The Vermont Statutes Online
The Statutes below include the actions of the 2024 session of the General Assembly.
NOTE: The Vermont Statutes Online is an unofficial copy of the Vermont Statutes Annotated that is provided as a convenience.
Title 23 : Motor Vehicles
Chapter 036 : Titling of Vessels, Snowmobiles, and All-Terrain Vehicles
(Cite as: 23 V.S.A. § 3801)-
§ 3801. Definitions
Except when the context otherwise requires, as used in this chapter:
(1) “All-terrain vehicle” or “ATV” means any nonhighway recreational vehicle, except snowmobiles, motor-assisted bicycles, or electric bicycles, when used for cross-country travel on trails or on any one of the following or a combination thereof: land, water, snow, ice, marsh, swampland, and natural terrain.
(2) “Commissioner” means the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles.
(3) “Dealer” means any person who engages in whole or in part in the business of buying, selling, or exchanging new and unused vessels, snowmobiles, or all-terrain vehicles, or used vessels, snowmobiles, or all-terrain vehicles, or any combination, either outright or on conditional sale, bailment, lease, chattel mortgage, or otherwise, and who has an established place of business for sale, trade, and display of vessels, snowmobiles, or all-terrain vehicles. A yacht broker is a dealer.
(4) “Identification number” means the numbers and letters, if any, on a vessel designated by the Commissioner for the purpose of identifying the vessel.
(5) “Lienholder” means a person holding a security interest in a vessel, snowmobile, or all-terrain vehicle.
(6) “Manufacturer” means any person engaged in the business of manufacturing or importing new and unused vessels, snowmobiles, or all-terrain vehicles for the purpose of sale or trade.
(7) “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 or her agent or dealer, or a person purchasing direct from the manufacturer, certifying the origin of the vessel, snowmobile, or all-terrain vehicle.
(8) [Repealed.]
(9) “Operate” means to navigate or otherwise use a vessel, snowmobile, or all-terrain vehicle.
(10) “Operator” means the person who operates or has charge of the navigation or use of a vessel, snowmobile, or all-terrain vehicle.
(11) “Owner” means a person, other than a lienholder, having property in or title to a vessel, snowmobile, or all-terrain vehicle. The term includes a person entitled to use or possess a vessel, snowmobile, or all-terrain vehicle subject to an interest in another person, which is reserved or created by agreement and secures payment or performance of an obligation, but does not include a lessee under a lease not intended as security.
(12) “Security agreement” means a written agreement that reserves or creates a security interest.
(13) “Security interest” means an interest in a vessel, snowmobile, or all-terrain vehicle reserved or created by agreement and that secures payment or performance of an obligation. The term includes the interest of a lessor under a lease intended as security. The term also includes a nonpossessory attachment issued by a court of competent jurisdiction within this State. The term also includes liens obtained by the Commissioner of Taxes pursuant to the provisions of Title 32. A security interest is “perfected” when it is valid against third parties generally, subject only to specific statutory exceptions.
(14) “Serial number” means the numbers and letters designated by the snowmobile or all-terrain vehicle manufacturer for the purpose of identifying a snowmobile or all-terrain vehicle.
(15) “Snowmobile” means a self-propelled vehicle intended for off-road travel primarily on snow, having a curb weight of not more than 453.59 kg (1,000 lbs.), driven by track or tracks in contact with the snow and steered by a ski or skis in contact with the snow.
(16) “State” means a state, territory, or possession of the United States, the District of Columbia, the commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or a province of the Dominion of Canada.
(17) “State of principal use” means the state on whose land, waters, snow, ice, marsh, swampland, or natural terrain a vessel, snowmobile, or all-terrain vehicle is used or to be used most during a calendar year.
(18) “Use” means to operate, navigate, or employ a vessel, snowmobile, or all-terrain vehicle. A vessel, snowmobile, or all-terrain vehicle is in use whenever it is upon land, water, snow, ice, marsh, swampland, or natural terrain.
(19) “Vessel” means every description of watercraft capable of being used as a means of transportation on water that is equipped with machinery capable of propelling the watercraft, whether or not such machinery is the principal source of propulsion, but shall not include a watercraft that has a valid marine document issued by U.S. Customs and Border Protection or any successor federal agency.
(20) “Title or certificate of title” means a written instrument or document that certifies ownership of a vessel and is issued by the Commissioner or equivalent official of another jurisdiction.
(21) “Secure assignment of title” means a form prescribed by the Commissioner that must be used to transfer ownership of a titled vessel, snowmobile, or all-terrain vehicle if all space for assignments upon the title itself has been used.
(22) “Salvage dealer” means any person who, in a single year, purchases or in any manner acquires at a minimum three vessels, snowmobiles, or all-terrain vehicles as salvage or who scraps, dismantles, or destroys at a minimum three vessels, snowmobiles, or all-terrain vehicles in a single year.
(23) “Rebuilt vessel, snowmobile, or all-terrain vehicle” means a vessel, snowmobile, or all-terrain vehicle upon which a salvage certificate of title, parts-only certificate, or other document indicating the vessel, snowmobile, or all-terrain vehicle is not sold for reregistration purposes, has been issued and that has been rebuilt and restored for operation.
(24) “Salvaged vessel, snowmobile, or all-terrain vehicle” means a vessel, snowmobile, or all-terrain vehicle that has been scrapped, dismantled, destroyed, or declared a total loss by an insurance company.
(25) “Totaled vessel, snowmobile, or all-terrain vehicle” means a vessel, snowmobile, or all-terrain vehicle that has been declared a total loss by an insurance company. (Added 1987, No. 152 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; amended 1991, No. 164 (Adj. Sess.), § 16; 2001, No. 107 (Adj. Sess.), § 2; 2009, No. 39, § 12; 2019, No. 14, § 65, eff. April 30, 2019; 2019, No. 131 (Adj. Sess.), § 248; 2021, No. 20, § 257; 2021, No. 40, § 9; 2021, No. 76, § 22.)
