TCA § 55-4-117 — Registration fees for dealers, manufacturers and transporters — Dealer plates for use on trucks — Lost plates

Any manufacturer, transporter or dealer may make application to the department for a certificate containing a general distinguishing number and for one (1) or more special plates, as are provided for in § 55-4-226. The fee for the master plate shall be at the rate of twice the amount of the annual registration fee for a passenger motor vehicle as prescribed in § 55-4-111, and the charge for additional plates shall be at a rate equal in amount to the annual fee for passenger motor vehicles. Each dealership shall be limited to two hundred twenty-five (225) dealer plates. The fee to replace lost plates shall be the same rate as provided for obtaining the plate initially issued. The fee to replace a mutilated or defaced plate shall be the same as the fee for replacing any other plate; provided, that the mutilated or defaced plate is surrendered to the clerk. Any dealer engaged in the sale of trucks at retail may make application to the department for a certificate for special dealer plates for use on trucks being operated for demonstration purposes or loaned temporarily to a prospective customer to be tested under load conditions over the highways of the state. The fee for the registration plates shall be at the rate of three hundred fifty-seven dollars and fifty cents ($357.50) per set for the licensing year. No dealer shall purchase more than seven (7) sets of the special plates in any one (1) year. The fee for a plate to replace any lost plate authorized in this section shall be the same as provided for the plate initially issued, and the replacement fee for a mutilated or defaced plate shall be one dollar ($1.00); provided, that this mutilated or defaced plate is surrendered to the clerk. These special registration plates shall contain some wording, marking or coloring so as to be readily distinguishable from all other registration plates issued by the state, and shall not be required to bear county numerical prefixes. No truck dealer shall permit special registration plates to be used by any person except one who is a prospective purchaser of the truck or an employee of the dealer. A truck dealer may authorize by contract a nonprofit organization whose sole purpose is to distribute food to the needy to use one (1) of its trucks with special registration plates to transport food from the location of a wholesale grocery distributor to the nonprofit organization's own place of operation. While the purchaser in using the truck for a reasonable time may operate the truck in the normal course of business, it is unlawful for the dealer to charge, receive or collect any rental fee or other consideration from or on behalf of the prospective customer for the use of the truck for the time it shall be operated with the special registration plates. Any violation of this subdivision (b)(2) constitutes grounds for the revocation of all the special registration plates issued to or owned by the dealer. The county clerk shall be entitled to a fee of two dollars ($2.00) for issuing each plate; provided, that the clerk shall only be entitled to receive a maximum of ten dollars ($10.00) a day from any one (1) dealer.