Chapter 17A, Chapter 17A

(a) In accordance with the provisions of sections four hundred eight-a and four hundred eight-e of the Motor Vehicle Information and Cost Savings Act, Public Law 92-513, the transferor of a motor vehicle must complete the odometer disclosure form on the certificate of title or a …

(a) The commissioner may cancel a certificate of title for a mobile or manufactured home affixed to the real property of the owner of the mobile or manufactured home. The person requesting the cancellation shall submit to the commissioner an application for cancellation together …

Every registration card shall at all times be carried in the vehicle to which it refers or shall be carried by the person driving or in control of such vehicle who shall display the same upon demand of a police officer or any officer or employee of the division. Carrying and disp…

(a) The division, upon registering a vehicle, shall issue to the owner one registration plate with a registration number consisting of a combination of letters, numerals, symbols, or characters in a configuration determined by the commissioner. (b) Registration plates shall meet …

(a) The Governor shall be issued two registration plates, on one of which shall be imprinted the numeral one and on the other the word one. (b) State officials and judges may be issued special registration plates as follows: (1) Upon appropriate application, the division shall is…

(a) The division may continue to issue special plates for any plate class authorized by enactments of §17A-3-14 of this code prior to the year 2023 for active, retired, or honorably discharged military personnel, or the next of kin of a member of any branch of the armed services …

Specially arranged registration plates for plate classes and special registration plate types authorized by the commissioner may be issued as follows: (1) Upon appropriate application, any owner of a motor vehicle subject to registration, may request that the division issue a reg…

(a) The division may issue special plates to disabled veterans, recipients of the distinguished Purple Heart medal, recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor, recipients of the Distinguished Service Cross, Navy Cross, and Air Force Cross, or veteran survivors of the attack o…

(a) The division may continue to issue all special registration plates to organizations issued under a prior enactment of §17A-3-14 of this code. (b) An organization requesting the creation and issuance of a special registration plate shall make application with the division. The…

(a) The division may issue special 10-year registration plates as follows for any registration plate exempted from registration fees pursuant to any provision of this code or any restricted use antique motor vehicle license plate authorized by §17A-10-3a of this code: Provided, T…

(a) The division may issue special emergency or volunteer registration plates as follows: (1) Any owner of a motor vehicle who is a resident of the state of West Virginia and who is a certified paramedic or emergency medical technician, member of a paid fire department, member of…

(a) The division may issue new special themed registration plates at the discretion of the commissioner and may continue to issue any special themed registration plate authorized under a prior enactment of §17A-3-14 of this code. The commissioner may discontinue the issuance or r…

(a) For all registration plates authorized pursuant to the provisions of §17A-3-14a, §17A-3-14b, §17A-3-14c, §17A-3-14d, §17A-3-14e, §17A-3-14f, §17A-3-14g, and §17A-3-14h, the division is not required to keep a stockpile of such plates, but may create a process for the issuance …

(a) Registration plates issued for vehicles required to be registered under this article shall be attached to the rear of the vehicles except that on truck tractors and road tractors designed and constructed to pull trailers or semitrailers, the registration plate shall be mounte…

Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, any person who is a disabled veteran from the United States Armed Forces or who was awarded the Purple Heart, may park at any metered parking space in any municipality in this state without being required to deposit any sum of…

(a) Every vehicle registration under this chapter and every registration card and registration plate issued under this chapter expires at midnight on the last day of the month designated by the commissioner: Provided, That the commissioner may extend the period during which the r…

(a) Application for renewal of a vehicle registration shall be made by the vehicle owner by proper application and payment of taxes and registration fees provided by law. (b) The division may receive applications for renewal of any vehicle registration and each sheriff shall rece…

The division may authorize a motor vehicle dealer as defined and licensed in accordance with the provisions of article six of this chapter to issue or transfer motor vehicle registration plates upon the sale of any motor vehicle in compliance with the provisions of section one-b,…

(a) Whenever any person after making application for or obtaining the registration of a vehicle or a certificate of title shall move from the address named in the application or shown upon a registration card or certificate of title the person shall within ten days thereafter not…

In the event any registration card or registration plate is lost, mutilated, or becomes illegible the owner or legal representative or successor in interest of the owner of the vehicle for which the same was issued as shown by the records of the department shall immediately make …

(a) Every owner of a motor vehicle, trailer or other vehicle, shall, within thirty days after taking up residence in the state, apply to the division and obtain registration and title for the vehicle. (b) For the purposes of this chapter there is a rebuttable presumption that a n…

Before a motor vehicle not originally manufactured in accordance with the laws and regulations of the United States Clean Air Act and the Motor Vehicle Safety Act can be sold to a consumer in this state, the seller must provide the purchaser with full written disclosure of all mo…

(a) Every motor vehicle, trailer, semitrailer, pole trailer, and recreational vehicle when driven or moved upon a highway is subject to the registration and certificate of title provisions of this chapter except: (1) Any vehicle driven or moved upon a highway in conformance with …

The department may assign a distinguishing number to a motor vehicle whenever the serial number thereon is destroyed or obliterated and issue to the owner a special plate bearing such distinguishing number which shall be affixed to the vehicle in a position to be determined by th…

The commissioner is authorized to adopt and enforce such registration rules and regulations as may be deemed necessary and compatible with the public interest with respect to the change or substitution of one engine in place of another in any motor vehicle.

