(a) Every motor vehicle, trailer, semitrailer, pole trailer, and recreational vehicle when driven or moved upon a highway is subject to the registration and certificate of title provisions of this chapter except:

Terms Used In West Virginia Code 17A-3-2

  • Commissioner: means the Commissioner of the Division of Motor Vehicles of this state. See West Virginia Code 17A-1-1
  • dealers: is a general term meaning, depending upon the context in which used, either a new motor vehicle dealer, used motor vehicle dealer, factory-built home dealer, recreational vehicle dealer, trailer dealer or motorcycle dealer, as defined in §. See West Virginia Code 17A-1-1
  • Division: means the Division of Motor Vehicles of this state acting directly or through its duly authorized officers and agents. See West Virginia Code 17A-1-1
  • highway: means the entire width between boundary lines of every way publicly maintained when any part thereof is open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel. See West Virginia Code 17A-1-1
  • House trailers: means all trailers designed and used for human occupancy on a continual nonrecreational basis but may not include fold-down camping and travel trailers, mobile homes, or manufactured homes. See West Virginia Code 17A-1-1
  • Implement of husbandry: means every vehicle which is designed for or adapted to agricultural purposes and used by the owner thereof primarily in the conduct of his or her agricultural operations, including, but not limited to, trucks used for spraying trees and plants: Provided, That the vehicle may not be let for hire at any time. See West Virginia Code 17A-1-1
  • Low-speed vehicle: means a four-wheeled motor vehicle whose attainable speed in one mile on a paved level surface is more than 20 miles per hour but not more than 25 miles per hour. See West Virginia Code 17A-1-1
  • Manufacturer: means every person engaged in the business of constructing or assembling vehicles of a type required to be registered hereunder at a place of business in this state which is actually occupied either continuously or at regular periods by the manufacturer where his or her books and records are kept and a large share of his or her business is transacted. See West Virginia Code 17A-1-1
  • Motor vehicle: means every vehicle which is self-propelled and every vehicle which is propelled by electric power obtained from overhead trolley wires, but not operated upon rails. See West Virginia Code 17A-1-1
  • Offense: includes every act or omission for which a fine, forfeiture, or punishment is imposed by law. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
  • Owner: means a person who holds the legal title to a vehicle, or in the event a vehicle is the subject of an agreement for the conditional sale or lease thereof with the right of purchase upon performance of the conditions stated in the agreement and with an immediate right of possession vested in the conditional vendee or lessee, or in the event a mortgagor of a vehicle is entitled to possession, then the conditional vendee or lessee or mortgagor shall be considered the owner for the purpose of this chapter. See West Virginia Code 17A-1-1
  • Person: means every natural person, firm, copartnership, association, or corporation. See West Virginia Code 17A-1-1
  • Pole trailer: means every vehicle without motive power designed to be drawn by another vehicle and attached to the towing vehicle by means of a reach, or pole, or by being boomed or otherwise secured to the towing vehicle and ordinarily used for transporting long or irregularly shaped loads such as poles, pipes, or structural members capable, generally, of sustaining themselves as beams between the supporting connections. See West Virginia Code 17A-1-1
  • Recreational vehicle: means a motorboat, motorboat trailer, all-terrain vehicle, travel trailer, fold-down camping trailer, motor home, or snowmobile. See West Virginia Code 17A-1-1
  • Semitrailer: means every vehicle with or without motive power designed for carrying persons or property and for being drawn by a motor vehicle and constructed so that some part of its weight and that of its load rests upon or is carried by another vehicle. See West Virginia Code 17A-1-1
  • Special mobile equipment: means every self-propelled vehicle not designed or used primarily for the transportation of persons or property and incidentally operated or moved over the highways, including, without limitation, road construction or maintenance machinery, ditch-digging apparatus, stone crushers, air compressors, power shovels, graders, rollers, well drillers, wood-sawing equipment, asphalt spreaders, bituminous mixers, bucket loaders, ditchers, leveling graders, finishing machines, motor graders, road rollers, scarifiers, earth-moving carryalls, scrapers, drag lines, rock-drilling equipment, and earth-moving equipment. See West Virginia Code 17A-1-1
  • State: when applied to a part of the United States and not restricted by the context, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories, and the words "United States" also include the said district and territories. See West Virginia Code 2-2-10
  • Trailer: means every vehicle with or without motive power designed for carrying persons or property and for being drawn by a motor vehicle and constructed so that no part of its weight rests upon the towing vehicle but excluding recreational vehicles. See West Virginia Code 17A-1-1

(1) Any vehicle driven or moved upon a highway in conformance with the provisions of this chapter relating to manufacturers, transporters, dealers, lienholders, or nonresidents or under a temporary registration permit issued by the division as authorized under this chapter;

