Mississippi § 63-17-117 - Warranty or sales incentive audits to be conducted within certain amount of time after payment of disputed claim or end of incentive or rebate program; approved and paid claims not to be charged back to dealer absent fraud, improper repair, or failure to substantiate claim.

§ 63-17-117. Warranty or sales incentive audits to be conducted within certain amount of time after payment of disputed claim or end of incentive or rebate program; approved and paid claims not to be charged back to dealer absent fraud, improper repair, or failure to substantiate claim.

Notwithstanding the terms of any franchise agreement, warranty and sales incentive audits of a motor vehicle dealer’s records may be conducted by the manufacturer or distributor. Any audit for warranty parts or service compensation shall be performed within the twelve-month period immediately following the date of the payment of the disputed claim by the manufacturer or distributor. Any audit for sales incentives, service incentives, rebates or other forms of incentive compensation shall be performed within the twelve-month period immediately following the date of the payment of the disputed claim by the manufacturer or distributor or the end of the program during which the incentives, service incentives, rebates or other forms of incentives compensation were offered, whichever is later. No claim which has been approved and paid may be charged back to the motor vehicle dealer unless it can be shown by a preponderance of the evidence that the claim was false or fraudulent, that the repairs were not properly made or were unnecessary to correct the defective conditions under generally accepted standards of workmanship, or that the motor vehicle dealer failed to reasonably substantiate the repair in accordance with the manufacturer’s or distributor’s reasonable written claim requirement. A manufacturer or distributor shall not deny a claim based solely on a motor vehicle dealer’s incidental failure to comply with a specific claim processing requirement such as a clerical error or other administrative technicality that does not call into question the legitimacy of a claim. A motor vehicle dealer may submit an amended or supplemental claim within the time and manner required by the manufacturer for sales incentives, service incentives, rebates or other forms of incentives compensation for up to sixty (60) days from the date on which such a claim was submitted or could have been submitted. Limitations on warranty parts, service compensation, sales incentive audits, rebates or other forms of incentive compensation, chargebacks for warranty parts or service compensation, and service incentives and chargebacks for sales compensation only, shall not be effective in the case of intentionally false or fraudulent claims.