Michigan’s new dealer data law limits who can access certain information stored in vehicle dealers’ computer systems. It does not cover data outside those systems, including data generated by vehicles themselves, according to the text of the act.
The Motor Vehicle Dealer Data Collection Act, Public Act 113 of 2026, took immediate effect Oct. 9, the day the governor approved it, according to the Michigan Legislature’s bill history.
What the law covers
The law protects three kinds of information stored in a dealership’s systems, such as its dealership management system: customer information, vehicle diagnostic data, and records about the dealer’s business. Manufacturers and outside companies cannot require a dealer to give them access to those systems.
Manufacturers can still get certain data without the dealer’s consent, including diagnostic data and information reasonably necessary for warranty claims and recall notices. The act does not give dealers ownership of vehicle diagnostic data, or rights to use or share it, except as needed to provide warranty, repair, or service work to a consumer.
The law also sets rules for the companies that store dealers’ data. They must offer open integration, let dealers end contracts within 90 days of notice, and not restrict a dealer’s access to its data to obtain payments not agreed to in a written contract.
Key points for repair shops
The act defines a “third party” as any person other than a dealer, a government entity, an entity acting under a court order, a manufacturer, “or an affiliate thereof.”
- Not named: The act does not name collision repair shops or other repair facilities among the entities it excludes from that definition.
- Consent required: A third party may not access, share, or use protected dealer data without the dealer’s separate written consent.
- Data outside dealer systems: The act does not apply to data outside a dealer’s systems, including data generated by a vehicle or by a device a consumer connects to it.
- Public and outside data: Data that is publicly available, or that a third party obtains through another source, is not protected under the act.
Vehicle data access at the federal level
Access to repair and diagnostic data from vehicles themselves is the subject of separate federal legislation. The House and Energy Commerce Committee voted 48-1 on May 21 to advance the Motor Vehicle Modernization Act of 2026, which would write into federal law existing industry agreements on access to vehicle repair and diagnostic information.
The committee’s version does not include the original REPAIR Act’s provisions on telematics and direct wireless access to vehicle data.
For shops, the main agreement the bill would codify, a 2014 memorandum of understanding, requires participating automakers to give independent repair shops the same diagnostic and repair information franchised dealerships receive, according to CBT News. If the bill becomes law, that requirement would be enforceable under federal law.
