2005 Vermont Code - § 3801. — Definitions

§ 3801. Definitions

Except when the context otherwise requires, as used in this chapter:

(1) "All-terrain vehicle" or "ATV" means any nonhighway recreational vehicle, except snowmobiles, when used for cross-country travel on trails or on any one of the following or a combination thereof: land, water, snow, ice, marsh, swampland and natural terrain.

(2) "Commissioner" means the commissioner of motor vehicles.

(3) "Dealer" means any person who engages in whole or in part in the business of buying, selling or exchanging new and unused vessels, snowmobiles or all-terrain vehicles, or used vessels, snowmobiles or all-terrain vehicles, or any combination, either outright or on conditional sale, bailment, lease, chattel mortgage, or otherwise, and who has an established place of business for sale, trade and display of vessels, snowmobiles or all-terrain vehicles. A yacht broker is a dealer.

(4) "Identification number" means the numbers and letters, if any, on a vessel designated by the commissioner for the purpose of identifying the vessel.

(5) "Lienholder" means a person holding a security interest in a vessel, snowmobile or all-terrain vehicle.

(6) "Manufacturer" means any person engaged in the business of manufacturing or importing new and unused vessels, snowmobiles or all-terrain vehicles for the purpose of sale or trade.

(7) "Manufacturer's or importer's certificate of origin" means the original written instrument or document required to be executed and delivered by the manufacturer to his or her agent or dealer, or a person purchasing direct from the manufacturer, certifying the origin of the vessel, snowmobile or all-terrain vehicle.

(8) "Motorboat" means any vessel propelled by machinery, whether or not the machinery is the principal source of propulsion, but shall not include a vessel which has a valid marine document issued by the bureau of customs of the United States government or any federal agency successor thereto.

(9) "Operate" means to navigate or otherwise use a vessel, snowmobile or all-terrain vehicle.

(10) "Operator" means the person who operates or has charge of the navigation or use of a vessel, snowmobile or all-terrain vehicle.

(11) "Owner" means a person, other than a lienholder, having property in or title to a vessel, snowmobile or all-terrain vehicle. The term includes a person entitled to use or possess a vessel, snowmobile or all-terrain vehicle subject to an interest in another person, reserved, or created by agreement and securing payment of performance of an obligation, but it does not include a lessee under a lease not intended as security.

(12) "Security agreement" means a written agreement which reserves or creates a security interest.

(13) "Security interest" means an interest in a vessel, snowmobile or all-terrain vehicle reserved or created by agreement and which secures payment or performance of an obligation. The term includes the interest of a lessor under a lease intended as security. The term also includes a nonpossessory attachment issued by a court of competent jurisdiction within this state. The term also includes liens obtained by the commissioner of taxes pursuant to the provisions of Title 32. A security interest is "perfected" when it is valid against third parties generally, subject only to specific statutory exceptions.

(14) "Serial number" means the numbers and letters designated by the snowmobile or all-terrain vehicle manufacturer for the purpose of identifying a snowmobile or all-terrain vehicle.

(15) "Snowmobile" means a self-propelled vehicle intended for off-road travel primarily on snow, having a curb weight of not more than 453.59 kg (1,000 lbs.), driven by track or tracks in contact with the snow and steered by a ski or skis in contact with the snow.

(16) "State" means a state, territory or possession of the United States, the District of Columbia, the commonwealth of Puerto Rico or a province of the Dominion of Canada.

(17) "State of principal use" means the state on whose land, waters, snow, ice, marsh, swampland or natural terrain a vessel, snowmobile or all-terrain vehicle is used or to be used most during a calendar year.

(18) "Use" means to operate, navigate, or employ a vessel, snowmobile or all-terrain vehicle. A vessel, snowmobile or all-terrain vehicle is in use whenever it is upon land, water, snow, ice, marsh, swampland or natural terrain.

(19) "Vessel" means every description of motorboat.

(20) "Title or certificate of title" means a written instrument or document that certifies ownership of a vessel and is issued by the commissioner or equivalent official of another jurisdiction.

(21) "Secure assignment of title" means a form prescribed by the commissioner that must be used to transfer ownership of a titled vessel, snowmobile or all-terrain vehicle if all space for assignments upon the title itself has been used. (Added 1987, No. 152 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; amended 1991, No. 164 (Adj. Sess.), § 16; 2001, No. 107 (Adj. Sess.), § 2.)