LAKE SAINT LOUIS • Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster wants telemarketers selling extended auto service contracts to be up-front with consumers about what's included in the aftermarket coverage.

But industry representatives told Koster on Wednesday that disclosing those details over the phone would be a challenge.

Koster was in town for the second and likely final meeting of a task force he appointed to study consumer abuses involved in the direct marketing of service contracts, especially by companies based in the St. Louis area — a national hub for the industry.

The task force discussed Koster's suggestions for new laws governing the service contract industry, as well as proposed guidelines interpreting current rules and regulations.

One of those guidelines instructs telemarketers to make a lengthy, 12-point disclosure before requesting any payment information from consumers.

The disclosure must include names, business locations and relationships of all companies involved in the sale of the contract and the paying out of claims; as well as detailed information about what parts are covered, general exclusions, liability limits, consumers' obligations, price, refund procedures, mandatory arbitration and instructions on how consumers can cancel coverage at no cost in the first 20 business days after agreeing to purchase.

Representatives of the service contract industry said the lengthy disclosure could be confusing for consumers.

"We're a bit concerned with overwhelming consumers with too much information," said Rebecca Howard, a task force member who heads PayLink Payment Plans, a Chicago-based company that finances service contract purchases.

Kyle McEvoy, an owner of Chesterfield-based Automotive Product Consultants, said during a public-comment portion of the meeting that he tested how long it would take for his call center workers to read a disclosure statement that met Koster's criteria. He said it lasted more than 18 minutes — about three times longer than APC's current recap script.

Doug Ommen, Koster's consumer protection chief, said at the meeting that he understood industry's concerns that the lengthy disclosure might make it difficult to close a sale over the phone.

But, he said, that's the trade-off for unlicensed companies selling complicated coverage over the phone.

There was less discussion about Koster's suggestions for modifying Missouri's service contract law, which includes banning the word "warranty" from the names and marketing materials of service contract marketers and requiring state-licensed coverage providers to identify to the state any companies authorized to sell on their behalf.

Koster said the task force would issue final recommendations on how Missouri should change its service contract law in about two months.