(a) An employee of a rental car company or franchisee of a rental car company that has been issued a car rental agent license pursuant to this article may be an endorsee authorized to offer insurance products under the authority of the car rental agent license if all of the following conditions have been met:
(1) The employee is 18 years of age or older.
(2) The rental car company, at the time it submits its car rental agent license application pursuant to Section 1758.81, also establishes a list of the names of all endorsees to its car rental agent license. The list shall be maintained by the rental car company in a form prescribed by the commissioner and updated annually. The list shall be retained by the rental car company for three years and made available to the commissioner for review and inspection.
(3) The rental car company submits to the commissioner with its initial car rental agent license application and annually thereafter a certification, subscribed by an officer of the company on a form prescribed by the commissioner, stating all of the following:
(A) The number of endorsees offering insurance products under the authority of the car rental agent license for the applicable period.
(B) A statement that no person other than an endorsee sells or offers insurance on its behalf.
(C) That all endorsees have completed training as required by this article.
(b) Each rental car company licensed pursuant to this article shall provide for the training of its endorsees prior to allowing its endorsees to offer or sell insurance products. The training shall meet the following minimum standards:
(1) Each car rental endorsee shall receive instruction about the types of insurance specified in Section 1758.85 that are offered for sale to prospective renters.
(2) Each car rental endorsee shall receive training about ethical sales practices.
(3) Each car rental endorsee shall receive training about the disclosures to be given to prospective renters pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 1758.86.
(c) Training materials used by or on behalf of the rental car company to train its endorsees shall be submitted to the department at the time the rental car company applies for a license under this article, and whenever modified thereafter. Any changes to previously submitted training materials shall be submitted to the department with the changes highlighted 30 days prior to their use by the licensee. Training materials and changes to those materials submitted to the department pursuant to this subdivision shall be deemed approved for use by the company unless it is notified by the department to the contrary. Failure by a rental car company to submit training materials or changes for departmental review or use of unapproved or disapproved training materials shall constitute grounds for denial of an application for a license, nonrenewal of a license, or suspension of a license, as appropriate.
(d) The rental car company shall periodically retrain its endorsees on the subject matter described in subdivision (b), as prescribed by the commissioner.
(Amended by Stats. 2020, Ch. 184, Sec. 33. (SB 1255) Effective January 1, 2021.)