301.280. Dealers and garage keepers, sales report required--unclaimed vehicle report required, contents--alteration of vehicle identification number, effect. - Missouri Statutes

Dealers and garage keepers, sales report required--unclaimed vehiclereport required, contents--alteration of vehicle identificationnumber, effect.

301.280. 1. Every motor vehicle dealer and boat dealer shall make amonthly report to the department of revenue, on blanks to be prescribed bythe department of revenue, giving the following information: date of thesale of each motor vehicle, boat, trailer and all-terrain vehicle sold; thename and address of the buyer; the name of the manufacturer; year ofmanufacture; model of vehicle; vehicle identification number; style ofvehicle; odometer setting; and it shall also state whether the motorvehicle, boat, trailer or all-terrain vehicle is new or secondhand. Eachmonthly sales report filed by a motor vehicle dealer who collects sales taxunder subsection 8 of section 144.070, RSMo, shall also include the amountof state and local sales tax collected for each motor vehicle sold if salestax was due. The odometer reading is not required when reporting the saleof any motor vehicle that is ten years old or older, any motor vehiclehaving a gross vehicle weight rating of more than sixteen thousand pounds,new vehicles that are transferred on a manufacturer's statement of originbetween one franchised motor vehicle dealer and another, or boats,all-terrain vehicles or trailers. The sale of all thirty-day temporarypermits, without exception, shall be recorded in the appropriate space onthe dealer's monthly sales report by recording the complete permit numberissued on the motor vehicle or trailer sale listed. The monthly salesreport shall be completed in full and signed by an officer, partner, orowner of the dealership, and actually received by the department of revenueon or before the fifteenth day of the month succeeding the month for whichthe sales are being reported. If no sales occur in any given month, areport shall be submitted for that month indicating no sales. Any vehicledealer who fails to file a monthly report or who fails to file a timelyreport shall be subject to disciplinary action as prescribed in section301.562 or a penalty assessed by the director not to exceed three hundreddollars per violation. Every motor vehicle and boat dealer shall retaincopies of the monthly sales report as part of the records to be maintainedat the dealership location and shall hold them available for inspection byappropriate law enforcement officials and officials of the department ofrevenue. Every vehicle dealer selling twenty or more vehicles a monthshall file the monthly sales report with the department in an electronicformat. Any dealer filing a monthly sales report in an electronic formatshall be exempt from filing the notice of transfer required by section301.196. For any dealer not filing electronically, the notice of transferrequired by section 301.196 shall be submitted with the monthly salesreport as prescribed by the director.

2. Every dealer and every person operating a public garage shall keepa correct record of the vehicle identification number, odometer setting,manufacturer's name of all motor vehicles or trailers accepted by him forthe purpose of sale, rental, storage, repair or repainting, together withthe name and address of the person delivering such motor vehicle or trailerto the dealer or public garage keeper, and the person delivering such motorvehicle or trailer shall record such information in a file kept by thedealer or garage keeper. The record shall be kept for three years and beopen for inspection by law enforcement officials, members or authorized ordesignated employees of the Missouri highway patrol, and persons, agenciesand officials designated by the director of revenue.

3. Every dealer and every person operating a public garage in which amotor vehicle remains unclaimed for a period of fifteen days shall, withinfive days after the expiration of that period, report the motor vehicle asunclaimed to the director of revenue. Such report shall be on a formprescribed by the director of revenue. A motor vehicle left by its ownerwhose name and address are known to the dealer or his employee or personoperating a public garage or his employee is not considered unclaimed. Anydealer or person operating a public garage who fails to report a motorvehicle as unclaimed as herein required forfeits all claims and liens forits garaging, parking or storing.

4. The director of revenue shall maintain appropriately indexedcumulative records of unclaimed vehicles reported to the director. Suchrecords shall be kept open to public inspection during reasonable businesshours.

5. The alteration or obliteration of the vehicle identificationnumber on any such motor vehicle shall be prima facie evidence of larceny,and the dealer or person operating such public garage shall upon thediscovery of such obliteration or alteration immediately notify the highwaypatrol, sheriff, marshal, constable or chief of police of the municipalitywhere the dealer or garage keeper has his place of business, and shall holdsuch motor vehicle or trailer for a period of forty-eight hours for thepurpose of an investigation by the officer so notified.

(RSMo 1939 § 8381, A.L. 1974 H.B. 985, A.L. 1983 S.B. 9, A.L. 1984 S.B. 656, A.L. 1986 H.B. 1367 & 1573, A.L. 1988 H.B. 990, A.L. 1990 H.B. 1279, A.L. 1993 S.B. 35, A.L. 1997 H.B. 207, A.L. 2004 S.B. 1233, et al., A.L. 2007 S.B. 82, A.L. 2009 H.B. 683)

Prior revisions: 1929 § 7773; 1919 §§ 7568, 7605