(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 of title provisions of chapters 1-6 of this title, except:

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Terms Used In Tennessee Code 55-3-101

  • Bicycle: means every device propelled by human power upon which any person may ride, having two (2) tandem wheels, either of which is more than twenty inches (20") in diameter. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
  • Department: means the department of revenue. See Tennessee Code 55-1-111
  • Foreign vehicle: means every vehicle of a type required to be registered 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. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
  • Highway: means the entire width between the boundary lines of every way when any part thereto is open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
  • Implement of husbandry: means every vehicle that is designed for agricultural purposes and exclusively used by the owner thereof in the conduct of the owner's agricultural operations. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
  • Lands: includes lands, tenements and hereditaments, and all rights thereto and interests therein, equitable as well as legal. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • 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 lease thereof, with the right of purchase upon performance of the conditions stated in the agreement and with an immediate right of possession vested in the conditional vendee or lessee, or in the event a mortgagor of a vehicle is entitled to possession, then the conditional vendee or lessee or mortgagor shall be deemed the owner for the purpose of this chapter and chapter 10, parts 1-5 of this title. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
  • Pole trailer: means every vehicle without motive power designed to be driven by another vehicle and attached to the towing vehicle by means of a reach or pole, or by being boomed or otherwise secured to the towing vehicle, and ordinarily used for transporting long or irregularly shaped loads, such as poles, pipes or structural members capable, generally, of sustaining themselves as beams between the supporting connections. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
  • Property: includes both personal and real property. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Semitrailer: means every vehicle with or without motive power, other than a pole trailer, designed for carrying persons or property and for being drawn by a motor vehicle and so constructed that some part of its weight and that of its load rests upon or is carried by another vehicle. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
  • Special mobile equipment: means every vehicle not designed or used primarily for the transportation of persons or property and incidentally operated or moved over the highways, including farm tractors, road construction or maintenance machinery, ditch-digging apparatus, well-boring apparatus and concrete mixers. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Trailer: means every vehicle with or without motive power, other than a pole trailer, designed for carrying persons or property and for being drawn by a motor vehicle and so constructed that no part of its weight rests upon the towing vehicle. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
  • United States: includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Vehicle: means every device in, upon or by which any person or property is or may be transported or drawn upon a highway, excepting devices used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks. See Tennessee Code 55-8-101
(1) Vehicles driven or moved upon a highway in conformance with chapters 1-6 of this title relating to manufacturers, transporters, dealers, lienholders, or nonresidents;
(2) Vehicles that are driven or moved upon a highway only for the purpose of crossing the highway from one (1) property to another;
(3) Any implement of husbandry;
(4) Any special mobile equipment;
(5) No certificate of title need be obtained for any vehicle of a type subject to registration owned by the government of the United States;
(6) No certificate of title need be obtained for a foreign vehicle that is subject to the registration provisions of this state, if the nonresident owner has a valid foreign certificate of title and certificate of registration and if the vehicle is to remain registered in the foreign state as well as in this state;
(7) Subject to the approval of the commissioner, no certificate of title need be obtained for a vehicle that is part of a proportionally registered fleet in this state if the owner has a valid certificate of title in another state and the vehicle is engaged in interstate commerce;
(8) Motorized bicycles, except when voluntarily registered under § 55-4-101; and
(9) No certificate of title need be obtained or maintained where the manufactured home is affixed to real property in accordance with § 55-3-128.
(b) The owner of a vehicle excepted in subsection (a) from the requirement for titling and registering may, subject to the approval of the commissioner, apply for a certificate of title without applying for its registration. The commissioner shall by regulation provide for the manner in which single applications are to be made and the conditions under which they may be allowed; however, this subsection (b) shall not be construed as granting authority to issue certificates of ownership on any basis other than upon documentation or summary of ownership as required in this chapter.
(c)

(1) Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, off-highway motor vehicles purchased after June 1, 1983, shall be subject to the certificate of title and special identification device provisions of this chapter and § 55-6-101, when the off-highway motor vehicles are operated on lands, other than a highway, in this state; except, that this subdivision (c)(1) does not apply to Class I and Class II off-highway vehicles.
(2) For purposes of this chapter and chapter 52 of this title, “off-highway motor vehicle,” “Class I off-highway vehicle,” and “Class II off-highway vehicle” have the same meanings as defined in § 55-8-101.
(d) Class I and Class II off-highway vehicles as defined in § 55-8-101 may be registered with the department of revenue in accordance with chapter 4, part 7 of this title and operated on county roads in accordance with § 55-8-203.
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