Title 55, Motor and Other Vehicles

(a) “Manufactured home” has the same meaning as defined in 42 U.S.C. § 5402(6). (b) “Mobile home or house trailer” means any vehicle or conveyance, not self-propelled, designed for travel upon the public highways, and designed for use as a residence, office, apartment, storehouse…

(a) “Essential parts” means all integral and body parts of a vehicle of a type required to be registered 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 o…

“Foreign vehicle” means every vehicle of a type required to be registered 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.

“Implement of husbandry” means every vehicle which is designed for agricultural purposes and exclusively used by the owner thereof in the conduct of the owner's agricultural operations, but does not include any truck, truck-tractor or farm truck whenever such vehicle is driven up…

“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 or street, including, but not limited to: ditch-digging apparatus and road construction and maintenan…

(a) “Metal tire” means every tire, the surface of which in contact with the highway is wholly or partly of metal or other hard, nonresilient materials. (b) “Pneumatic tire” means every tire in which compressed air is designed to support the load. (c) “Solid tire” means every tire…

(1) As used in chapters 1-6 of this title, unless the context otherwise requires:(1) “Commissioner” means the commissioner of revenue; and(2) “Department” means the department of revenue. (1) “Commissioner” means the commissioner of revenue; and (2) “Department” means the departm…

(a) “Lienor” means any person who holds any lien, mortgage, conditional sales contract or other encumbrance against a vehicle. (b) “Owner” means a person who holds the legal title of a vehicle, or in the event a vehicle is the subject of an agreement for the conditional sale or l…

“Nonresident” means every person who is not a resident of this state.

(a) “Dealer” means every person licensed by the proper state authorities to engage in the business of buying, selling, or exchanging vehicles of a type required to be registered hereunder and who has an established place of business for such purpose in this state. (b) “Manufactur…

The place actually occupied, either continuously or at regular periods, by a dealer or manufacturer, where such dealer's or manufacturer's books and records are kept and a large share of business is transacted, is deemed to be the established place of business for the purpose of …

“Highway” or “street” means the entire width between boundary lines of every way publicly maintained, when any part thereof is open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel.

“Fixed load vehicle” means any vehicle not designed or used to carry, convey or move any freight, property, article or thing over the highways, except its own weight of any equipment, appliance or apparatus constructed as a part of, or permanently attached to, the body of the veh…

“Freight” means any kind of property which may be carried by motor vehicle over the streets and highways by either public or private carrier.

(a) “Farm truck” means any truck motor vehicle used by the owner in connection with the agricultural pursuits usual and normal to the owner's farming operations, such as the transportation of products of the soil, livestock, poultry, seed, or any materials to be used by the owner…

“Gross weight” means the weight of a vehicle without load, plus the weight of any load thereon, which, more specifically, includes the total weights of a truck or a truck-tractor and a semitrailer, trailer or pole trailer, or any combination of such vehicles, including the load t…

(a) “Odometer” means an instrument for measuring and recording the actual distance a motor vehicle travels while in operation. (b) “Odometer” does not include any auxiliary odometer designed to be reset by the operator of the motor vehicle for the purpose of recording mileage on …

“Low speed vehicle” means any four-wheeled electric or gasoline vehicle, excluding golf carts, whose top speed is greater than twenty miles per hour (20 mph) but not greater than twenty-five miles per hour (25 mph), including neighborhood electric vehicles. Low speed vehicles mus…

“Golf cart” means a motor vehicle that is designed and manufactured for operation on a golf course for sporting or recreational purposes and equipped with safety belts installed for use in the left front and right front seats and that is not capable of exceeding speeds of twenty …

“Custom-built car” means a motor vehicle that is built for private use and is not constructed by a licensed manufacturer or remanufacturer.

“Medium speed vehicle” means any four-wheeled electric or gasoline-powered vehicle, excluding golf carts, whose top speed is greater than thirty miles per hour (30 mph), but whose maximum speed allowed is thirty-five miles per hour (35 mph) only on streets with a forty mile per h…

(a) “OEM headquarters company” means an original equipment manufacturer that is engaged in the business of manufacturing motor vehicles and qualifies to receive the credit provided in § 67-6-224, or any affiliate thereof. For purposes of this subsection (a), “affiliate” has the s…

Except as otherwise specifically provided by law, chapters 1-6 of this title shall be administered by the commissioner of revenue. The commissioner of revenue shall have the authority to delegate to the county clerks any functions and duties regarding the administration of chapte…

(a) The commissioner shall appoint deputies, subordinate officers, clerks, investigators, and other employees who may be necessary to carry out chapters 1 - 6 of this title. (b) Employees of the special investigations section who have been designated by the commissioner to enforc…

(a) The commissioner, in addition to all the powers and duties vested by law, is vested with the power and is charged with the duty of observing, administering and enforcing chapters 1-6 of this title. (b) The commissioner is authorized to adopt and enforce rules and regulations …

The commissioner shall prescribe and provide suitable forms of applications, certificates of title, and all other forms requisite or deemed necessary to carry out chapters 1-6 of this title.

