§ 2257. Registration of dealers. 1. For the purposes of this article, a dealer shall be any person engaged in the business of buying, selling or trading vessels. A person who sells three or more vessels for profit within one calendar year shall be presumed to be a dealer if such vessels were purchased, acquired or otherwise obtained by such person for the purpose of resale, and were never placed in his consumer use. On and after April first, nineteen hundred eighty-six, no person shall engage in business as a dealer, or represent or advertise that he is engaged, or intends to engage, in such business in this state, unless there shall have been issued to him a certificate of registration as provided in this section. A person shall not be required to be registered as a dealer if he sells no vessels other than vessels determined by regulation of the commissioner to be vessels or devices which would not ordinarily be considered as usable for transportation on water. 2. Application for registration. Every dealer shall file an application for registration as a dealer with the commissioner of motor vehicles, together with all required fees, in such form and detail and containing such information as the commissioner shall reasonably prescribe. 3. Issuance of certificate. If the commissioner approves the application, he shall issue a certificate of registration in such form as he may prescribe. For the purposes of implementing this article, the commissioner may, in his discretion, issue such certificates of registration and number plates on a staggered expiration basis, in which event the fees set forth in subdivision five of this section for such certificate shall be prorated on a monthly basis. 4. Demonstrator numbers and trailer number plates. (a) Upon payment of the required fee, a dealer shall be entitled to receive one or more demonstrator numbers, which may be used in lieu of a registration issued under section twenty-two hundred fifty-one of this article for the operation of any vessel owned or controlled by the registrant and held for sale or demonstration. Demonstrator numbers shall be displayed in a manner prescribed by the commissioner.

(b) Upon payment of the required fee, a dealer shall be entitled to receive one or more number plates which may be used in lieu of any registration issued under section four hundred one of this chapter for the operation of any boat trailer owned or controlled by the dealer and held for the purpose of sale or demonstration, provided such operation is directly related to the sale or demonstration of any boat trailer or vessel. The provisions of section four hundred two of this chapter with respect to the care and display of number plates shall apply to number plates issued under this subdivision.

(c) The commissioner may, in his discretion, limit the number of demonstrator numbers or number plates which shall be issued to any registrant. The fee for the replacement of lost, mutilated, or destroyed demonstrator numbers or number plates shall be two dollars. 5. Fees. Every application, other than a renewal application, shall be accompanied by an application fee of ten dollars, which shall in no event be refunded. The triennial fee for such registration or renewal thereof shall be seventy-five dollars. The triennial fee for demonstrator numbers or number plates shall be sixty dollars for each number or number plate. The application for registration, demonstrator numbers and number plates shall be accompanied by the required fees. There shall be no refund of any registration fee or any fee for demonstrator numbers or number plates. 6. No dealer shall sell a vessel except in accordance with regulations established by the commissioner. The commissioner may, in his discretion, require a registrant to maintain a record in a prescribed form of all vessels received or disposed of by him. Upon request of an agent of the commissioner or of any peace officer acting pursuant to his special duties, a registrant shall produce such records and permit said agent or peace officer to examine them, and any vessels on the premises subject to the record keeping requirements of this section during usual business hours or while the registrant is conducting business. The failure to produce such records or to permit such inspection as required by this subdivision shall be a violation.