Connecticut General Statutes 14-58 – Application. General registration of motor vehicles. Documents to be issued to drivers. Photostatic copies of registration certificate as proof of ownership. Return of void number plates. Penalty
(a) Each new car dealer, used car dealer or repairer before engaging in such business shall make a separate sworn application to the commissioner for a license to engage in such business in each place of business conducted by such dealer. The application shall include any information that may be required by the commissioner on blanks to be furnished by said commissioner. Each application shall be accompanied by a fee of one hundred forty dollars for each place of business conducted by the applicant, together with the fee for the type of license for which the applicant is making application, and such fee or fees shall not be subject to prorating and shall not be subject to refund. No such license shall be transferable. When such licensee adds buildings or adjacent land to such licensee’s licensed place of business, the commissioner may require the licensee to furnish satisfactory evidence of compliance with the provisions of section 14-54, or with other applicable provisions of law, administered by the municipality wherein such business is located, concerning building or zoning requirements. When a change of officers of a corporation engaged in such business is made, a notice of the change shall be sent to the commissioner within a period of fifteen days from the date of the change. The commissioner may suspend the license of any corporation, after notice and hearing, when the newly appointed or elected officers cannot be considered as qualified to conduct the business as provided in section 14-51.
Terms Used In Connecticut General Statutes 14-58
- Commissioner: includes the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles and any assistant to the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles who is designated and authorized by, and who is acting for, the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles under a designation. See Connecticut General Statutes 14-1
- Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
- Dealer: includes any person actively engaged in buying, selling or exchanging motor vehicles or trailers who has an established place of business in this state and who may, incidental to such business, repair motor vehicles or trailers, or cause them to be repaired by persons in his or her employ. See Connecticut General Statutes 14-1
- Employee: means any operator of a commercial motor vehicle, including full-time, regularly employed drivers, casual, intermittent or occasional drivers, drivers under contract and independent owner-operator contractors, who, while in the course of operating a commercial motor vehicle, are either directly employed by, or are under contract to, an employer. See Connecticut General Statutes 14-1
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Highway: includes any state or other public highway, road, street, avenue, alley, driveway, parkway, place or dedicated roadway for bus rapid transit service, under the control of the state or any political subdivision of the state, dedicated, appropriated or opened to public travel or other use. See Connecticut General Statutes 14-1
- Motor vehicle: means any vehicle propelled or drawn by any nonmuscular power, except aircraft, motor boats, road rollers, baggage trucks used about railroad stations or other mass transit facilities, electric battery-operated wheel chairs when operated by persons with physical disabilities at speeds not exceeding fifteen miles per hour, golf carts operated on highways solely for the purpose of crossing from one part of the golf course to another, golf-cart-type vehicles operated on roads or highways on the grounds of state institutions by state employees, agricultural tractors, farm implements, such vehicles as run only on rails or tracks, self-propelled snow plows, snow blowers and lawn mowers, when used for the purposes for which they were designed and operated at speeds not exceeding four miles per hour, whether or not the operator rides on or walks behind such equipment, motor-driven cycles, as defined in section 14-286, special mobile equipment, as defined in section 14-165, mini-motorcycles, as defined in section 14-289j, electric bicycles, electric foot scooters and any other vehicle not suitable for operation on a highway. See Connecticut General Statutes 14-1
- Number plate: means any sign or marker furnished by the commissioner on which is displayed the registration number assigned to a motor vehicle by the commissioner. See Connecticut General Statutes 14-1
- Person: includes any individual, corporation, limited liability company, association, copartnership, company, firm, business trust or other aggregation of individuals but does not include the state or any political subdivision thereof, unless the context clearly states or requires. See Connecticut General Statutes 14-1
- Registration: includes the certificate of motor vehicle registration and the number plate or plates used in connection with such registration. See Connecticut General Statutes 14-1
- Vehicle: includes any device suitable for the conveyance, drawing or other transportation of persons or property, whether operated on wheels, runners, a cushion of air or by any other means. See Connecticut General Statutes 14-1
(b) Each such licensee shall, instead of registering each motor vehicle owned by such licensee or temporarily in such licensee’s custody, apply to the commissioner for a general distinguishing number and mark, and the commissioner may issue to the applicant a certificate or certificates of registration containing the distinguishing number and mark assigned to such applicant, and made in a form and containing any further information that the commissioner may determine, and, thereupon, each motor vehicle owned by the applicant or temporarily in the applicant’s custody shall be regarded as registered under and having assigned to it such general distinguishing number and mark until sold. For the registration of all motor vehicles registered under a general distinguishing number and mark, the commissioner shall charge a fee at the rate of seventy dollars per year. The commissioner may issue to each such licensee such registrations as the commissioner deems necessary. The commissioner may withdraw any registration previously issued or may limit the number of registrations which any licensee is eligible to receive or to hold, if the commissioner determines that a licensee does not require such number of registrations or if a licensee has been found to be in violation of any of the provisions of section 14-64.
(c) Registration certificates issued under the provisions of this section shall not be required to be carried upon such motor vehicles when upon the public highways as required under subsection (a) of section 14-13, except that the licensee shall issue to each person driving such motor vehicle a document indicating that such person is validly entrusted with such vehicle which document shall be carried in the motor vehicle. The commissioner shall determine the form and contents of this document. Legible photostatic copies of such registration certificates may be carried in such vehicles as proof of ownership. The licensee shall furnish financial responsibility satisfactory to the commissioner as defined in section 14-112, provided such financial responsibility shall not be required from a licensee when the commissioner finds that the licensee is of sufficient financial responsibility to meet such legal liability. The commissioner may issue such license upon presentation of evidence of such financial responsibility satisfactory to the commissioner. The commissioner shall assess an administrative fee of two hundred dollars against any licensee for failing to provide proof of policy or bond renewal or replacement on or before the expiration date of the existing policy or bond. Such fee shall be in addition to the license suspension or revocation penalties and the civil penalties to which the licensee is subject pursuant to section 14-64.
(d) Each licensee that was issued a general distinguishing number plate or plates by the commissioner in accordance with the provisions of this section or section 14-59, and that no longer holds a valid license due to failure to renew the license, surrender of the license or revocation of the license by the commissioner for a violation of any provision of this subpart, shall account for and immediately return such number plate or plates to the department, or shall immediately surrender such number plate or plates to a motor vehicle inspector or other authorized agent or employee of said department. All such number plates shall be void, as of the date of termination of the license, and shall not be used as a registration to operate any motor vehicle on any highway.
(e) Any person who fails to return or surrender any general distinguishing number plate that is void, in accordance with the provisions of subsection (d) of this section, or who, with knowledge that such plate is void, uses such plate to operate a motor vehicle on any highway shall be guilty of a violation of subsection (c) of section 14-147.