Read the full stored bill text
sb458_00_IN
As Introduced
136th
General Assembly
Regular
Session
S. B. No. 458
2025-2026
Senator Gavarone
To
enact section 1547.85 of the Revised Code
regarding
watercraft dealers and warranty service repair work.
BE
IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF OHIO:
Section
1.
That
section 1547.85 of the Revised Code be enacted to read as follows:
Sec.
1547.85.
(A)
As used in this section:
(1)
"Dealer agreement" means any agreement or other mechanism
that allows a watercraft dealer to sell a manufacturer's product.
(2)
"Manufacturer" means a person who manufactures or assembles
watercraft.
(3)
"Watercraft" has the same meaning as in section 1546.01 of
the Revised Code and includes a trailer used to transport watercraft
and a motor used to power watercraft.
(4)
"Watercraft dealer" means a person that is a watercraft
dealer under section 1546.01 of the Revised Code to which both of the
following apply:
(a)
The person has been issued a registration certificate under section
1547.543 of the Revised Code.
(b)
The person has a written or verbal dealer agreement with a
manufacturer that allows the watercraft dealer to buy and resell the
manufacturer's product or any other means of authorizing a watercraft
dealer to buy and sell the product.
(B)
Each manufacturer with a dealer agreement shall fulfill warranty and
recall obligations of diagnosing, repairing, and servicing
watercraft, including all parts and components manufactured for
installation in any watercraft.
(C)
Each manufacturer with a dealer agreement shall compensate each of
its watercraft dealers for labor and parts used to fulfill warranty
and recall obligations of diagnostic, repair, and servicing at rates
not less than the rates charged by the watercraft dealer to its
retail customers for warranty-like diagnosis, labor, and parts for
nonwarranty work. A watercraft dealer may establish rates of
compensation for labor performed and parts used by the watercraft
dealer for purposes of this section if all of the following apply:
(1)
The watercraft dealer submits to the manufacturer either of the
following:
(a)
Ten nonwarranty service repair orders for warranty-like repairs that
have been paid by a customer and closed by the time of submission;
(b)
All service repair orders for warranty-like repairs that have been
paid by a customer and closed by the time of submission, for a period
of ninety consecutive days.
A
watercraft dealer either may submit a set of repair orders for
purposes of calculating both its retail labor rate and its retail
parts markup percentage or may submit separate sets of repair orders
for purposes of calculating its retail labor rate and its retail
parts markup percentage separately. The repair orders submitted under
division (C)(1)(a) or (b) of this section must be from a period
occurring not more than one hundred eighty days before the
submission.
(2)
The watercraft dealer calculates its retail labor rate by determining
the watercraft dealer's total labor sales from the service repair
orders submitted under division (C)(1) of this section and dividing
that amount by the total number of labor hours that generated those
sales.
(3)
The watercraft dealer calculates its retail parts markup percentage
by determining the watercraft dealer's total parts sales from the
service repair orders submitted under division (C)(1) of this section
and dividing that amount by the watercraft dealer's total cost for
the purchase of those parts, subtracting one from that amount, and
then multiplying the amount by one hundred.
If
a manufacturer with a dealer agreement determines from any set of
repair orders submitted under this section that the retail labor rate
or parts markup percentage calculated under division (C)(2) or (3) of
this section is substantially higher or lower than the rate currently
on record with the manufacturer with respect to the applicable dealer
agreement for labor or parts, the manufacturer with a dealer
agreement may request additional documentation for a period of either
ninety days prior to or ninety days subsequent to the time period for
which the repair orders were submitted for purposes of an alteration.
(4)
The watercraft dealer provides notice of its retail labor rate and
retail parts markup percentage calculated in accordance with this
section to the manufacturer with which it has a dealer agreement.
(D)
When calculating the compensation that must be provided to a
watercraft dealer for labor and parts used to fulfill warranty and
recall obligations under this section, all of the following apply:
(1)
The manufacturer with a dealer agreement shall use time allowances
for the diagnosis and performance of the warranty and recall work and
service that are reasonable and adequate for the work or services to
be performed by a qualified technician.
(2)
The manufacturer with a dealer agreement shall include in the
calculation all reasonable and necessary tasks that are incidental to
warranty repairs, if submitted by the watercraft dealer on an
itemized statement, including all of the following:
(a)
Assisting a customer with unhooking or hooking the watercraft to a
watercraft trailer or towing vehicle;
(b)
Removing, installing, or uncovering a protective cover, or accessing
an interior compartment to facilitate inspection or repair;
(c)
Assisting a customer with retrieving the customer's watercraft from
the dealership after the watercraft dealer completes the repair;
(d)
Handling administrative or documentation tasks, including paperwork.
(3)
A manufacturer with a dealer agreement shall include in the
calculation the reasonable costs the watercraft dealer incurs in
conducting an on-water performance evaluation to verify the
effectiveness of a repair or to properly perform a diagnosis,
including compensation for all of the following:
(a)
Labor at a rate calculated in accordance with this section;
(b)
Fuel or oil required for the test;
(c)
Reasonable transportation costs to and from the testing location.
(4)
The manufacturer with a dealer agreement shall use any retail labor
rate and any retail parts markup percentage established in accordance
with this section in calculating the compensation.
(5)
If the manufacturer with a dealer agreement provided a part or
component to the watercraft dealer at no cost to use in performing
repairs under a recall, campaign service action, or warranty repair,
the manufacturer shall provide to the watercraft dealer an amount
equal to the retail parts markup for that part or component, which
shall be calculated by multiplying the watercraft dealer cost for the
part or component as listed in the manufacturer's price schedule by
the retail parts markup percentage established in division (C)(3) of
this section.
(6)
A manufacturer with a dealer agreement shall not assess penalties,
surcharges, or similar costs to a watercraft dealer, transfer or
shift any costs to a watercraft dealer, limit allocation of
watercraft or parts to a watercraft dealer, or otherwise take
retaliatory action against a watercraft dealer based on any
watercraft dealer's exercise of its rights under this section. It is
the burden of the watercraft dealer to prove any claims under
division (D)(6) of this section by a preponderance of the evidence.
Nothing in this section prohibits a manufacturer with a dealer
agreement from increasing the price of a vehicle or part in the
normal course of business.
(E)
A manufacturer with a dealer agreement shall not require a watercraft
dealer to establish a retail labor rate or retail parts markup
percentage using any method that is unduly burdensome or time
consuming, or require the use of information that is unduly
burdensome or time consuming to obtain, including part-by-part or
transaction-by-transaction calculations or utilization of the
watercraft dealer's financial statement. Further, no manufacturer
with a dealer agreement shall unilaterally calculate a retail labor
rate or retail parts markup percentage for a watercraft dealer.