CONSUMER GROUP PUSHES FOR TIGHTER LAWS

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, January 12, 1993                   TAG: 9301120360
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
CONSUMER GROUP PUSHES FOR TIGHTER LAWS
A Virginia consumer group wants an end to sales of used cars "as is," a label designed to warn buyers that the seller makes no claims about the quality of a vehicle.
"Dealers should disclose known defects in cars," said Jean Ann Fox of Yorktown, president of the Virginia Citizens Consumer Council.
The council mailed copies of its legislative agenda to lawmakers last weekend in preparation for Wednesday's opening of the General Assembly.
The VCCC not only wants greater protection for purchasers of used cars; it wants changes that would give buyers the right to cancel the purchase of a new car if financing is not arranged as proposed in the sales contract.
Under legislation supported by the council, a person who buys a car contingent upon dealer-arranged financing would have the right to cancel the purchase if the dealer doesn't produce the loan at the promised interest rate.
Too often, Fox said, a car is sold and the buyer drives it off the lot only to get a call later that the promised financing is not available and the only loan offered is at a higher interest rate.
"Buyers then are forced to take the higher loan," Fox said. "If the dealer can't arrange [financing], the deal should be off."
The consumer group also is asking that the State Corporation Commission's rate-setting procedure for utilities be changed. Companies now are allowed to implement interim rate increases if the SCC cannot complete its review of the proposal within 150 days. If it later denies a portion of the increase, money is refunded to customers. But the practice means consumers are "forced to [lend] money" to utilities, said Fox.
"Just like the recent situation with Roanoke Gas," Fox said in a telephone interview. "Customers are getting a refund, but wouldn't they rather have kept their money in the first place?"
The SCC in December approved a rate increase for the utility that was 40 percent less than the company had requested. Since the company had begun charging the higher rate in August in anticipation of the SCC's agreement, Roanoke Gas customers are due an average refund of 44 cents a month for the time the higher rate was in effect.
Also last month, Virginia Power was ordered to refund an average of $81 to each to its 1.8 million residential customers after the SCC cut a proposed increase 75 percent. Customers had been paying the higher interim rate for 14 months.
The consumer council also wants utilities to pay into a fund that would finance citizen intervention in utility rate cases before the SCC.
"Utility rate case decisions made by the State Corporation Commission are very important, yet participation by customer groups in commission cases is prohibitively expensive," the VCCC said in its message to legislators.
Fox said the council also is concerned about telemarketing practices and would support legislation to control phone sales pitches. But, she said, since telemarketing is a national issue being dealt with by Congress, restrictions on it are not part of the council's legislative push.
\ PROPOSED CONSUMER LEGISLATION\ \ Car buying: Dealers should be prohibited from disclaiming implied warranties and required to disclose known defects in used cars. Dealer-processing fees should be banned.\ \ Truth in travel: Consumers of advance-fee travel plans that typically cost $1,000 or more should have a 10-day cooling-off period.\ \ Radon information: Radon testers should be EPA-certified. Home buyers should be given notice to test for radon and be allowed to cancel the sale if results show unacceptable levels.\ \ Consumer privacy. Remove Social Security numbers from Virginia drivers' licenses and published voter lists.
\ Lobbyist disclosures and ethics. Year-round reporting of lobbyists' expenses, tougher conflict-of-interest rules, registration of lobbyists who seek to influence the executive branch and regulatory agencies.\ - Source: Virginia Citizens Consumer Council

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB