Title 23, Title 23: Motor Vehicles

§ 304a. Special registration plates and placards for individuals with disabilities (a) As used in this section: (1) “Ambulatory disability” means an impairment that prevents or impedes walking. An individual shall be considered to have an ambulatory disability if the individual: …

§ 304b. Conservation motor vehicle registration plates (a) The Commissioner shall, upon application, issue conservation registration plates for use only on vehicles registered at the pleasure car rate, on motorcycles, on trucks registered for less than 26,001 pounds, and on vehic…

§ 304c. Motor vehicle registration plates: Building Bright Futures (a) The Commissioner shall, upon application, issue “Building Bright Futures” registration plates for use only on vehicles registered at the pleasure car rate, on trucks registered for less than 26,001 pounds, on …

§ 305. Registration periods (a) The Commissioner of Motor Vehicles shall issue registration certificates and number plates upon initial registration, and registration certificates for each succeeding renewal period of registration upon payment of the registration fee. Number plat…

§ 306. Title to number plates All number plates shall be the property of the State, and title shall not pass to a person registering a motor vehicle under the provisions of this title. (Amended 2019, No. 131 (Adj. Sess.), § 143.)

§ 307. Carrying of registration certificate; replacement and corrected certificates (a) An individual shall not operate a motor vehicle nor draw a trailer or semi-trailer unless all required registration certificates are carried in some easily accessible place in the motor vehicl…

§ 308. Suspension, revocation, and denial of registration; reinstatement fee (a) The Commissioner may suspend or revoke the registration of any motor vehicle registered in this State and repossess the number plates assigned to it, when he or she is satisfied that: (1) the vehicle…

§ 309. Registering motor vehicle of which applicant is not the owner A person who registers or attempts to register a motor vehicle, snowmobile, all-terrain vehicle, or motorboat of which he or she is not the bona fide owner, as defined in section 4 of this title, shall be fined …

§ 310. Loaning or permitting the use of number plates A person shall not loan or permit the use of the number plates assigned by the Commissioner to a motor vehicle owned by such person. (Amended 1971, No. 228 (Adj. Sess.), § 6.)

§ 311. Permits for nonregisterable vehicles (a) The Commissioner, for an annual fee of $2.00 and under such conditions as he or she may prescribe, may permit licensed operators to operate motor vehicles not otherwise registerable across a public highway; however, an unlicensed pe…

§ 312. Temporary registration pending issuance of certificate of title (a) In his or her discretion, the Commissioner may issue a temporary registration certificate to a person required to obtain a certificate of title in accordance with chapter 21 of this title upon payment of t…

§ 313. Commercial vehicle operation; denial of registration The Commissioner is authorized to refuse registration if a commercial motor vehicle is being operated by a commercial motor carrier that has been prohibited from operating in interstate commerce by an agency with authori…

§ 314. Commercial motor vehicles; registration; suspension or revocation The Commissioner is authorized to suspend or revoke the registration of a commercial motor vehicle if the commercial motor carrier responsible for safety has been prohibited from operating in interstate comm…

§ 321. Procedure upon transfer Upon the transfer of ownership of any registered motor vehicle, its registration shall expire. The person in whose name the transferred vehicle was registered shall immediately return to the Commissioner the registration certificate assigned to the …

§ 322. Failure to return certificate upon sale of vehicle Except as provided in section 321 of this title, a person shall return to the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles the registration certificate and number plates of any motor vehicle when the vehicle is sold or exchanged by the …

§ 323. Transfer fees A person who transfers the ownership of a registered motor vehicle to another, upon the filing of a new application and upon the payment of a fee of $30.00, may have registered in the person’s name another motor vehicle for the remainder of the registration p…

§ 324. Use of old number plates When ownership of a motor vehicle is transferred, the transferer may attach the registration number plates to another motor vehicle owned by him or her and register the same in accordance with the provisions of sections 321, 323, and 325 of this ti…

§ 325. Refund of part of old registration fee If the registration fee of the motor vehicle sought to be registered is less than the registration fee of the transferred motor vehicle, the Commissioner shall certify to the Commissioner of Finance and Management the facts pertinent …

§ 326. Refund upon loss of vehicle The Commissioner may cancel the registration of a motor vehicle when the owner of the motor vehicle proves to the Commissioner’s satisfaction that the motor vehicle has been totally destroyed by fire or, through crash or wear, has become wholly …

§ 327. Refund when plates not used Subject to the conditions set forth in subdivisions (1)–(4) of this section, the Commissioner may cancel the registration of a motor vehicle, snowmobile, or motorboat when the owner returns to the Commissioner either the number plates, if any, o…

§ 329. Refunds paid from motor vehicle fees The refunds mentioned in sections 325-327 of this title shall be paid from the fees turned into the State Treasury by the Department of Motor Vehicles. (Amended 2015, No. 47, § 10.)

