Dealers worry law may stall ATV sales.
BY ERIK GERMAN
Newsday Staff Writer
February 6, 2007, 9:03 PM EST
Starting Thursday, anyone selling an all-terrain vehicle in Nassau County must tell buyers, in writing, that riding their new machine is illegal just about everywhere in Nassau.
A new county law containing this and other stiff measures aimed at curtailing the sale and illegal use of ATVs takes effect amid sharp criticism from riders and dealers who call the new rules too burdensome.
The law requires dealers and individuals hawking their used machines to provide written copies of the statute at the time of sale, detailing that new penalties for illegal riding include seized machines and up to $1,500 fines on the first offense.
Buyers must also sign forms, provided by sellers, indicating they have received copies of the new rules. Sellers who fail to comply face fines of up to $1,500.
In Suffolk, a similar truth-in-selling law applying only to dealers took effect in 2000.
"The law doesn't affect our final sales," said Brian Paternoster, who has owned Honda of Riverhead since 1997. "Once they've made the decision they're going to buy, the fact that there's no legal riding doesn't really affect them."
Nassau's new statute -- sponsored by Legis. Norma Gonsalves (R-East Meadow) and passed unanimously Nov. 1 -- takes a harder line in two ways: It targets private sellers and requires ATV dealers to include in any print advertising the disclaimer that operating the machines is illegal in Nassau.
Those speaking for dealers are not pleased.
"Any more wording you add to print advertising is going to add to its cost," said Bob Ski, director of the New York State Power Sports Dealers Association, a lobbying group for motor sports retailers. "It's going to place a burden on these dealers who are already having a struggle staying in business."
Some say that new strictures on private sales are pointless.
"It's like selling a used car and having to give a buyer a copy of the law saying you may not speed or run stop signs," said Michael Peck, owner of Long Island Kawasaki since 1985. "It's just really, really absurd."
Tom Riker, of the Long Island Off-Road Vehicle Association, an ATV-rider group with members in Nassau and Suffolk, called the provisions of new law applying to private sales "unenforceable."
"I agree with the truth-in-selling law for dealerships but since when do we need to become big brother to everybody?" Riker said.
But Gonsalves defended the new law, citing the case of Mark Sattler, a 12-year-old Levittown boy killed while driving an ATV near upstate Binghamton in 2005.
"If people are educated about these vehicles, they may think twice about buying them for their children," she said. "If they are discouraged from purchasing, then it's got to decrease the number of accidents and fatalities."
__________________
Have More Power!
2008 750
|
Linear Mode
