Issue Position: In Response to Refusal to Require Insurer to Supply Cancellation Notice to Used Car Seller

Issue Position

As the majority writes this concept into law, a lienholder must prove that it is in the business of loaning money separate and apart from any other business before it can be legally entitled to the same protection that a lienholder who is in the business of loaning money is afforded. The question that then arises is who might loan people money to buy cars. Banks loan money to people with good credit and work histories. Sometimes though, people do not qualify for bank loans. Sometimes people are considered too high a risk for a bank to loan money to them.

We have a higher percentage of people in this State below the poverty level than the national average. In this largely rural state, people need cars to get to jobs, buy groceries, take their children to schools, and go to the doctor. Car insurance is not an unnecessary luxury. We require people to maintain and prove insurance coverage for licensing and traffic use. The majority's opinion reinforces the belief that our laws afford no protection to those who loan money to the economically disadvantaged and, in fact, specifically excludes them from the protection afforded other secured parties.

John Gibson Auto Sales, Inc. v. Direct Ins. Co., 97 Ark. App. 192, 203-04, 245 S.W.3d 700, 708 -- 09 (2006)(Baker, J., dissenting).

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