S 4391

SENATE, No. 4391
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
222nd LEGISLATURE
�
INTRODUCED JUNE 1, 2026
Sponsored by:
Senator� VIN GOPAL
District 11 (Monmouth)
SYNOPSIS
���� Provides that certain buildings that previously
housed motor vehicle dealer businesses continue to meet place of business
standards.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
���� As introduced.
��
An Act concerning motor vehicle dealers and amending R.S.39:10-2.
���� Be It
Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of
the State of New Jersey:
���� 1.��� R.S.39:10-2 is amended
to read as follows:
���� 39:10-2.� As used in this
chapter unless other meaning is clearly apparent from the language or context,
or unless inconsistent with the manifest intention of the Legislature:
���� �Authorized signatory� means a
dealer or leasing dealer and any employee, officer, director, partner, or other
holder of an ownership interest in the licensed business authorized to execute
documents on behalf of the dealer or leasing dealer, but shall not include any
attorney-in-fact who is not an employee, officer, director, partner, or holder
of an ownership interest.
���� �New motor vehicle� means only
a newly manufactured motor vehicle, except a nonconventional type motor
vehicle, and includes all such vehicles propelled otherwise than by muscular
power, and motorcycles, motorized bicycles, trailers and tractors, and
manufactured homes not subject to real property taxation pursuant to P.L.1983,
c.400 (C.54:4-1.2 et seq.), excepting such vehicles as run only upon rails or
tracks and manufactured homes subject to real property taxation.
���� �Used motor vehicle� means
every motor vehicle and motorized bicycle, except a nonconventional type motor
vehicle, title to, or possession of, which has been transferred from the person
who first acquired it from the manufacturer or dealer, and so used as to become
what is commonly known as "secondhand" within the ordinary meaning
thereof, and includes every motor vehicle and motorized bicycle other than a
"new motor vehicle," a "nonconventional type motor vehicle"
or a manufactured home subject to real property taxation.
���� �Any motor vehicle,� �every
motor vehicle,� or similar term, means both new and used motor vehicles, except
a �nonconventional type motor vehicle.�
���� �Nonconventional type motor
vehicle� means every vehicle not designed or used primarily for the
transportation of persons or property and only incidentally operated or moved
over a highway, including, but not limited to, ditch-digging apparatus,
well-boring apparatus, road and general purpose construction and maintenance
machinery, asphalt spreaders, bituminous mixers, bucket loaders, ditchers,
leveling graders, finishing machines, motor graders, road rollers, scarifiers,
earth-moving carryalls, scrapers, power shovels, drag lines, self-propelled
cranes, earth-moving equipment, trailers and semitrailers which weigh less than
2,500 pounds, except that no mobile or manufactured home or travel trailer
shall be classified as a nonconventional type motor vehicle, motorized
wheelchairs, motorized lawn mowers, bogies, farm equipment having a factory
shipping weight of less than 1,500 pounds, whether or not motorized, including
farm tractors within said weight limitation, industrial tractors, scooters,
go-carts, gas buggies and golf carts.� The Chief Administrator of the New
Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission shall have power to make, amend and repeal
regulations, not inconsistent with the provisions of this paragraph,
prescribing what further vehicles or types of vehicles, not specified in this
paragraph, shall be included in the category of nonconventional type motor
vehicles.
���� �Motor vehicles which
constitute inventory held for sale� means: new motor vehicles and used motor
vehicles held for the purpose of sale by new motor vehicle dealers which can be
identified by a manufacturer's Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) and have
been invoiced to, allocated to, or reserved by a new motor vehicle dealer
licensed to do business in New Jersey, and such vehicle can be shipped by the
manufacturer or distributor within a reasonable period of time and used motor
vehicles held for the purpose of sale by new or used motor vehicle dealers
which can be identified by a manufacturer's VIN and title papers or right to
title is held by the used motor vehicle dealer.� This term shall exclude motor
vehicles held for the purpose of lease or rental by a person engaged in the
motor vehicle leasing or rental business.
���� �Manufacturer�s or importer�s
certificate of origin� means the original written instrument or document
required to be executed and delivered by the manufacturer to his agent or a
dealer, or a person purchasing direct from the manufacturer, certifying the
origin of the vehicle.
���� �Certificate of ownership�
means the document issued in conformance with this chapter, certifying
ownership of a motor vehicle, other than manufacturer's or importer's
certificate of origin.
���� �Assignment� means the
execution of a prescribed form transferring ownership of a motor vehicle from
the person named therein to the purchaser.
���� �Contract� means conditional
sale agreement, bailment, lease, chattel mortgage, trust receipt or any other
form of security or possession agreement executed prior to January 1, 1963,
wherein and whereby possession of a motor vehicle is delivered to the buyer and
title therein is to vest in the buyer at a subsequent time upon the payment of
part or all of the price, or upon the performance of any other condition or
happening of any contingency, or upon the payment of a sum substantially
equivalent to the value of the motor vehicle, by which contract it is agreed
that the buyer is bound to become, or has the option of becoming, the owner of
the motor vehicle upon full compliance with the terms of the contract.
���� �Abstract� means the duplicate
copy of the original certificate of ownership recording any encumbrance or upon
which the existence of a security interest is noted.
���� �Title papers� means any
instrument or document that is evidence of ownership of a vehicle.
