Section 11737 Of Article 1. Issuance Of Licenses And Certificates To Manufacturers, Transporters, And Dealers From California Vehicle Code >> Division 5. >> Chapter 4. >> Article 1.
11737
. (a) A dealer who brokers a motor vehicle sale shall deposit
directly into a trust account any purchase money, including purchase
deposits, it receives from a consumer or a consumer's lender. This
subdivision does not require a separate trust account for each
brokered transaction.
(b) The brokering dealer shall not in any manner encumber the
corpus of the trust account except as follows:
(1) In partial or full payment to a selling dealer for a vehicle
purchased by the brokering dealer's consumer.
(2) To make refunds.
(c) Subdivision (b) shall not prevent payment of the interest
earned on the trust account to the brokering dealer.
(d) The brokering dealer shall serve as trustee of the trust
account required by this section. If the brokering dealer is a
partnership or a corporation, the managing partner of the partnership
or the chief executive officer of the corporation shall be the
trustee. The trustee may designate in writing that an officer or
employee may manage the trust account if that officer or employee is
under the trustee's supervision and control, and the original of that
writing is on file with the department.
(e) All trust accounts required by this section shall be
maintained at a branch of a bank, savings and loan association, or
credit union regulated by the state or the government of the United
States.
(f) The brokering dealer has a fiduciary responsibility with
respect to all purchase money received from a consumer or consumer's
lender relative to a brokered sale transaction.
(g) The following are deemed to be held in trust for consumers who
have paid purchase money to a brokering dealer:
(1) All sums received by the brokering dealer whether or not
required to be deposited in an actual trust account and regardless of
whether any of these sums were required to be deposited or actually
were deposited in a trust account.
(2) All property with which any of the sums described in paragraph
(1) has been commingled if any of these sums cannot be identified
because of the commingling.
(h) Upon any judicially ordered distribution of any money or
property required to be held in trust and after all expenses of
distribution approved by the court have been paid, every consumer of
a brokering dealer has a claim on the trust for purchase money
payments made to the brokering dealer. Unless a consumer can identify
his or her funds in the trust within the time established by the
court, each consumer shall receive a proportional share based on the
amount paid.