55-24-101 - Chapter definitions. - Tennessee Statutes

55-24-101. Chapter definitions.

As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:

     (1)  “Consumer” means the purchaser, other than for purposes of resale, or the lessee of a motor vehicle, any person to whom the motor vehicle is transferred during the duration of an express warranty applicable to the motor vehicle, and any other person entitled by the terms of the warranty to enforce the obligations of the warranty. “Consumer” does not include any governmental entity or any business or commercial entity that registers three (3) or more vehicles;

     (2)  “Lessee” means any consumer who leases a motor vehicle pursuant to a written lease agreement by which a manufacturer's warranty was issued as a condition of sale or which provides that the lessee is responsible for repairs to the motor vehicle;

     (3)  “Manufacturer” means any person who manufactures or assembles new or unused motor vehicles or, in the case of motor vehicles not manufactured in the United States, the importer of the motor vehicle;

     (4)  “Motor vehicle” means a motor vehicle as defined in § 55-1-103, that is sold and subject to the registration and certificate of title provisions in chapters 1-6 of this title in this state, or subject to similar registration and certificate of title provisions in another state, and classified as a Class B vehicle according to § 55-4-111. “Motor vehicle” does not include motorized bicycles as defined in § 55-8-101, “motor homes” as defined in § 55-1-104, lawnmowers or garden tractors, recreational vehicles or off-road vehicles and vehicles over ten thousand pounds (10,000 lbs.) gross vehicle weight;

     (5)  “Person” means every natural person, partnership, corporation, association, trust, estate or other legal entity;

     (6)  “Substantially impair” means to render a motor vehicle unreliable or unsafe for normal operation or to reduce its resale market value below the average resale value for comparable motor vehicles; and

     (7)  “Term of protection” means the term of applicable express warranties or the period of one (1) year following the date of original delivery of the motor vehicle to a consumer, whichever comes first; or, in the case of a replacement vehicle provided by a manufacturer to a consumer under this chapter, one (1) year from the date of delivery to the consumer of the replacement vehicle.

[Acts 1986, ch. 857, § 1; 2003, ch. 22, §§ 1-3; T.C.A. § 55-24-201.]