Wald

I. INTRODUCTION

Back in the 1940’s, a character in a theatrical comedy flatly stated that there is no such thing as a perfect crime. To which the retort was: “Ever buy a used car?”

The exchange might be a bit out of date today. California law has not only required car dealers to be licensed since 1959 (see Veh. Code, § 11700, added by Stats. 1959, ch. 3, § 2, p. 1523), but has subjected car dealers to specific statutes against fraud (see generally § 11711) since that date as well. And a relatively recent statute, section 11711.3 (added by Stats. 2002, ch. 407, § 2) goes so far as to completely preclude any recovery by a dealer of the price of a car if the dealer is not licensed. The “dominant purpose” of California’s statutory car dealer licensing scheme is, of course, the protection of car buyers from irresponsible or unscrupulous dealers. (Valiyee v. Department of Motor Vehicles (1999) 74 Cal.App.4th 1026, 1032 [ 88 Cal.Rptr.2d 508 ].)

The irony of the present case is that a scheme designed to protect consumers from unscrupulous dealers has, at least under the law as interpreted by the trial court on a successful demurrer, resulted in a car dealer reaping the benefit…