Rental car agreements

AN ACT Relating to rental car company agreements; and amending 1
RCW 47.04.310. 2
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:3
Sec. 1. RCW 47.04.310 and 2016 c 18 s 1 are each amended to read 4
as follows: 5
(1) ((A)) Except as provided in subsection (2) of this section, a 6
rental car company may include separately stated surcharges, fees, or 7
charges in a rental agreement, which may include, but may not be in 8
any way limited to, ((vehicle license cost recovery fees, )) child 9
restraint system rental fees, airport-related recovery fees, and all 10
applicable taxes ((,)) and government surcharges that are directly 11
imposed on a rental car customer by a federal, state, or local 12
government agency, unit, or department. 13
(2) ((If a rental car company includes a vehicle license cost 14
recovery fee as a separately stated charge in a rental transaction, 15
the amount of the fee must represent the rental car company's good 16
faith estimate of the rental car company's average daily charge as 17
calculated by the rental car company to recover its actual total 18
annual rental car titling, registration, plating, and inspection 19
costs in the state of Washington.20
H-0227.1
HOUSE BILL 1431
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2025 Regular Session
By Representatives Santos, Reeves, Pollet, and Ormsby
Read first time 01/20/25. Referred to Committee on Consumer
Protection & Business.
p. 1 HB 1431
(3) If the total amount of the vehicle license cost recovery fees 1
collected by a rental car company under this section in any calendar 2
year exceeds the rental car company's actual costs in the state of 3
Washington to license, title, register, and plate rental cars and to 4
have such rental cars inspected for that calendar year, the rental 5
car company shall do both of the following:6
(a) Retain the excess amount; and7
(b) Adjust the estimated average per vehicle titling, licensing, 8
plating, inspecting, and registration charge for the following 9
calendar year by a corresponding amount.10
(4) Nothing in this section prevents a rental car company from 11
making adjustments to the vehicle license cost recovery fee during 12
the calendar year. )) A rental car company may not separately state a 13
vehicle license cost recovery fee in a rental agreement.14
(3) A rental car company may not state or imply to a rental car 15
customer that the state of Washington imposes any vehicle license 16
cost recovery fee on a rental car customer as part of a rental 17
agreement.18
(4)(a) A rental car company may describe in a rental agreement 19
the rental car company's actual costs in the state of Washington to 20
license, title, register, and plate rental cars and to have such 21
rental cars inspected for that calendar year.22
(b) A rental car company electing to describe the costs 23
identified in (a) of this subsection in a rental agreement shall 24
include a disclaimer with that information informing the rental car 25
customer that all of the costs described are imposed exclusively on 26
the rental car company and not imposed on the rental car customer by 27
any governmental agency, unit, or department.28
(5) The following definitions apply to this section unless the 29
context clearly requires otherwise: 30
(a) "Child restraint system rental fee" means a charge that may 31
be separately stated and charged on the rental contract in a car 32
rental transaction originating in Washington state to recover the 33
costs associated with providing child restraint systems;34
(b) "Rental car" has the same meaning as defined in RCW 35
48.115.005; 36
(c) "Rental car company" has the same meaning as defined in RCW 37
48.115.005; and 38
(d) "Vehicle license cost recovery fee" means ((a)) any charge 39
((that may be separately stated and charged on the rental contract )) 40
p. 2 HB 1431
for a rental car transaction originating in Washington state to 1
recover costs incurred in the state of Washington by a rental car 2
company to license, title, register, plate, and inspect rental cars.3
(6)(a) If a rental car company includes a child restraint system 4
rental fee as a separately stated charge in a rental transaction, the 5
amount of the fee must represent no more than the rental car 6
company's good faith estimate of the rental car company's costs to 7
provide a child restraint system. 8
(b) If a rental car customer pays a child restraint system rental 9
fee and the child restraint system is not available in a timely 10
manner, as determined by the rental car customer, but in no case less 11
than one hour after the arrival of the customer at the location where 12
the customer receives the vehicle or vehicles, (i) the customer may 13
cancel any reservation or other agreement for the rental of the 14
vehicle or vehicles, (ii) any costs or penalties associated with the 15
cancellation are void, and (iii) the customer is entitled to a full 16
refund of any costs associated with the rental of the vehicle or 17
vehicles. 18
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p. 3 HB 1431