Civ. Code, § 1793.26 · Article 3. Sale Warranties
Civ. Code, § 1793.26
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
(a) Any automobile manufacturer, importer, distributor, dealer, or lienholder who reacquires, or who assists in reacquiring, a motor vehicle, whether by judgment, decree, arbitration award, settlement agreement, or voluntary agreement, is prohibited from doing either of the following:
(1) Requiring, as a condition of the reacquisition of the motor vehicle, that a buyer or lessee who is a resident of this state agree not to disclose the problems with the vehicle experienced by the buyer or lessee or the nonfinancial terms of the reacquisition.
(2) Including, in any release or other agreement, whether prepared by the manufacturer, importer, distributor, dealer, or lienholder, for signature by the buyer or lessee, a confidentiality clause, gag clause, or similar clause prohibiting the buyer or lessee from disclosing information to anyone about the problems with the vehicle, or the nonfinancial terms of the reacquisition of the vehicle by the manufacturer, importer, distributor, dealer, or lienholder.
(b) Any confidentiality clause, gag clause, or similar clause in such a release or other agreement in violation of this section shall be null and void as against the public policy of this state.
(c) Nothing in this section is intended to prevent any confidentiality clause, gag clause, or similar clause regarding the financial terms of the reacquisition of the vehicle.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Amended by Stats. 2000, Ch. 258, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 2001.
Source of truth
- Edition
- As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
- Official file
- https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=CIV§ionNum=1793.26.
- Text hash
- sha256 ba1ae0bed9ec4d44f5085223d9c7e3a6e683ed11065ca8eff8a26ba9cebab4fc
- Composed by
- compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.