or lessee;
(6) If purchased from a dealer, the name, business address, dealer license number, and resale tax number of the dealer;
(7) The price paid for the vehicle and the method of payment;
(8) The vehicle odometer disclosure statement given by the seller to the dealer, and the vehicle odometer disclosure statement given by the dealer to the purchaser or lessee;
(9) The written agreement to allow a dealer to sell between the dealer and the consignor, or the listing dealer and the seller;
(10) Trust account records of receipts, deposits, and withdrawals;
(11) All sale documents, which shall show the full name of dealer employees involved in the sale or lease; and
(12) Any additional information the department may require. However, the department may not require a dealer to collect or retain the hardback copy of a temporary license permit after the permanent license plates for a vehicle have been provided to the purchaser or lessee, if the dealer maintains some other copy of the temporary license permit together with a log of the permits issued.
Such records shall be maintained separate from all other business records of the dealer. Paper records older than two years may be kept at a location other than the dealer’s place of business if those records are made available in hard copy for inspection within three calendar days, exclusive of Saturday, Sunday, or a legal holiday, after a request by the director or the director’s authorized agent. Records kept at the vehicle dealer‘s place of business must be available for inspection by the director or the director’s authorized agent during normal business hours. Records shall be kept in paper form for one year and, after such time, may be kept solely as electronic records and not as hard copies as long as such electronic records can be accessed by computer at the dealer’s place of business during normal business hours for the remainder of the five-year retention period. Records that originate as electronic records may be retained as electronic records with no paper form and must be accessible by computer at the dealer’s place of business for at least five years. The director may adopt rules necessary to implement electronic records retention.
Dealers may maintain their recordkeeping and filing systems in accordance with their own particular business needs and practices. Nothing in this chapter requires dealers to maintain their records in any particular order or manner, as long as the records identified in this section are maintained in the dealership’s recordkeeping system.

NOTES:

Effective date, implementation—1990 c 238: See note following RCW 46.12.530.
Odometer disclosure statement: RCW 46.12.665.
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