03-07-2013, 03:19 AM
Mike Johnson wrote:
This is one of those things everybody assumes is true, but nobody can actually point to the law in question. I'm sure the law they're afraid of breaking is not about ODB scanners, but about being an unlicensed and unregistered emissions repair shop. They can lend you a scanner. What they can't do is tell you how to fix the problem and then sell you the parts, because then when they're wrong, the customer's path to recourse is all messed up.
If you walk into a (legit) California auto-parts store and ask to borrow a scanner, they will tell you that it's illegal for them to lend them out or rent them. You can find a lot of posts indicating that this is the case in both California and Hawaii because of state laws.
https://duckduckgo.com/html/
'Seems to have started around 2008.
As for not being able to point to the exact statute, get me a Westlaw account and I'll see what I can do.