Section 84.204 - Disclosure of Equity in Retail Buyer's Trade-In Motor Vehicle(a) Purpose and delivery. The purpose of this section is to provide a standard form for the disclosure of equity that a retail seller must provide to the retail buyer before accepting a trade-in motor vehicle for an ordinary motor vehicle sold under a retail installment sales contract. The disclosure of equity standard form is not required for transactions where a single cash payment is made for the sale of the motor vehicle. This section prescribes the form and content of the standard form under Texas Finance Code, § RSA 348.0091. This section does not apply to retail installment sales transactions for commercial vehicles.(b) Required elements. A disclosure of equity standard form to be provided to the retail buyer before accepting a trade-in motor vehicle for a motor vehicle sold under a retail installment sales contract must contain the required elements as provided in Texas Finance Code, § RSA 348.0091(c).(c) Single page required. The disclosure of equity standard form must fit on one standard-size sheet of paper (8 1/2 by 11 inches).(d) Font. The disclosure of equity standard form must be printed in an easily readable font and type size. If other state or federal law requires a different type size for a specific disclosure or contractual provision, the type size specified by the other law should be used.(e) Typeface. The text of the disclosure of equity standard form must be set in an easily readable typeface. Typefaces considered to be readable include: Arial, Calibri, Caslon, Century Schoolbook, Garamond, Helvetica, Scala, and Times New Roman.(f) Typeface size. Typeface size is referred to in points. Because different typefaces in the same point size are not of equal size, typeface is not strictly defined but is expressed as a minimum size in the Times New Roman typeface for visual comparative purposes. Generally, the typeface for the text of the disclosure of equity standard form must be at least as large as 10 point in the Times New Roman typeface. A point is generally viewed as 1/72nd of an inch.(g) Co-buyers. If the motor vehicle being sold under a retail installment sales contract is being purchased by co-buyers, the signature of one co-buyer will verify delivery of a disclosure under this section.(h) Required standard form. The required disclosure of equity standard form under Texas Finance Code, § RSA 348.0091 to be provided to the retail buyer before accepting a trade-in motor vehicle for a motor vehicle sold under a retail installment sales contract is presented in the following figure. Attached Graphic
(i) Permissible changes. A retail seller must use the required disclosure of equity standard form, but may consider making only limited technical changes in the disclosure paragraph required by Texas Finance Code, § RSA 348.0091(c)(1)(H), as provided by the following exclusive list: (1) substituting the following for the words "the dealer": (A) the retail seller's name;(2) substituting the following words for the pronoun "you": (B) "the retail buyer"; or(C) "the retail buyer(s)";(3) substituting the article "the" for the pronoun "your";(4) appropriate changes to verbs in order to maintain proper grammar.(j) Benefit under trade-in credit agreement. A retail seller may not include a benefit under a trade-in credit agreement in the "Dealership Allowance for Trade-In" section of the disclosure of equity standard form.7 Tex. Admin. Code § 84.204
The provisions of this §84.204 adopted to be effective January 7, 2010, 35 TexReg 64; amended to be effective November 8, 2012, 37 TexReg 8780; Amended by Texas Register, Volume 42, Number 35, September 1, 2017, TexReg 4464, eff. 9/7/2017