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168A.01 Definitions.

Subdivision 1. Scope. For the purposes of sections 168A.01 to 168A.31, the terms defined in this section have the meanings given them, except when the context otherwise requires.

Subd. 2. Dealer. "Dealer" has the meaning given it in section 168.27, subdivision 1.

Subd. 3. Department. "Department" means the registrar of motor vehicles of this state.

Subd. 4. Essential parts. "Essential parts" means all integral and body parts of a vehicle of a type for which a certificate of title is required hereunder, the removal, alteration, or substitution of which would tend to conceal the identity of the vehicle or substantially alter its appearance, model, type or mode of operation.

Subd. 5. Established place of business. "Established place of business" means the place actually occupied either continuously or at regular periods by a dealer or manufacturer where books and records of business are kept and a large share of business is transacted.

Subd. 6. Out-of-state vehicle. "Out-of-state vehicle" means every vehicle of a type for which a certificate of title is required hereunder brought into this state from another state, territory, or country other than in the ordinary course of business by or through a manufacturer or dealer and not registered in this state.

Subd. 6a. High value vehicle. "High value vehicle" means a vehicle manufactured six or more years before the start of the current model year that had an actual cash value in excess of $5,000 before being damaged, or a vehicle with a manufacturer's rating of over 26,000 pounds gross vehicle weight.

Subd. 7. Identifying number. "Identifying number" means the numbers, and letters, if any, on a vehicle designated by the department for the purpose of identifying the vehicle.

Subd. 8. Implement of husbandry. (a) "Implement of husbandry" means every vehicle, including a farm tractor and farm wagon, designed or adapted exclusively for agricultural, horticultural, or livestock raising operations or for lifting or carrying an implement of husbandry and in either case not subject to registration if used upon the highways.

(b) A towed vehicle meeting the description in paragraph (a) is an implement of husbandry without regard to whether the vehicle is towed by an implement of husbandry or by a registered motor vehicle.

(c) A self-propelled motor vehicle used in livestock raising operations is an implement of husbandry only if it is:

(1) owned by or under the control of a farmer;

(2) operated at speeds not exceeding 30 miles per hour; and

(3) displaying the slow-moving vehicle emblem described in section 169.522.

Subd. 8a. Late model vehicle. "Late model vehicle" means a vehicle manufactured in the current model year or the five model years immediately preceding the current model year.

Subd. 8b. Junking certificate. "Junking certificate" means a receipt issued by the department's driver and vehicle services division when a vehicle is declared unrepairable under section 168A.151.

Subd. 9. Mail. "Mail" means to deposit in the United States mail, properly addressed and with postage prepaid.

Subd. 10. Manufacturer. "Manufacturer" means every person engaged in the business of constructing or assembling vehicles of a type for which a certificate of title is required hereunder.

Subd. 11. Manufacturer's or importer's certificate of origin. "Manufacturer's or importer's certificate of origin" means a certificate over the authorized signature of the manufacturer or importer of a vehicle, describing and identifying the vehicle, giving the name and address of the person to whom the vehicle is first sold by the manufacturer or importer, and containing assignments, duly executed, assigning the same to an applicant for a certificate of title on the vehicle in this state.

Subd. 12. Nonresident. "Nonresident" means every person who is not a resident of this state.

Subd. 12a. Older model vehicle. "Older model vehicle" means a vehicle manufactured in the sixth model year immediately preceding the current model year or earlier that is not a high value vehicle.

Subd. 13. Owner. "Owner" means a person, other than a secured party, having the property in or title to a vehicle. The term includes a person entitled to the use and possession of a vehicle subject to a security interest in another person, but excludes a lessee under a lease not intended as security.

Subd. 14. Person. "Person" means an individual, firm, copartnership, association, corporation, or governmental organization.

Subd. 15. Previously registered vehicle. "Previously registered vehicle" means a vehicle registered in this state on October 1, 1972 or a vehicle whose last registration before October 1, 1972 was in this state.

Subd. 16. Reconstructed vehicle. "Reconstructed vehicle" means a vehicle of a type for which a certificate of title is required hereunder materially altered from its original construction by the removal, addition, or substitution of essential parts, new or used.

Subd. 17. Registration. "Registration" means the registration certificate or certificates and registration plates issued under the laws of this state pertaining to the registration of vehicles.

Subd. 17a. Salvage title. "Salvage title" means a certificate of title that is issued to a vehicle declared a repairable total loss vehicle under section 168A.151 and includes an existing certificate of title that has been stamped with the legend "salvage certificate of title" in accordance with section 168A.151.

Subd. 17b. Salvage vehicle. "Salvage vehicle" means a vehicle that has a salvage certificate of title.

Subd. 17c. Secure reassignment. "Secure reassignment" means a separate form that (1) may be used by a dealer to assign and warrant title to a vehicle; (2) is prescribed by the department; and (3) contains security features complying with the Motor Vehicle Information and Cost Savings Act, as amended, codified at United States Code, title 49, chapter 327, and regulations of the United States Department of Transportation adopted under that act.

Subd. 18. Secured party. "Secured party" means a secured party as defined in section 336.9-102(a)(72) having a security interest in a vehicle.

Subd. 19. Security agreement. "Security agreement" means a security agreement as defined in section 336.9-102(a)(73).

Subd. 20. Security interest. "Security interest" means a security interest as defined in section 336.1-201(37). A security interest is "perfected" when it is valid against third parties generally, subject only to specific statutory exception.

Subd. 21. Special mobile equipment. "Special mobile equipment" means every vehicle not designed or used primarily for the transportation of persons or property and only incidentally operated or moved over a highway, including but not limited to: Ditch digging apparatus, well boring apparatus, moving dollies, sawing machines, corn shellers, and road construction and maintenance machinery such as asphalt spreaders, bituminous mixers, bucket loaders, tractors other than truck tractors, ditchers, leveling graders, finishing machines, motor graders, road rollers, scarifiers, earth moving carryalls and scrapers, power shovels and drag lines, and self-propelled cranes and earth moving equipment. The term does not include travel trailers, dump trucks, truck mounted transit mixers, truck mounted feed grinders, or other vehicles designed for the transportation of persons or property to which machinery has been attached.

Subd. 22. Specially constructed vehicle. "Specially constructed vehicle" means every vehicle of a type for which a certificate of title is required hereunder not originally constructed under a distinctive name, make, model, or type by a generally recognized manufacturer of vehicles and not materially altered from its original construction.

Subd. 23. State. "State" means a state, territory or possession of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or a province of the Dominion of Canada.

Subd. 24. Vehicle. "Vehicle" means every device in, upon, or by which any person or property is or may be transported or drawn upon a highway, excepting devices moved by human power or used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks, but including motorized bicycles as defined in section 168.011, subdivision 27.

HIST: 1971 c 162 s 1; 1977 c 214 s 5; 1979 c 50 s 17,18; 1986 c 444; 1988 c 496 s 12-17; 1989 c 342 s 13; 1993 c 93 s 1-3; 1997 c 143 s 4; 1998 c 285 s 3; 1998 c 405 s 3; 2001 c 195 art 2 s 5,6

Official Publication of the State of Minnesota
Revisor of Statutes