56:12-88 Provisions for issuance of service contracts; exemptions.

2. a. Service contracts may be issued, offered for sale, or sold in this State only in accordance with the provisions of this act.

b. The following shall be exempt from the provisions of this act:

(1) warranties;

(2) maintenance agreements;

(3) service contracts on property if the property for which the service contract is sold has a purchase price of $250 or less, excluding sales tax;

(4) mechanical breakdown insurance policies offered by licensed insurers pursuant to the insurance laws of this State;

(5) motor club or association membership contracts that primarily provide for roadside assistance and towing services in situations that involve impairment of the operation of a member's motor vehicle, for reasons that include, but are not limited to, mechanical breakdown or adverse road conditions;

(6) newspapers that accept or publish advertising for items that fall within the scope of this act;

(7) service contracts on emergency, life safety, or property safety goods; and

(8) service contracts issued, offered, or sold:

(a) by a public utility to the extent that the public utility is regulated by the Board of Public Utilities, or by a person providing central heating and air conditioning services, but only with respect to a service contract regarding the product sold to a consumer or installed or repaired for the consumer at the consumer's household by a utility , a subsidiary of a utility, or a person providing central heating and air conditioning services; or

(b) to any person other than a consumer.

c. Service contracts are not insurance in this State or otherwise regulated under Title 17 of the Revised Statutes. The making, proposing to make, issuing, marketing, offering, selling, administering of, or providing contractual obligations for, a service contract shall not be construed to be the business of insurance and shall be exempt from regulation as insurance pursuant to Title 17 of the Revised Statutes, however nothing in this act shall be construed to exempt the making, issuing, marketing, offering, or selling of a reimbursement insurance policy from any applicable provisions of Title 17 of the Revised Statutes.

L.2013, c.197, s.2.