§ 87-706 — Repair parts; returns; duties of supplier

(1) A supplier shall provide for the availability of repair parts throughout the reasonable useful life of any equipment sold.
(2) A supplier shall at least annually provide dealers an opportunity to return surplus repair parts for credit without restrictions as follows:
(a)(i) The supplier may notify the dealers of a surplus parts return program for a time period of at least sixty days in duration during which dealers may submit a list of their surplus parts and return the parts to the supplier; or
(ii) If twelve months have elapsed and the supplier has not notified a dealer of a surplus parts return program, the dealer may submit to the supplier a request to return surplus parts and the supplier shall allow the dealer to return the parts within thirty days after receipt of the request;
(b) Subject to the other provisions of this section, a supplier shall allow a dealer to return parts with a dollar value equal to at least six percent of the total dollar value of parts purchased by the dealer from the supplier or the supplier's predecessor in interest during the twelve-month period immediately preceding either the notification to the dealer of the supplier's surplus parts return program or the month the dealer's return request is made, whichever is applicable. A dealer may elect to return a dollar value of parts equal to less than six percent of such total dollar value of parts purchased;
(c) An obsolete or superseded part may not be returned, except that any part listed in the supplier's current list of returnable parts and any superseded part that has not been the subject of a surplus parts return program as of the date of notification to the dealer by the supplier of the current surplus parts return program or the date of the dealer's request to return surplus parts, whichever is applicable, shall be eligible for return;
(d) To be eligible for return, parts must be in new and unused condition and must have been purchased by the dealer from the supplier to whom they are returned or the supplier's predecessor in interest;
(e) The supplier shall allow credit for a returned part of at least eighty-five percent of the current price of the part as listed in the supplier's effective price list or catalog at the date of the notification to the dealer by the supplier of the surplus parts return program or the date of the dealer's request to return surplus parts, whichever is applicable, or, if there is no effective price list or catalog, in the supplier's invoices;
(f) The supplier shall issue credit to the dealer within ninety days after receipt of the parts returned by the dealer;
(g) The dealer shall be presumed to have purchased the returned parts from the supplier or the supplier's predecessor in interest, and the burden shall be on the supplier to prove otherwise;
(h) The provisions of this section shall be supplemental to any agreement between the dealer and the supplier covering the return of parts which provides the dealer with greater protection;
(i) Nothing in this section shall be construed to affect the existence or enforcement of a security interest which any person may have in the parts of the dealer; and
(j) Nothing in this section shall preclude a credit for returned parts which is greater than the total amount authorized by this section.
(3) The annual parts return provided for in subsection (2) of this section may be waived by a dealer. If a majority of dealers from a single supplier choose to waive the provisions of such subsection, the supplier shall be exempt from such subsection.

Legislative History

Source: Laws 1991, LB 123, § 6.