The commissioner shall annually, following a renewal of registration, compile and publish in books or bulletins a list of all registered vehicles and shall thereafter compile and publish monthly supplements thereto. The list of registered vehicles shall be arranged serially accor…

(a) Any motor vehicle designed to carry passengers, owned or leased by the State of West Virginia, or any of its departments, bureaus, commissions, or institutions, except vehicles used by the Governor, Treasurer, not to exceed eight vehicles operated by investigators of the Offi…

(a) The Governor may authorize the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles or his or her designee to waive temporarily any requirements under the provisions of this chapter, or any other provision of this code relating to any permits, authorizations or licenses required to operate a motor…

(a) On or before July 1, 2018, the commissioner shall coordinate with the Fleet Management Division established pursuant to §5A-12-1 et seq. of this code and the Enterprise Resource Planning Board established pursuant to §12-6D-1 et seq. of this code and other applicable agencies…

Beginning January 1, 2019, any state vehicle in this state with a green state license plate with white lettering is in violation of this article.

On or before December 31, 2019, the Legislative Auditor, in accordance with §4-10-1 et seq. of this code, shall audit the Division of Motor Vehicles for compliance with the State Vehicle Title, Registration, and Relicensing Project of 2018. The Legislative Auditor may make recomm…

(a) A nonresident vehicle is not required to be registered pursuant to §17A-3-2 of this code: Provided, That a nonresident vehicle may be registered in this state and be issued a West Virginia registration plate upon payment of all applicable fees to the division. For purposes of…

Every owner of a vehicle subject to registration under this article shall make application to the division for the registration of the vehicle upon the appropriate form or forms furnished by the division and every application shall bear the signature of the owner or his or her au…

(a) Before any imported vehicle which has not previously been titled or registered in the United States may be titled in this state, the applicant must submit: (1) A manufacturer's certificate of origin issued by the actual vehicle manufacturer together with a notarized translati…

(a) Certificates of registration and renewal of registration of any vehicle or registration plates for any vehicle may not be issued or furnished by the Division of Motor Vehicles, or any other officer charged with the duty, unless the applicant for the certificate or registratio…

If, on information and belief the assessor has reason to believe that a motor vehicle has not been properly registered in this state in violation of the provisions of section one of this article, he or she shall give notice by posting on the vehicle a notice advising the owner of…

(a) Certificates of registration of any vehicle or registration plates for the vehicle, whether original issues or duplicates, may not be issued or furnished by the Division of Motor Vehicles or any other officer or agent charged with the duty, unless the applicant already has re…

(a) In the event the vehicle to be registered is specially constructed, reconstructed, or a foreign vehicle, such fact shall be stated in the application and with reference to every foreign vehicle which has been registered heretofore outside of this state the owner shall surrend…

The department in its discretion may grant a temporary permit to operate a vehicle for which application for registration and certificate of title has been made where such application is accompanied by the proper fee, pending action upon said application by the department.

The division shall refuse registration or issuance of a certificate of title or any transfer of registration upon any of the following grounds: (1) That the application contains any false or fraudulent statement or that the applicant has failed to furnish required information or …

The department, upon receiving application for original registration of a vehicle or any certificate of title, shall first check the manufacturer's serial or identification number shown in the application against the indexes of registered motor vehicles and against the index of s…

The department shall file each application received and when satisfied as to the genuineness and regularity thereof, and that the applicant is entitled to register such vehicle and to the issuance of a certificate of title shall register the vehicle therein described and keep a r…

The division upon receiving an application for a certificate of title to a vehicle, trailer, semitrailer, pole trailer, factory-built home or recreational vehicle for which a certificate of title is required under article three of this chapter, all of which are hereinafter in thi…

Whenever the owner of a registered vehicle transfers or assigns his or her title, or interest thereto, the registration of such vehicle shall expire: Provided, That such owner, if he or she has made application to the department within sixty days from the date of purchase to have…

The Division of Motor Vehicles is hereby authorized to charge a fee of $10 for the recording of any lien either in an electronic or paper format created by the voluntary act of the owner and endorsing it upon the title certificate issued pursuant to this article. The Division of …

(a) In the event a motor vehicle is determined to be a total loss or otherwise designated as totaled by an insurance company or insurer, and upon payment of a total loss claim to an insured or claimant owner for the purchase of the vehicle, the insurance company or the insurer, a…

The exercise by the lienor of the rights and privileges in this article given him shall not in and of itself give rise to a cause of action against such lienor for damages resulting from any act or omission of the registered and beneficial owner of the vehicle in said registered …

(a) The Legislature finds that continuing advances in digital title technology have improved and are expected to continue to improve such that the Division of Motor Vehicles can produce a secure digital title with an efficiency that is sought by businesses in other states. The Le…

The provisions of this article shall not be construed so as to require common-law mechanic's liens or repairman's liens, or the lien of an improver or bailee as provided in article eleven, chapter thirty-eight of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, to be shown on the cer…

The provisions of this article shall not apply to the recording of a lien or liens which are created only upon tires, radios, heaters, or other vehicle accessories.