2023 New York Laws › VAT - Vehicle and Traffic › Title 11 - Registration of Snowmobiles, Motorboats and Limited Use Vehicles › Article 48 - Registration of Vessels › 2257 - Registration of Dealers.

§ 2257. Registration  of dealers. 1. For the purposes of this article,
a dealer shall be any person engaged in the business of buying,  selling
or trading vessels.  A person who sells three or more vessels for profit
within  one  calendar  year  shall  be  presumed  to be a dealer if such
vessels were purchased, acquired or otherwise obtained  by  such  person
for the purpose of resale, and were never placed in his consumer use. On
and  after  April  first,  nineteen  hundred eighty-six, no person shall
engage in business as a dealer, or represent or  advertise  that  he  is
engaged,  or  intends  to engage, in such business in this state, unless
there shall have been issued to him a  certificate  of  registration  as
provided  in  this  section.  A  person  shall  not  be  required  to be
registered as a dealer  if  he  sells  no  vessels  other  than  vessels
determined  by  regulation  of the commissioner to be vessels or devices
which would not ordinarily be considered as usable for transportation on
water.
2.  Application  for  registration.  Every  dealer   shall   file   an
application  for registration as a dealer with the commissioner of motor
vehicles, together with all required fees, in such form and  detail  and
containing   such  information  as  the  commissioner  shall  reasonably
prescribe.
3.  Issuance  of  certificate.  If  the  commissioner   approves   the
application,  he  shall issue a certificate of registration in such form
as he may prescribe. For the purposes of implementing this article,  the
commissioner   may,  in  his  discretion,  issue  such  certificates  of
registration and number plates on a staggered expiration basis, in which
event the fees set forth in subdivision five of this  section  for  such
certificate shall be prorated on a monthly basis.
4. Demonstrator numbers and trailer number plates. (a) Upon payment of
the  required  fee,  a  dealer  shall be entitled to receive one or more
demonstrator numbers, which may be used in lieu of a registration issued
under section twenty-two hundred  fifty-one  of  this  article  for  the
operation  of  any vessel owned or controlled by the registrant and held
for sale or demonstration. Demonstrator numbers shall be displayed in  a
manner prescribed by the commissioner.
(b)  Upon  payment  of the required fee, a dealer shall be entitled to
receive one or more number plates which may  be  used  in  lieu  of  any
registration  issued  under section four hundred one of this chapter for
the operation of any boat trailer owned or controlled by the dealer  and
held  for  the purpose of sale or demonstration, provided such operation
is directly related to the sale or demonstration of any boat trailer  or
vessel.  The provisions of section four hundred two of this chapter with
respect to the care and display of number plates shall apply  to  number
plates issued under this subdivision.
(c)  The  commissioner  may,  in  his  discretion, limit the number of
demonstrator numbers or number plates  which  shall  be  issued  to  any
registrant. The fee for the replacement of lost, mutilated, or destroyed
demonstrator numbers or number plates shall be two dollars.
5. Fees. Every application, other than a renewal application, shall be
accompanied  by  an  application  fee  of ten dollars, which shall in no
event be refunded. The triennial fee for such  registration  or  renewal
thereof   shall   be   seventy-five   dollars.  The  triennial  fee  for
demonstrator numbers or number plates shall be sixty  dollars  for  each
number  or  number plate. The application for registration, demonstrator
numbers and number plates shall be accompanied  by  the  required  fees.
There  shall  be  no  refund  of  any  registration  fee  or any fee for
demonstrator numbers or number plates.
6. No dealer shall sell a vessel except in accordance with regulations
established  by  the  commissioner.  The  commissioner   may,   in   his

discretion,  require  a  registrant to maintain a record in a prescribed
form of all vessels received or disposed of by him. Upon request  of  an
agent of the commissioner or of any peace officer acting pursuant to his
special  duties, a registrant shall produce such records and permit said
agent or peace officer to examine them, and any vessels on the  premises
subject  to the record keeping requirements of this section during usual
business hours or while  the  registrant  is  conducting  business.  The
failure to produce such records or to permit such inspection as required
by this subdivision shall be a violation.