���� �Chief Administrator� means
the Chief Administrator of the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission.
���� �Manufacturer� means the
person who originally manufactured the motor vehicle.
���� �Licensee� means any person
that is licensed to buy, sell or deal in, or lease motor vehicles pursuant to
R.S.39:10-19.
���� �Established place of business�
means a permanent, properly identified location within the State where the
books, records, and files necessary to buy, sell, or deal in motor vehicles are
kept and maintained, including, but not limited to, all documents required by
R.S.39:10-6, title papers, manufacturers' or importers' certificates of origin,
motor vehicle registration records, contracts, security agreements, all payroll
records, including, but not limited to, IRS Form W-2 and IRS Form W-4 records,
checkbooks, ledgers for business accounts and trust accounts, corporate
authorities and licenses, dealer plates, ledgers listing all issued and
unissued dealer assignments, and dealer plates.� Notwithstanding any other
provision of law or regulation to the contrary, a building that housed an
established place of business on or before March 6, 2006 shall qualify as a
suitable location for an established place of business if there was at least one
licensed dealer in the building on or before March 6, 2006, there is a fire
suppression system approved by a local building code official or the Department
of Community Affairs, and the walls separating the established place of
business are either exterior walls or standard walls constructed separately
from any other wall, as certified by a State-licensed engineer, State-licensed
architect, or municipal code official.
���� �New motor vehicle dealer�
means the agent, distributor, or authorized dealer of the manufacturer of the
new motor vehicle who has an established place of business.� A new motor
vehicle dealer shall sell a minimum of four or more new motor vehicles within a
12-month timeframe and may engage in the business of buying, selling, or
dealing in used motor vehicles in this State under the provisions of this
chapter.
���� �Used motor vehicle dealer�
means a person engaged in the business of selling, buying or dealing in four or
more used motor vehicles per year at an established place of business, but who
is not a licensed new motor vehicle dealer.� A used motor vehicle dealer shall
engage only in the business of buying, selling, or dealing in used motor
vehicles in this State under the provisions of this chapter and shall not
engage in the business of buying, selling, or dealing in new motor vehicles in
this State.
���� �Person� includes natural
persons, firms or copartnerships, corporations, associations, or other
artificial bodies, receivers, trustees, common law or statutory assignees,
executors, administrators, sheriffs, constables, marshals, or other persons in
representative or official capacity, and members, officers, agents, employees,
or other representatives of those hereinbefore enumerated.
���� �Buyer� includes purchaser,
debtor, lessee, bailee, transferee, and any person buying, attempting to buy,
or receiving a motor vehicle subject to a security interest, lease, bailment or
transfer agreement, and their legal successors in interest.
���� �Seller� means manufacturer,
dealer, lessor, bailor, transferor with or without a security interest, and any
other person selling, attempting to sell, or delivering a motor vehicle, and
their legal successors in interest.
���� The terms �sell,� �sale,� �buy,�
or �purchase� and any form thereof include absolute or voluntary sales and
purchases, agreements to sell and purchase, bailments, leases, security
agreements whereby any motor vehicles are sold and purchased, or agreed to be
sold and purchased, involuntary, statutory and judicial sales, inheritance,
devise, or bequest, gift or any other form or manner of sale or agreement of
sale thereof, or the giving or transferring possession of a motor vehicle to a
person for a permanent use; continued possession for 60 days or more is to be
construed as permanent use.
���� �Online sale� means buying,
selling, or dealing in motor vehicles in this State over the Internet using
electronic means.
���� �Electronic� means relating to
technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, or
similar capabilities.
���� �Manufacturer�s number� means
the original manufacturer's vehicle identification number die stamped upon the
body, or frame, or either or both of them, of a motor vehicle or the original
manufacturer's number die stamped upon the engine or motor of a motor vehicle.
���� �Purchaser� means a person who
takes possession of a motor vehicle by transfer of ownership, either for use or
resale, except a dealer when he takes possession through a certificate of
origin.
���� �Debtor� means the person who
owes payment or other performance of the obligation secured by a security
interest in a motor vehicle.
���� �Security interest� means an
interest in a motor vehicle which secures payment or other performance of an
obligation.
���� �Security agreement� means an
agreement which creates or provides for a security interest in a motor vehicle.
���� �Secured party� means a
lender, seller or other person in whose favor there is a security interest.
���� �Gross vehicle weight rating�
means the value specified by the manufacturer as the loaded weight of the
single or combination vehicle and, if the manufacturer has not specified a
value for a towed vehicle, means the value specified for the towing vehicle
plus the loaded weight of the towed unit.
(cf. P.L.2021, c.462, s.1)
���� 2.��� This act shall take
effect immediately.
STATEMENT
���� This bill provides that
certain buildings that previously housed motor vehicle dealer businesses
continue to meet the standards required for a motor vehicle dealer�s place of
business.
���� Specifically, the bill expands
the definition of an �established place of business� by classifying a building
that housed an established place of business on or before March 6, 2006 as an
established place of business so long as at least one licensed motor vehicle
dealer was in the building, there is an approved fire suppression system by the
local building code official or the Department of Consumer Affairs, and the
walls separating the established place of business are either exterior walls or
standard walls constructed separately from any other wall as certified by a
State-licensed engineer, architect, or municipal code official.