Missouri Laws 301.280 – Dealers and garage keepers, sales report required — unclaimed vehicle ..
1. Every motor vehicle dealer and boat dealer shall make a monthly report to the department of revenue, on blanks to be prescribed by the department of revenue, giving the following information: date of the sale of each motor vehicle, boat, trailer and all-terrain vehicle sold; the name and address of the buyer; the name of the manufacturer; year of manufacture; model of vehicle; vehicle identification number; style of vehicle; odometer setting; and it shall also state whether the motor vehicle, boat, trailer or all-terrain vehicle is new or secondhand. Each monthly sales report filed by a motor vehicle dealer who collects sales tax under subsection 10 of section 144.070 shall also include the amount of state and local sales tax collected for each motor vehicle sold if sales tax was due. The odometer reading is not required when reporting the sale of any motor vehicle that is twenty years old or older, any motor vehicle having a gross vehicle weight rating of more than sixteen thousand pounds, new vehicles that are transferred on a manufacturer’s statement of origin between one franchised motor vehicle dealer and another, or boats, all-terrain vehicles or trailers. The sale of all temporary permits shall be recorded in the appropriate space on the dealer’s monthly sales report, unless the sale of the temporary permit is already recorded by electronic means as determined by the department. The monthly sales report shall include a statement of motor vehicles or trailers sold during the month under subsection 5 of section 301.210. The monthly sales report shall be completed in full and signed by an officer, partner, or owner of the dealership, and actually received by the department of revenue on or before the fifteenth day of the month succeeding the month for which the sales are being reported. If no sales occur in any given month, a report shall be submitted for that month indicating no sales. Any vehicle dealer who fails to file a monthly report or who fails to file a timely report shall be subject to disciplinary action as prescribed in section 301.562 or a penalty assessed by the director not to exceed three hundred dollars per violation. Every motor vehicle and boat dealer shall retain copies of the monthly sales report as part of the records to be maintained at the dealership location and shall hold them available for inspection by appropriate law enforcement officials and officials of the department of revenue. Every vehicle dealer selling twenty or more vehicles a month shall file the monthly sales report with the department in an electronic format. Any dealer filing a monthly sales report in an electronic format shall be exempt from filing the notice of transfer required by section 301.196. For any dealer not filing electronically, the notice of transfer required by section 301.196 shall be submitted with the monthly sales report as prescribed by the director.
2. Every dealer and every person operating a public garage shall keep a correct record of the vehicle identification number, odometer setting, manufacturer’s name of all motor vehicles or trailers accepted by him for the purpose of sale, rental, storage, repair or repainting, together with the name and address of the person delivering such motor vehicle or trailer to the dealer or public garage keeper, and the person delivering such motor vehicle or trailer shall record such information in a file kept by the dealer or garage keeper. The record shall be kept for five years and be open for inspection by law enforcement officials, members or authorized or designated employees of the Missouri highway patrol, and persons, agencies and officials designated by the director of revenue.
Attorney's Note
Under the Missouri Laws, punishments for crimes depend on the classification. In the case of this section:| Class | Prison | Fine |
|---|---|---|
| Class A misdemeanor | up to 1 year | up to $2,000 |
Terms Used In Missouri Laws 301.280
- All-terrain vehicle: any motorized vehicle manufactured and used exclusively for off-highway use, with an unladen dry weight of one thousand five hundred pounds or less, traveling on three, four or more nonhighway tires, with either:
(a) A seat designed to be straddled by the operator, and handlebars for steering control, but excluding an electric bicycle. See Missouri Laws 301.010
- Dealer: any person, firm, corporation, association, agent or subagent engaged in the sale or exchange of new, used or reconstructed motor vehicles or trailers. See Missouri Laws 301.010
- director of revenue: the director of the department of revenue. See Missouri Laws 301.010
- Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
- 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.
- following: when used by way of reference to any section of the statutes, mean the section next preceding or next following that in which the reference is made, unless some other section is expressly designated in the reference. See Missouri Laws 1.020
- Highway: any public thoroughfare for vehicles, including state roads, county roads and public streets, avenues, boulevards, parkways or alleys in any municipality. See Missouri Laws 301.010
- Manufacturer: any person, firm, corporation or association engaged in the business of manufacturing or assembling motor vehicles, trailers or vessels for sale. See Missouri Laws 301.010
- Month: means a calendar month, and "year" means a calendar year unless otherwise expressed, and is equivalent to the words year of our Lord. See Missouri Laws 1.020
- Motor vehicle: any self-propelled vehicle not operated exclusively upon tracks, except farm tractors and electric bicycles. See Missouri Laws 301.010
- Municipality: any city, town or village, whether incorporated or not. See Missouri Laws 301.010
- Owner: any person, firm, corporation or association, who holds the legal title to a vehicle or who has executed a buyer's order or retail installment sales contract with a motor vehicle dealer licensed under sections 301. See Missouri Laws 301.010
- person: may extend and be applied to bodies politic and corporate, and to partnerships and other unincorporated associations. See Missouri Laws 1.020
- Public garage: a place of business where motor vehicles are housed, stored, repaired, reconstructed or repainted for persons other than the owners or operators of such place of business. See Missouri Laws 301.010
- State: when applied to any of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories, and the words "United States" includes such district and territories. See Missouri Laws 1.020
- Trailer: any vehicle without motive power designed for carrying property or passengers on its own structure and for being drawn by a self-propelled vehicle, except those running exclusively on tracks, including a semitrailer or vehicle of the trailer type so designed and used in conjunction with a self-propelled vehicle that a considerable part of its own weight rests upon and is carried by the towing vehicle. See Missouri Laws 301.010
- Vehicle: any mechanical device on wheels, designed primarily for use, or used, on highways, except motorized bicycles, electric bicycles, vehicles propelled or drawn by horses or human power, or vehicles used exclusively on fixed rails or tracks, or cotton trailers or motorized wheelchairs operated by handicapped persons. See Missouri Laws 301.010
3. Every dealer and every person operating a public garage in which a motor vehicle remains unclaimed for a period of fifteen days shall, within five days after the expiration of that period, report the motor vehicle as unclaimed to the director of revenue. Such report shall be on a form prescribed by the director of revenue. A motor vehicle left by its owner whose name and address are known to the dealer or his employee or person operating a public garage or his employee is not considered unclaimed. Any dealer or person operating a public garage who fails to report a motor vehicle as unclaimed as herein required forfeits all claims and liens for its garaging, parking or storing.
4. The director of revenue shall maintain appropriately indexed cumulative records of unclaimed vehicles reported to the director. Such records shall be kept open to public inspection during reasonable business hours.
5. The alteration or obliteration of the vehicle identification number on any such motor vehicle shall be prima facie evidence of larceny, and the dealer or person operating such public garage shall upon the discovery of such obliteration or alteration immediately notify the highway patrol, sheriff, marshal, constable or chief of police of the municipality where the dealer or garage keeper has his place of business, and shall hold such motor vehicle or trailer for a period of forty-eight hours for the purpose of an investigation by the officer so notified.
6. Any person who knowingly makes a false statement or omission of a material fact in a monthly sales report to the department of revenue, as described in subsection 1 of this section, shall be deemed guilty of a class A misdemeanor.