(a) At the time a person owning a junk vehicle surrenders the certificate of title or salvage certificate, the Bureau of Motor Vehicles shall issue a junk certificate to the person which shall contain the vehicle year, make, vehicle identification number, and a control number. The Bureau of Motor Vehicles shall record the name, residence and mailing address of the person, the control number, and other applicable information as deemed necessary by the Bureau of Motor Vehicles. The junk certificate issued by the Bureau of Motor Vehicles shall be retained by the person owning the junk vehicle and shall be prima facie evidence of ownership. Any subsequent transfer of ownership of a junk vehicle shall be by assignment on the junk certificate and the junk vehicle purchaser shall make application to the Bureau of Motor Vehicles for a new junk certificate within fifteen (15) days of such assignment. No junk vehicle purchaser or assignee shall possess a junk vehicle without a junk certificate and such person shall display such junk certificate upon the request of any appropriate public official. Within ten (10) days after the junk vehicle is demolished for scrap, the owner of such vehicle shall surrender the junk certificate to the Bureau of Motor Vehicles.
(b) A junk vehicle purchaser or a salvage vehicle purchaser processing a junk vehicle or a salvage vehicle by crushing, compacting, or by other similar methods shall not remove the vehicle identification number or other identification numbers and shall not be liable for defacing, obliterating, or destroying of such numbers necessarily incident to such processing.