MVC to Make Buying a Used Car More Expensive

This past December I had two children that having gotten their license needed their own transportation. Now out here in the wilds of New Jersey there is no public transportation and you can't just walk to where you need to go, so... my wife and I decided that they should have cars.

Every day I drive past cars for sale in parking lots all over the area. Supermarket lots, auto repair lots, anywhere there is high traffic and good visibility. So I saw a couple of cars I like in one of these lots and called the number listed. The person was a small used car dealer. He worked from a cell phone and his car he did have an office nearby. He was a registered car dealer and collected sales tax. I got a great deal from him. Two decent cars for 5K. He has limited overhead and the savings are passed to the buyer. Additionally he actually sells cheap cars. Large car dealers only keep the primo cars on the lot because they don't want to warranty the bad cars.


Just this week the MVC has decided to put people like the man I bought from out of business. The MVC is attempting to pass new rules for used car dealers.

"the state has crafted reforms that require auto dealerships to set up offices equipped with phones, furniture, electricity and even air-conditioning and heating.

The proposals also would prohibit dealers from using cell phones to make sales outside their offices, require safes for storing motor vehicle documents and impose tougher insurance requirements."

According to the report "Several people with small auto dealerships said the new regulations, including provisions that would require them to hold on to vehicles longer before they resell them, would strain their finances.

"Basically, it would put us out of business," said Rob Morales, owner of Flashback Motors in Little Falls. "We're a small business and we don't have hundreds of thousands of dollars to sit on."

So here we go again with an over-reaching State agency acting as "mommy" for the people. What do residents get. Not the security the agency thinks it's providing, but higher costs passed on to consumers, small business being driven to bankruptcy and very possibly hurting the less fortunate because they won't be able to afford a car from a bigger dealer.

The State should stop trying to protect everyone. Caveat Emptor!