301.215. Certificate of title on repossession under mortgage, issuance--contents--application--notice--rulemaking authority. - Missouri Statutes

Certificate of title on repossession under mortgage,issuance--contents--application--notice--rulemaking authority.

301.215. 1. When the holder of any indebtedness secured by asecurity agreement or other contract for security covering a motor vehicleor trailer, who has a notice of lien on file with the director of revenue,repossesses the motor vehicle or trailer either by legal process or inaccordance with the terms of a contract authorizing the repossession of thevehicle without legal process, the holder may obtain a certificate ofownership from the director of revenue upon presentation of:

(1) An application form furnished by the director of revenue thatshall contain a full description of the motor vehicle or trailer and themanufacturer's or other identifying number;

(2) A notice of lien receipt or the original certificate of ownershipreflecting the holder's lien; and

(3) An affidavit of the holder, certified under penalties of perjuryfor making a false statement to a public official, that the debtordefaulted in payment of the debt, and that the holder repossessed the motorvehicle or trailer either by legal process or in accordance with the termsof the contract, and the specific address where the vehicle or trailer isheld. Such affidavit shall also state that the lienholder has the writtenconsent from all owners or lienholders of record to repossess the vehicleor has provided all the owners or lienholders with written notice of therepossession.

2. On a motor vehicle or trailer, the lienholder shall first give:

(1) Ten days' written notice by first class United States mailpostage prepaid to each of the owners and other lienholders, if any, of themotor vehicle or trailer at each of their last mailing addresses as shownby the last prior certificate of ownership, if any issued, or the mostrecent address on the lienholder's records, that an application for arepossessed title will be made; or

(2) The lienholder may, ten days prior to applying for a repossessiontitle, include the information in the above notice in the appropriateuniform commercial code notice under sections 400.9-613 or 400.9-614, RSMo.Such alternative notice to all owners and lienholders shall be valid andenforceable under both the uniform commercial code and this section,provided it otherwise complies with the provisions of the uniformcommercial code.

3. Upon the holder's presentation of the papers required bysubsection 1 of this section and the payment of a fee of ten dollars, thedirector of revenue, if he is satisfied with the genuineness of the papers,shall issue and deliver to the holder a certificate of ownership whichshall be in its usual form except it shall be clearly captioned"Repossessed Title". Each repossessed title so issued shall, for allpurposes, be treated as an original certificate of ownership and shallsupersede the outstanding certificate of ownership, if any, and duplicatesthereof, if any, on the motor vehicle or trailer, all of which shall becomenull and void.

4. In any case where there is no certificate of ownership orduplicate thereof outstanding in the name of the debtor on the repossessedmotor vehicle or trailer, the director of revenue shall issue a repossessedtitle to the holder and shall proceed to collect all unpaid fees, taxes,charges and penalties from the debtor as provided in section 301.190.

5. The director of revenue may prescribe rules and regulations forthe effective administration of this section. Any rule or portion of arule, as that term is defined in section 536.010, RSMo, that is createdunder the authority delegated in this section shall become effective onlyif it complies with and is subject to all of the provisions of chapter 536,RSMo, and, if applicable, section 536.028, RSMo. This section and chapter536, RSMo, are nonseverable and if any of the powers vested with thegeneral assembly pursuant to chapter 536, RSMo, to review, to delay theeffective date, or to disapprove and annul a rule are subsequently heldunconstitutional, then the grant of rulemaking authority and any ruleproposed or adopted after August 28, 2005, shall be invalid and void.

(L. 1955 p. 618, A.L. 1965 pp. 114, 470, A.L. 1984 H.B. 1045, A.L. 1989 H.B. 211, A.L. 2005 H.B. 487, A.L. 2006 S.B. 892)

(1976) Issuance of a repossessed title by director of revenue pursuant to section 301.215, RSMo, to secured creditor who had repossessed automobile by self help under power granted in security agreement did not constitute significant participation by state such as to come within legal definition of "state action", thus due process was not involved and statute was not unconstitutional. Smith v. Spradling (Mo.), 532 S.W.2d 202.