§ 330. Transferring number plates (a) Upon the transfer of ownership of a vehicle, the registration number plates may be attached to another vehicle that is being leased by the registrant for a period greater than 30 days. The lessor shall become the registrant. (b) Upon the term…

§ 361. Pleasure cars [Effective upon contingency being met; see also 23 V.S.A. § 361 effective January 1, 2025 and until contingency met, set out above] (a) The annual registration fee for a pleasure car, as defined in subdivision 4(28) of this title, including a pleasure car tha…

§ 362. Specialized fuel motor vehicles and motor buses (a) The annual registration fee for any specialized fuel driven motor vehicle, as defined in subdivision 4(22) of this title, and of motor buses, as defined in section 3002 of this title, shall be one and three-quarters times…

§ 363. Converted motor vehicle When a motor vehicle of the pleasure car type is built over or converted into a motor vehicle designed for carrying merchandise or freight, such motor vehicle shall be registered at the pleasure car rate or at the truck rate as the Commissioner may,…

§ 364. Motorcycles The annual fee for registration of a motorcycle, with or without sidecar, shall be $56.00. (Amended 1981, No. 87, § 7; 1989, No. 51, § 17; 1989, No. 268 (Adj. Sess.), § 2, eff. June 21, 1990; 2001, No. 102 (Adj. Sess.), § 10, eff. May 15, 2002; 2005, No. 175 (A…

§ 364a. Motor-driven cycles: registration; financial responsibility (a) The annual fee for registration of a motor-driven cycle shall be $34.00. (b) Motor-driven cycle operators shall be subject to the provisions of section 801 of this title, which requires, in certain cases, tha…

§ 364b. All-surface vehicles; registration (a) The annual fee for registration of an all-surface vehicle (ASV) shall be the sum of the fees established by sections 3305 and 3504 of this title, plus $32.00. (b) Evidence of the registration shall be a registration certificate and t…

§ 365. Hearse or ambulance The annual fee for registration of a hearse or ambulance, except ambulances owned by a municipality and used for police patrol purposes, shall be based on the pleasure car rate.

§ 367. Trucks (a)(1) The annual fee for registration of tractors, truck-tractors, or motor trucks except truck cranes, truck shovels, road oilers, bituminous distributors, and farm trucks used as specified in subsection (f) of this section shall be based on the total weight of th…

§ 367a. Special purpose truck plates; penalties The misuse of a vehicle registered under the provisions of a special purpose truck plate under the provisions of section 367 of this title shall be a traffic violation as defined in section 2302 of this title and shall be punishable…

§ 367b. Use of wreckers A motor truck that is registered as a wrecker may tow a motor vehicle on the highway without the towed vehicle being required to be registered. (Added 2007, No. 20, § 3.)

§ 368. Misuse of farm registration (a) A person shall not operate or move upon a highway a motor truck registered as a farm truck: (1) with a gross weight, including load and vehicle, exceeding the weight for which it is registered under section 367 of this title; or (2) for any …

§ 369. Tractors other than farm tractors The annual fee for registration of a tractor, except farm tractors as otherwise provided in this chapter, shall be based on the actual weight of such tractor at the same rate as that provided for trucks of like weight under the provisions …

§ 370. Farm trucks, tractors, and trailers (a) Notwithstanding any other provisions of law relating to registration fees for motor vehicles or trailers, farm tractors and farm trailers may be operated on the highway without being subject to a registration fee. (b) Subsection (a) …

§ 371. Trailer and semi-trailer (a)(1) The one-year and two-year fees for registration of a trailer or semi-trailer, except a contractor’s trailer or farm trailer, shall be as follows: (A) $33.00 and $62.00, respectively, when such trailer or semi-trailer has a gross weight of tr…

§ 371a. Exemptions from registration (a) Notwithstanding any other provisions of law relating to registration fees for trailers, the following shall be exempt from registration: (1) wood splitters; and (2) pole dinkeys. (b) When any such trailer is used upon a public highway it s…

§ 372. Motor bus The annual fee for registration of a motor bus shall be based on the actual weight of such bus, plus passenger carrying capacity at 150 pounds per person, and shall be $2.40 per 100 pounds of such weight, except for motor buses registered under section 372a or 37…

§ 372a. Local transit public transportation service (a) The annual registration fee for any motor bus used in local transit or public transportation service shall be $75.00, except for those vehicles owned by a municipality for such service that are subject to the provisions of s…

§ 373. Exhibition vehicles; year of manufacture plates (a) The annual fee for the registration of a motor vehicle that is maintained for use in exhibitions, club activities, parades, and other functions of public interest and that is not used for general daily transportation of p…

§ 374. Jitney The annual fee for registration of a jitney designed to carry not more than seven persons, including the operator, shall be the same as is required for the registration of a motor vehicle of the pleasure car type. When a jitney is designed to carry more than seven p…

§ 376. State, municipal, fire department, and rescue organization motor vehicles (a) A fee shall not be charged for registration of motor vehicles owned by the State. (b) The fee for registration of a motor vehicle owned by any municipality in this State and used entirely by it o…

§ 377. Government-owned vehicles The Commissioner shall have authority to issue registration certificates and registration number plates without charge to passenger car vehicles, not otherwise required to be registered under the provisions of this title, owned by the U.S. governm…

§ 378. Veterans’ exemptions No fees, including the annual emissions fee required pursuant to 3 V.S.A. § 2822(m)(1) and the electric vehicle infrastructure fees required pursuant to section 361 of this subchapter, shall be charged to a veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces who received…

§ 381. Fees turned over to State Treasurer (a) Except as otherwise provided, all fees for registering motor vehicles, licensing operators, and all other motor vehicle fees shall be collected by the Commissioner and immediately paid into the State Treasury or deposited to a bank t…

§ 382. Diesel-powered pleasure cars Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the annual registration fee for a pleasure car or tractor, truck-tractor, or motor truck up to 6,000 pounds powered by fuel as defined in section 3002 of this title shall be $89.00, and the biennial f…