As used in the Motor Vehicle Sales Finance Act:
A. "motor vehicles" means automobiles, recreational vehicles, recreational travel trailers, trailers, motorcycles, trucks, semi-trailers, truck tractors and buses designed and used primarily to transport persons or property on a public highway, farm machinery and all vehicles new or used, with any power other than muscular power except boat trailers, aircraft or any vehicle that runs only on rails or tracks, but does not include any motor vehicle having a gross vehicle weight of ten thousand pounds or more purchased primarily for business or commercial purposes;
B. "retail buyer" or "buyer" means a person who buys a motor vehicle primarily for personal, family or household purposes from a retail seller and who executes a retail installment contract in connection therewith;
C. "retail seller" or "seller" means a person who sells a motor vehicle to a retail buyer or subject to a retail installment contract;
D. "holder" of a retail installment contract means the retail seller of the motor vehicle under or subject to the contract or, if the contract is purchased by a sales finance company or other assignee, the sales finance company or other assignee;
E. "retail installment transaction" means any transaction evidenced by a retail installment contract entered into between a retail buyer and a retail seller wherein the retail buyer buys a motor vehicle from the retail seller at a time price payable in one or more deferred installments. The cash sale price of the motor vehicle, the amount included for insurance and other benefits if a separate charge is made therefor, official fees and the finance charge together constitute the time price;
F. "retail installment contract" or "contract" means an agreement, entered into in this state or made subject to the laws of this state, pursuant to which the title to or a lien upon the motor vehicle that is the subject matter of a retail installment transaction is retained or taken by a retail seller from a retail buyer as security for the buyer's obligation. The term includes a chattel mortgage, a conditional sales contract and a contract for the bailment or leasing of a motor vehicle by which the bailee or lessee contracts to pay as compensation for its use a sum substantially equivalent to or in excess of its value and by which it is agreed that the bailee or lessee is bound to become or has the option of becoming the owner of the motor vehicle upon full compliance with the provisions of the contract;
G. "cash sale price" means the price stated in a retail installment contract for which the seller would have sold to the buyer, and the buyer would have bought from the seller, the motor vehicle that is the subject matter of the retail installment contract, if the sale had been a sale for cash instead of a retail installment transaction. Cash sale price may include any taxes, registration fee, certificate of title fee, license and other fees and charges for accessories and their installation and for delivery, servicing, repairing or improving the motor vehicle;
H. "official fees" means the fee prescribed by law for filing, recording or otherwise perfecting and releasing or satisfying a retained title or a lien created by a retail installment contract;
I. "finance charge" means the amount agreed upon between the buyer and the seller to be added to the aggregate of the cash sale price, the amount, if any, included for insurance and other benefits and official fees, in determining the time price;
J. "person" means an individual, partnership, corporation, association and any other group however organized;
K. "sales finance company" means a person engaged in whole or in part in the business of purchasing retail installment contracts from one or more retail sellers. The term includes a bank, trust company, private banker, small loan licensee, industrial bank or investment company, if so engaged; the term also includes a retail seller engaged in whole or in part in the business of creating and holding retail installment contracts that exceed a total aggregate outstanding indebtedness of one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000);
L. "director" means the director of the financial institutions division of the regulation and licensing department or a duly authorized agent designated by the director;
M. "year" means a period of three hundred sixty-five days; "month" means one-twelfth of a year; and "day" means one three-hundred-sixty-fifth of a year; and
N. "nationwide multistate licensing system and registry" means a licensing system developed and maintained by the conference of state bank supervisors and the American association of residential mortgage regulators pursuant to the federal Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act of 2008 to manage mortgage licenses and other financial services licenses, or a successor registry.
History: 1953 Comp., § 50-15-2, enacted by Laws 1959, ch. 204, § 2; 1975, ch. 274, § 1; 1979, ch. 388, § 1; 1983, ch. 10, § 1; 1983, ch. 315, § 3; 1984, ch. 16, § 1; 2001, ch. 123, § 2; 2019, ch. 144, § 1.
ANNOTATIONSCross references. — For the federal Secure and Fair Enforcement for Mortgage Licensing Act of 2008, see 12 USC §§ 5101 to 5116.
The 2019 amendment, effective July 1, 2019, defined "nationwide multistate licensing system and registry" and revised the definition of "director" as used in the Motor Vehicle Sales Finance Act; in Subsection L, after "department", added "or a duly authorized agent designated by the director"; and added Subsection N.
The 2001 amendment, effective June 15, 2001, deleted "as limited in the Motor Vehicle Sales Finance Act" preceding "to be added to" in Subsection I.
Section applicable only to land, and not water, "motor vehicles". — Applying the rule of "the last antecedent" to Subsection A, the phrase "all vehicles new or used, with any power other than muscular" must be read in relation to the words going before. The legislature intended this section to apply only to "motor vehicles" designed to move over land rather than water. 1961 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 61-47.
Road construction equipment not considered "vehicle". — Road construction equipment such as power shovels and earth moving equipment is not a "vehicle" within the meaning of Subsection A, and the financing of such equipment is not subject to the provisions of this article. 1959 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 59-62.
Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references. — Construction of statutes regulating form and contents of motor vehicle installment sales contracts, 14 A.L.R.3d 330, 46 A.L.R. Fed. 657.