This section defines several terms used in the motor-vehicle chapter, including abandoned motor vehicle, curbstoning, demolisher, immobile motor vehicle, police department, possession, physical possession, constructive possession, and unattended motor vehicle.
As used in this section and §§ 55-16-104 — 55-16-109 : “Abandoned motor vehicle” means a motor vehicle that: Is over four (4) years old and is left unattended on public property for more than ten (10) days; Is in an obvious state of disrepair and is left unattended on public property for more than three (3) days; Has remained illegally on public property for a period of more than forty-eight (48) hours; Has remained on private property without the consent of the owner or person in control of the property for more than forty-eight (48) hours; or Has been stored, parked or left in a garage, trailer park, or any type of storage or parking lot for more than thirty (30) consecutive days; “Curbstoning” means the selling, offering for sale, advertising for sale, or soliciting the sale of: Any motor vehicle without a properly endorsed certificate of title as required by § 55-3-127 by a person or entity engaged primarily in the sale of used motor vehicles if the person or entity is not licensed as a motor vehicle dealer under § 55-17-109; or More than five (5) motor vehicles in any twelve-month period when the motor vehicles are titled in the person's name or the name of the entity engaged primarily in the sale of used motor vehicles if the person or entity is not licensed as a motor vehicle dealer under § 55-17-109; “Demolisher” means any person whose business is to convert a motor vehicle into processed scrap or scrap metal, or otherwise to wreck or dismantle motor vehicles; “Immobile motor vehicle” means any motor vehicle, trailer, semitrailer, or combination or part of a motor vehicle, trailer, or semitrailer that is immobilized and incapable of moving under its own power due to an accident, mechanical breakdown, weather conditions or other emergency situation; “Obvious state of disrepair” means a motor vehicle exhibiting one (1) or more of the following characteristics: inoperable under its own power, without one (1) or more wheels or inflated tires, burned throughout, or with more than one (1) broken window; “Police department” means the Tennessee highway patrol, the sheriff's department of any county, or the police department of any city or town. In any county with a population of four hundred thousand (400,000) or more, according to the 1980 federal census or any subsequent federal census, with a metropolitan form of government, “police department” also means any department, board or commission designated by the legislative body of the metropolitan government to perform the duties of a police department specified in this chapter; “Possession,” as used in § 55-16-108(e), shall be construed to mean either physical possession or constructive possession by a unit of government. “Physical possession” means seizure and physical custody by a unit of government. “Constructive possession” shall be determined by the power and intent of a unit of government to control; and “Unattended motor vehicle” means any motor vehicle, semitrailer, or combination or part of a motor vehicle, trailer, or semitrailer, that is on public or private property, unattended by the owner or authorized driver, and interferes with or impedes the orderly flow of traffic, or a motor vehicle that is unattended by reason of the arrest of the driver of the motor vehicle. Acts 1967, ch. 250, § 1; T.C.A., § 59-1603; Acts 1989, ch. 185, § 1; 1994, ch. 635, §§ 1, 2; 1996, ch. 868, §§ 2, 3; 1998, ch. 760, § 3; 1999, ch. 302, § 1; 2002, ch. 736, §§ 1, 2; 2015, ch. 344, § 1. Compiler's Notes. For tables of U.S. decennial populations of Tennessee counties, see Volume 13 and its supplement. For the Preamble to the act concerning the problems associated with curbstoning, see Acts 2015, ch. 344. Cross-References. Disposition of unclaimed property, title 66, ch. 29, part 1.