1998 Minnesota Statutes

     168A.17 Security interest. 

    Subdivision 1.    Validity.  Unless excepted by section 
 168A.16, a security interest in a vehicle of a type for which a 
 certificate of title is required is not valid against creditors 
 of the owner or subsequent transferees or secured parties of the 
 vehicle unless perfected as provided in sections 168A.01 to 
 168A.31. 

    Subd. 1a.    Leases that are not sales or security 
 interests.  Notwithstanding any other provision of sections 
 168A.01 to 168A.31 or other law, in the case of a lease 
 agreement with respect to a vehicle other than a vehicle used 
 primarily for personal, family, or household purposes, the 
 determination whether the lease agreement constitutes a lease 
 and does not create a conditional sale or security interest 
 shall be governed by the stated intent of the parties set forth 
 in the lease agreement, unless it can be shown by a 
 preponderance of the evidence that the terms of the lease 
 agreement cannot be reconciled with the stated intent.  In no 
 event shall the lease agreement be deemed to create a 
 conditional sale or security interest merely because it permits 
 or requires the amount of rental payments to be adjusted upward 
 or downward by reference to the amount realized by the lessor 
 upon sale or disposition of the vehicle. 

    Subd. 2.    Perfection.  A security interest is 
 perfected by the delivery to the department of the existing 
 certificate of title, if any, an application for a certificate 
 of title containing the name and address of the secured party, 
 the date of the secured party's security agreement and the 
 required fee.  It is perfected as of the time of its creation if 
 the delivery is completed within ten days thereafter; otherwise 
 as of the time of the delivery. 

    Subd. 3.    Interests created in other states.  If a 
 vehicle is subject to a security interest when brought into this 
 state, the validity of the security interest is determined by 
 the law of the jurisdiction where the vehicle was when the 
 security interest attached, subject to the following: 

    (1) If the parties understood at the time the security 
 interest attached that the vehicle would be kept in this state 
 and it was brought into this state within 30 days thereafter for 
 purposes other than transportation through this state, then the 
 validity of the security interest in this state is determined by 
 the law of this state.  

    (2) If the security interest was already perfected under 
 the law of the jurisdiction where the vehicle was when the 
 security interest attached, the following rules apply: 

    (a) If the name of the secured party is shown on an 
 existing certificate of title issued by that jurisdiction, the 
 party's security interest continues perfected in this state. 

    (b) If the name of the secured party is not shown on an 
 existing certificate of title issued by that jurisdiction, the 
 security interest continues perfected in this state for four 
 months after a first certificate of title of the vehicle is 
 issued in this state, and also thereafter if within the four 
 month period it is perfected in this state.  The security 
 interest may also be perfected in this state after the 
 expiration of the four-month period; in that case perfection 
 dates from the time of perfection in this state.  

    (3) If the security interest was not perfected under the 
 law of the jurisdiction where the vehicle was when the security 
 interest attached, it may be perfected in this state; in that 
 case perfection dates from the time of perfection in this state. 

    (4) A security interest may be perfected under clause 
 (2)(b) or (3), either as provided in subdivision 2, or by the 
 secured party delivering to the department a notice of security 
 interest in the form the department prescribes, and the required 
 fee.  

    HIST: 1971 c 162 s 17; 1986 c 444; 1989 c 174 s 1; 1989 c 232 
 art 2 s 1; 1989 c 356 s 21