(a) Officers and employees of the department designated by the commissioner are, for the purpose of administering the motor vehicle laws, authorized to administer oaths and acknowledge signatures, and shall do so without fee. (b) The commissioner and officers of the department th…

The commissioner and the county clerk are authorized to charge a reasonable fee for such services, not to exceed one dollar ($1.00) for each person or vehicle on which the information is requested.

The department shall examine and determine the genuineness, regularity, and legality of every application for a certificate of registration or title for a vehicle and of any other application lawfully made to the department, and may in all cases make investigation as may be neces…

(a) The department is authorized to take possession of any certificate of title, certificate of registration, permit or license or license plate issued by the department or by any county clerk, if that document or plate is fictitious, has been issued in error or unlawfully, conta…

If the commissioner of safety publishes a synopsis or summary of the laws of this state regulating the operation of vehicles, and provides copies of the published synopsis or summary to the commissioner of revenue, and requests that a copy be delivered with each certificate of ti…

(a) The commissioner and officers of the department designated by the commissioner have the authority to summon witnesses to give testimony under oath or to give written depositions upon any matter under the jurisdiction of the department. Each summons may require the production …

Whenever the department is authorized or required to give any notice under chapters 1-6 of this title, unless a different method of giving notice is otherwise expressly prescribed, notice shall be given either by personal delivery to the person to be notified or by registered mai…

Funds received by the department from the increase in the state fee for certificates of title authorized by chapter 276 of the Public Acts of 1989, amending § 55-6-101, shall be used solely for the purpose of strengthening and improving the processing, review and examination of c…

(a) The commissioner is authorized, but not required, to accept credit cards, debit cards or other similar financial transaction cards in payment of any taxes or fees due in connection with the titling or registration of motor vehicles, and the commissioner may adopt reasonable p…

Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary, when chapters 1-6 of this title require that any document be filed, submitted, or retained in paper, microfiche, or any other nondigital format, the commissioner is authorized to permit the filing, submission, or retention of such do…

(a) The commissioner is authorized to coordinate with original equipment manufacturers that have issued a major recall and have requested assistance from the department, including those manufacturers that have issued a recall related to airbags manufactured and installed in vehic…

(a) Every motor vehicle or motorized bicycle, as defined in chapter 8 of this title, and every trailer, semitrailer, and pole trailer, when driven or moved upon a highway, and every mobile home or house trailer, when occupied, shall be subject to the registration and certificate …

(a) (1) It is a Class C misdemeanor for any person to:(A) Drive or move or for any owner knowingly to permit to be driven or moved on any highway any vehicle of a type required to be registered under chapters 1-6 of this title that is not registered or for which the appropriate f…

(a) Every owner of a vehicle, subject to registration under this title, for which no certificate of title has ever been issued by the department, shall make application to the county clerk of the county where the vehicle is to be registered, or directly to the registrar of motor …

(a) In the event a vehicle for which an application for a certificate of title is made is a specially constructed, reconstructed or foreign vehicle, this fact shall be stated in the application and with reference to every foreign vehicle that has been registered outside of this s…

It is unlawful for a county clerk to accept an application for a certificate of title as provided for in chapters 1-6 of this title, unless the applicant presents evidence that a sales or use tax at the rate specified in title 67, chapter 6, part 2 and § 67-6-501 has been paid on…

Section 55-3-105 does not apply to applications filed for motor vehicles belonging to the United States, the state of Tennessee, or any of its political subdivisions, or to any nonprofit institution exempt from the payment of the sales or use tax under title 67, chapter 6, part 3…

Except as indicated in § 55-3-106, the commissioner shall issue a certificate to an applicant, which may be used by the applicant to file an application for a certificate of title when it appears that the applicant is not required to pay any sales or use tax on any motor vehicle …

It is unlawful for any person to alter or to indicate on any bill of sale or any other documents that a sales or use tax has been paid when the tax has in fact not been paid.

A violation of §§ 55-3-105 – 55-3-108 is a Class C misdemeanor.