2016 Tennessee Code
Title 55 - Motor and Other Vehicles
Chapter 5 - Anti-Theft Provisions
Part 1 - Violations of Title and Registration Law
§ 55-5-108. Records to be kept -- Inspections -- Contraband -- Seizure of stolen property -- Reclamation -- Forfeiture.

(a) (1) Any person, firm or corporation engaged in the business of buying or selling used automobile parts shall keep permanent records of transactions of buying or selling engines, transmissions, vehicle bodies, chassis, doors, deck lids, front end clips (fenders and grill), seats, differentials, tires and wheels, steering wheels, automobile radios and automobile tape players, and bumpers. The record shall include from whom the item was purchased and the seller's address and driver license number, and to whom the item was sold and the purchaser's address and driver license number, as well as the description of the item and any identifying number or numbers. The records shall be required to be kept for a period of three (3) years from the date of the transaction and shall be available to all law enforcement officers for inspection at any reasonable time during business hours without prior notice or the necessity of obtaining a search warrant.

(2) Any person, firm or corporation required to keep records by this section and §§ 55-5-106 -- 55-5-110 and willfully failing to do so commits a Class C misdemeanor.

(3) For the purpose of locating stolen vehicles, establishing lawful ownership, possession, titling or registration, any motor vehicle investigator designated by the commissioner of revenue or the commissioner of safety, except as provided in subdivision (a)(4), may inspect any vehicle, whether intact, wrecked, or dismantled, at an automobile dismantler's lot, salvage lot or other similar establishment required to keep records under subdivision (a)(1), within the state.

(4) Inspection conducted pursuant to subdivision (a)(1), (a)(2) or (a)(3) shall be conducted during normal business hours and at a time and in a manner so as to minimize any interference with or delay of business operations. The inspection shall not apply to a scrap processor when the scrap processor obtains any vehicle that has been crushed or flattened. "Scrap processor" means any person, firm, or corporation engaged in the business of buying motor vehicles or motor vehicle parts to process into scrap metal for remelting purposes who, from a fixed location, utilizes machinery and equipment for processing and manufacturing ferrous or nonferrous metallic scrap into prepared grades, and whose principal product is metallic scrap for these purposes.

(b) (1) As used in this subsection (b), unless the context otherwise requires, "property" means any vehicle, aircraft, boat or other vessel, special mobile equipment, boat trailer, mobile self-propelled construction, farm or forestry machinery, similar equipment, or any component part.

(2) Any property on which the manufacturer's serial number, engine number, transmission number, vehicle identification number, or other distinguishing number or identification mark has been removed, defaced, covered, altered, destroyed or otherwise rendered unidentifiable is hereby declared to be contraband and subject to forfeiture to the state. This subdivision (b)(2) applies to all persons, including, but not limited to, those persons designated in subsection (a). It is the duty of the commissioner or the commissioner's designee, and of any other state, county, or municipal law enforcement officer or campus police officer as defined in § 49-7-118, internal affairs director or internal affairs special agent of the department of correction, when such person has reason to believe that property constitutes contraband under this section, to seize and impound or otherwise take custody of the property on behalf of the department of safety.

(3) Where there is only one (1) claimant to the property seized or taken into the custody of the department of safety, the claimant may elect to give a bond payable to the state in an amount double the value of the property seized, with corporate sureties approved by the commissioner of safety or the commissioner's designee. If a claimant elects to give a bond, the commissioner of safety or the commissioner's designee has the discretion to deliver the property to the claimant, pending a hearing to determine whether or not the property constitutes contraband under this section. The condition of the bond shall be that the obligors shall pay to the state, through the department of safety, the amount of the bond upon failure of the claimant to surrender the property in substantially the same condition as when it was released, to the department of safety upon a final determination adverse to the claimant.

(4) Whenever any property believed to constitute contraband under this section comes into the custody of the commissioner of safety or the commissioner's designee, the person from whom the property was taken and any other possible claimant whose interest or title may be found of record in the department of safety shall be notified within a reasonable time. The notice shall be personally served or sent by certified mail, return receipt requested. If the department of safety is unable to determine with reasonable certainty the identities or addresses of all possible claimants, notice by one (1) publication in one (1) newspaper of general circulation in the area where the property was confiscated shall be adequate notice to all possible claimants. Notice by publication may contain multiple listings of property.

(5) Any claimant to a property that has come into the custody of the commissioner of safety or the commissioner's designee under this section shall have a right to a hearing before the commissioner of safety or the commissioner's designee under the Uniform Administrative Procedures Act, compiled in title 4, chapter 5, and § 67-1-105(a), upon written request or petition, within ten (10) days after receiving notice by personal service, certified mail or publication; provided, that after the hearing is conducted, a decision shall be rendered within forty-five (45) days unless good cause is shown why a longer time may be required. Claimants shall be advised of this right in the notice. The commissioner of safety may waive reimbursement for any or all towing, preservation, or storage charges as the equities of the case may require. If a claimant, in a written request or petition, expresses a desire that the hearing before the commissioner of safety or the commissioner's designee be held in the county where the property in question was seized, that request shall be honored. Failure of the claimant to request a hearing for return of the property within the time provided shall constitute a waiver of all rights, title or interest the claimant may have in the property.

(6) Within a reasonable time after the expiration of the ten-day period, the commissioner of safety or the commissioner's designee, upon a hearing when the matter is contested, shall determine the rights, title or interests of all claimants to the property. If a claimant establishes by a preponderance of the evidence the original identification numbers or marks of the property and the claimant's right, title, or interest of the property bearing that number or mark, the commissioner of safety, upon reimbursement for all towing, preservation and storage charges, shall release the property to the claimant, and the department of safety shall issue the claimant a permit to restore the original identification numbers or marks as provided under § 55-5-112(b). If no claimant can establish in this manner the claimant's ownership of the property, the property shall be forfeited to the state.

(7) Property forfeited under this section shall be sold by the department of general services as provided by law, or held and titled to the department of safety for its use. The commissioner of safety may contract for the towing, storage, and/or disposal through public auction of all property forfeited to the state. The proceeds of the sales shall be retained by the department of safety for use in vehicle investigations. However, in cases where the property was seized or taken into custody by a state, county or municipal law enforcement agency, the property shall be sold and the proceeds divided equally between the department of safety and the cooperating agency. Future forfeitures or proceeds shall not be anticipated in the adoption and approval of the budget for the department of safety, except expenditures from these proceeds shall be subject to the approval of the commissioner of finance and administration and the comptroller of the treasury.

(8) Nothing in this section shall be construed to allow the seizure or impoundment by the department of safety or any other agency or individuals of any nonfactory-made trailers, logging trailers, or homemade trailers.