Western Australian Current Acts

MOTOR VEHICLE DEALERS ACT 1973 - SECT 15

15 .         Vehicle dealer’s licence, application for and grant of

        (1)         Subject to this Act, a person, not being a body corporate, who applies to the Commissioner in the approved form for a vehicle dealer’s licence of a particular category and pays to the Commissioner the prescribed fee therefor shall be granted such a licence upon satisfying the Commissioner —

            (a)         that he is of or over the age of 18 years; and

            (b)         that he is a person of good character and repute and a fit and proper person to hold such a licence; and

            (c)         that he has —

                  (i)         sufficient resources; and

                  (ii)         sufficient knowledge of this Act.

        (2)         Subject to this Act, 2 or more persons constituting a firm who apply to the Commissioner in the approved form for a vehicle dealer’s licence of a particular category and pay to the Commissioner the prescribed fee therefor shall be granted such a licence upon satisfying the Commissioner —

            (a)         that all of the natural persons (if any) by whom the firm is constituted and all of the persons concerned in the management or conduct of any body corporate by which the firm is constituted are persons of good character and repute and are persons fit to be concerned in the management or control of the business of buying or selling vehicles; and

            (b)         that the persons constituting the firm have sufficient resources; and

            (c)         that at least one of the natural persons referred to in paragraph (a) has sufficient knowledge of this Act.

        (2a)         If there is a corporate member of a firm to which a licence is granted under subsection (2), the licence ceases to have effect if —

            (a)         a change occurs in the person or persons concerned in the management or conduct of the corporate member; and

            (b)         the Commissioner refuses to approve of the change under section 23(3); and

            (c)         the Commissioner does not approve of a further change under subsection (2b).

        (2b)         The licence ceases to have effect 14 days after the dealer is notified of the refusal under section 23(5), unless, within that period or such further time as the Commissioner may by notice in writing allow, the change of which the Commissioner has refused to approve has been altered or revoked, and the Commissioner has approved of the change as so altered or revoked.

        (3)         Subject to this Act, a body corporate which applies to the Commissioner in the approved form for a vehicle dealer’s licence of a particular category and pays to the Commissioner the prescribed fee therefor shall be granted such a licence upon satisfying the Commissioner —

            (a)         that all of the persons concerned in the management or conduct of the body corporate are persons of good character and repute and are persons fit to be concerned in the management or control of the business of buying or selling vehicles; and

            (b)         that it has sufficient resources; and

            (c)         that at least one of the natural persons referred to in paragraph (a) has sufficient knowledge of this Act.

        (4)         A licence granted under subsection (3) ceases to have effect if —

            (a)         a change occurs in the persons concerned in the management or conduct of the body corporate that holds the licence; and

            (b)         the Commissioner has refused to approve of the change under section 23(3); and

            (c)         the Commissioner does not approve of a further change under subsection (5).

        (5)         The licence ceases to have effect 14 days after the dealer is notified of the refusal under section 23(5), unless, within that period or such further time as the Commissioner may by notice in writing allow, the change of which the Commissioner has refused to approve has been altered or revoked, and the Commissioner has approved of the change as so altered or revoked.

        (6)         In this section —

        sufficient knowledge of this Act means a full understanding of the duties and obligations imposed by this Act on dealers, yard managers and salespersons, but only so far as those duties and obligations are relevant to the category of licence applied for;

        sufficient resources means sufficient material and financial resources available to the person or persons to enable the requirements of this Act to be complied with, but only so far as those requirements are relevant to the category of licence applied for.

        [Section 15 amended: No. 56 of 1995 s. 37; No. 4 of 2002 s. 6; No. 58 of 2010 s. 50; No. 7 of 2022 s. 36.]