(2) Any implement of husbandry upon which is securely attached a machine for spraying fruit trees and plants of the owner or lessee or for any other implement of husbandry which is used exclusively for agricultural or horticultural purposes on lands owned or leased by the owner of the implement and which is not operated on or over any public highway of this state for any other purpose other than for the purpose of operating it across a highway or along a highway other than an expressway as designated by the Commissioner of the Division of Highways from one point of the owner’s land to another part of the owner’s land, irrespective of whether or not the tracts adjoin: Provided, That the distance between the points may not exceed 35 miles, or for the purpose of taking it or other fixtures attached to the implement, to and from a repair shop for repairs. The exemption in this subdivision from registration and license requirements also applies to any vehicle described in this subsection or to any farm trailer owned by the owner or lessee of the farm on which the trailer is used, when the trailer is used by the owner of the trailer for the purpose of moving farm produce and livestock from the farm along a public highway for a distance not to exceed 35 miles to a storage house or packing plant, when the use is a seasonal operation:

(A) The exemptions contained in this section also apply to farm machinery, tractors, and mini-trucks: Provided, That the machinery, tractors, and mini-trucks may use the highways in going from one tract of land to another tract of land regardless of whether the land is owned by the same or different persons. For the purposes of this section, “mini-truck” means a foreign-manufactured import or domestic-manufactured vehicle designed primarily for off-road use and powered by an engine ranging in size from 550cc to 660cc and weighing approximately 1,800 pounds;

(B) Any vehicle exempted under this subsection from the requirements of annual registration certificate and license plates and fees for the registration certificate and license plate may not use the highways between sunset and sunrise unless the vehicle is classified as a Class A motor vehicle with a farm-use exemption under the provisions of § 17A-10-1 of this code and has a valid and current inspection sticker as required by the provisions of § 17C-16-1 et seq. of this code and is traveling from one tract of land to another over a distance of 35 miles or less;

(C) Any vehicle exempted under this section from the requirements of annual registration certificate and license plates may use the highways as provided in this section whether the exempt vehicle is self-propelled, towed by another exempt vehicle or towed by another vehicle required to be registered;

(D) Any vehicle used as an implement of husbandry exempt under this section shall have the words “farm use” affixed to both sides of the implement in 10-inch letters. Any vehicle which would be subject to registration as a Class A or B vehicle if not exempted by this section shall display a farm-use exemption certificate on the lower driver’s side of the windshield:

(i) The farm-use exemption certificate shall be provided by the commissioner and shall be issued annually by the assessor of the applicant’s county of residence. The assessor shall issue a farm-use exemption certificate to the applicant upon his or her determination pursuant to an examination of the property books or documentation provided by the applicant that the vehicle has been properly assessed as Class I personal property. Nothing in this section or any rule promulgated under the authority of chapter 29A of this code may be construed to require any applicant for a renewal of a farm use exemption certificate to appear personally before any assessor. The assessor shall charge a fee of $2 for each certificate, which shall be retained by the assessor;

(ii) A farm-use exemption certificate shall not exempt the applicant from maintaining the security required by § 17D-1-1 et seq. of this code on any vehicle being operated on the roads or highways of this state;

(iii) No person charged with the offense of operating a vehicle without a farm-use exemption certificate, if required under this section, may be convicted of the offense if he or she produces in court, or in the office of the arresting officer, a valid farm-use exemption certificate for the vehicle in question within five days;

(3) Any vehicle which is propelled exclusively by electric power obtained from overhead trolley wires though not operated upon rails;

(4) Any vehicle of a type subject to registration which is owned by the government of the United States;

(5) Any wrecked or disabled vehicle towed by a licensed wrecker or dealer on the public highways of this state;

(6) The following recreational vehicles are exempt from the requirements of annual registration, license plates and fees, unless otherwise specified by law, but are subject to the certificate of title provisions of this chapter regardless of highway use: Motorboats, all-terrain vehicles, utility terrain vehicles, and snowmobiles; and

(7) Any special mobile equipment as defined in §17A-1-1(r) of this code.

(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a) of this section:

(1) Mobile homes or manufactured homes are exempt from the requirements of annual registration, license plates and fees;

(2) House trailers may be registered and licensed; and

(3) Factory-built homes are subject to the certificate of title provisions of this chapter.

(c) The division shall title and register low-speed vehicles if the manufacturer‘s certificate of origin clearly identifies the vehicle as a low-speed vehicle. The division may not title or register homemade low-speed vehicles or retrofitted golf carts and such vehicles do not qualify as low-speed vehicles in this state. In addition to all other motor vehicle laws and regulations, except as specifically exempted below, low-speed vehicles are subject to the following restrictions and requirements:

(1) Low-speed vehicles shall only be operated on private roads and on public roads and streets within the corporate limits of a municipality where the speed limit is not more than 25 miles per hour;

(2) Notwithstanding any provisions in this code to the contrary, low-speed vehicles shall meet the requirements of 49 C.F.R. § 571.500 (2003);

(3) In lieu of periodic inspection, the owner of a low-speed vehicle shall, upon initial application for registration and each renewal thereafter, certify under penalty of false swearing, that all lights, brakes, tires, and seat belts are in good working condition; and

(4) Any person operating a low-speed vehicle must hold a valid driver’s license, not an instruction permit.

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