A package of four bills recently introduced in the Michigan House of Representatives could fundamentally change how collision repair facilities handle vehicle storage. While the legislation is being framed as towing industry reform, one bill in the package — House Bill 5149 — directly amends the Motor Vehicle Service and Repair Act, the law that governs every licensed collision repair shop in the state. This is not a towing bill that might incidentally affect body shops. It targets repair facilities by name.
The Michigan Auto Body Association is tracking these bills closely and wants every shop owner in the state to understand what is being proposed, how it could affect your business, and what steps you can take right now.
HB 5149: The Bill That Directly Targets Repair Shops
House Bill 5149 would amend MCL 257.1307e and MCL 257.1332 — the sections of the Motor Vehicle Service and Repair Act that govern how repair facilities handle estimates, charges, and storage fees. Here is what would change:
Under current law (MCL 257.1307e), repair facilities may not charge storage while repair charges are in dispute, and may charge storage for parts delays only after telling the customer the expected delay and daily rate and getting the customer's consent. HB 5149 expands this prohibition to also ban storage charges “while the vehicle is under repair.” That means if a vehicle is sitting on your lot during the claims process — waiting for an inspection, waiting for supplement review, waiting for parts — and that vehicle is considered “under repair,” you may be prohibited from charging any storage at all.
HB 5149 also amends Section 32 to require that written estimates include “any applicable fees and anticipated storage charges” before work begins. This means a shop would need to predict and disclose potential storage fees at the time of the initial estimate — before anyone knows how long the claim will take to process, how long supplements will take to review, or whether the vehicle will be a total loss. If the storage charges are not on the estimate, the shop may not be able to collect them.
Why This Is a Serious Problem
The language in HB 5149 fundamentally misunderstands how collision repair works in practice. When a vehicle arrives at a shop after an accident, the timeline is often outside the shop’s control. Inspections must be scheduled, supplements reviewed, parts ordered, and total-loss decisions made and valued. During all of that time, the vehicle is on the shop’s property.
Under HB 5149, if that vehicle is considered “under repair” during any part of this process, the shop could be legally barred from charging storage, even when the delay is outside the shop’s control. And requiring shops to estimate storage charges before anyone knows whether a claim will take three days or three months is simply not practical.
HB 5146 Makes It Even Worse
Companion bill House Bill 5146, introduced by Representative Julie Rogers, would cap vehicle storage fees statewide. In scenarios where a shop can charge storage, these would be the maximum rates:
Proposed Fee Caps Under HB 5146
The bills have strong bipartisan co-sponsorship, with over 25 representatives signed on. The package also includes HB 5147 and HB 5148, which establish registration requirements and enforcement mechanisms through the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA).
The bills also cap after-hours vehicle retrieval fees at $150, require towing agencies to accept multiple payment methods, and mandate detailed written disclosures including itemized invoices and publicly posted rate schedules.
What This Means in Practice
Consider a common scenario: a vehicle arrives at your shop after an accident. The inspection takes two weeks to schedule, and supplements take another week to resolve. During that time, the vehicle is occupying a bay or lot space on your property.
Under HB 5149, if that vehicle is “under repair,” you may not be able to charge any storage at all during that period. And under HB 5146, even if you can charge storage, your maximum recovery for that three-week period on a standard passenger vehicle would be $525 — regardless of your actual costs to insure, secure, and maintain that space.
Many Michigan shops currently charge between $50 and $100 per day in storage fees, rates that reflect the real cost of liability insurance, property maintenance, lot space, and the opportunity cost of a vehicle occupying a productive work area. These bills could eliminate or drastically reduce that revenue — while doing nothing to address the claim delays that create the storage situation in the first place.
Where the Bills Stand Now
As of October 2026, House Bills 5146–5149 have been introduced and referred to committee. They have not yet been voted on. This is the stage where industry input matters most — before the language is finalized and before it reaches the House floor.
There is still time for the collision repair industry to make its voice heard. Committee hearings are where amendments happen and where lawmakers hear directly from the people and businesses these bills would affect.
What You Can Do Right Now
1. Know Your Representatives
Find your state representative at house.mi.gov. If your representative is one of the co-sponsors, they need to hear from shop owners in their district about the unintended consequences of this bill’s language on collision repair businesses.
2. Review the Bill Language
Read the full text of House Bill 5146 (storage fee caps) and House Bill 5149 (repair facility storage restrictions) on the Michigan Legislature website. HB 5149 is especially important — it directly amends the Motor Vehicle Service and Repair Act that governs your shop.
3. Contact Your Legislator
We’ve prepared a template letter you can customize and send to your state representative. It explains the collision repair industry’s concerns in clear, professional language. Download it, fill in your information, and send it to your legislator’s office.
Download the template letter to send to your state representative:
⬇ Download Letter Template (.docx)4. Talk to Other Shop Owners
Share this alert with other collision repair facilities in your area. The more shop owners who are aware of this legislation, the stronger the industry’s collective voice will be.
5. Join MABA
This is exactly why the Michigan Auto Body Association exists. MABA is building the infrastructure to represent collision repair professionals in Lansing — to monitor legislation like this, coordinate testimony, and ensure that when bills are written that affect our industry, shop owners have a seat at the table.