Chapter 16.12
Certificates of Ownership and Registration

Sections:

16.12.005 Definitions.

16.12.010 Certificates Required to Operate and Sell Vehicles – Manufacturers or Dealers, Security Interest, How Perfected.

16.12.080 Repealed.

16.12.101 Transfer of Ownership, How Perfected – Penalty, Exceptions.

16.12.102 Release of Owner from Liability, Requirements For.

16.12.160 Refusal or Cancellation of Certificate – Notice – Penalty for Subsequent Operation.

16.12.250 Ownership of Motor Vehicle by Person under Eighteen Prohibited – Exceptions.

16.12.260 Repealed.

16.12.270 Penalty for Violation of RCW 46.12.250 or 46.12.260.

16.12.300 Serial Numbers on Vehicles, Watercraft, Campers or Parts – Buying, Selling, etc., with Numbers Removed, Altered, etc. – Penalty.

16.12.310 Repealed.

16.12.350 Repealed.

16.12.005 Definitions.

The definitions set forth in this section apply throughout this chapter.

1.   The words “delivery,” “notice,” “send,” and “security interest” have the same meaning as these terms are defined in RCW 62A.1-201; the word “secured party” has the same meaning as this term is defined in RCW 62A.9A-102.

2.   “Salvage vehicle” means a vehicle whose certificate of ownership has been surrendered to the department under RCW 46.12.070 due to the vehicle’s destruction or declaration as a total loss or for which there is documentation indicating that the vehicle has been declared salvage or has been damaged to the extent that the owner, an insurer, or other person acting on behalf of the owner, has determined that the cost of parts and labor plus the salvage value has made it uneconomical to repair the vehicle. The term does not include a motor vehicle having a model year designation of a calendar year that is at least six years before the calendar year in which the vehicle was wrecked, destroyed, or damaged, unless, after the effective date of this act and immediately before the vehicle was wrecked, destroyed, or damaged, the vehicle had a retail fair market value of at least the then market value threshold amount and has a model year designation of a calendar year not more than twenty years before the calendar year in which the vehicle was wrecked, destroyed, or damaged. “Market value threshold amount” means six thousand five hundred dollars or such greater amount as is then in effect by rule of the department in accordance with this section. If, for any year beginning with 2002, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, United States Department of Labor, or its successor, for the West Region, in the expenditure category “used cars and trucks,” shows an increase in the annual average for that year compared to that of the year immediately prior, the department shall, by rule, increase the then market value threshold amount by the same percentage as the percentage increase of the annual average, with the increase of the market value threshold amount to be effective on July 1st of the year immediately after the year with the increase of the annual average. However, the market value threshold amount may not be increased if the amount of the increase would be less than fifty dollars, and each increase of the market value threshold amount will be rounded to the nearest ten dollars. If an increase in the market value threshold amount is not made because the increase would be less than fifty dollars, the unmade increase will be carried forward and added to later year calculations of increase until the unmade increase is included in an increase made to the market value threshold amount.

[Ord. C33037 § 11; Passed: 6/10/2002]

16.12.010 Certificates Required to Operate and Sell Vehicles – Manufacturers or Dealers, Security Interest, How Perfected.

It shall be unlawful for any person to operate any vehicle in this city under a certificate of license registration of this state without securing and having in full force and effect a certificate of ownership therefor that contains the name of the registered owner exactly as it appears on the certificate of license registration, and it shall further be unlawful for any person to sell or transfer any vehicle without complying with all the provisions of RCW chapter 46.12, or the equivalent provisions of this title, relating to certificates of ownership and license registration of vehicles; provided, no certificate of title need be obtained for a vehicle owned by a manufacturer or dealer and held for sale, even though incidentally moved on the highway or used for purposes of testing and demonstration, or a vehicle used by a manufacturer solely for testing; provided, that a security interest in a vehicle held as inventory by a manufacturer or dealer shall be perfected in accordance with RCW 62A.9-302(1) and no endorsement on the certificate of title shall be necessary for perfection; and provided further, that nothing in this title shall be construed to prevent any person entitled thereto from securing a certificate of ownership upon a vehicle other than a travel trailer or camper without securing a certificate of license registration and vehicle license plates, when, in the judgment of the director of licensing, it is proper to do so.

[Ord. C31398 § 156; Passed: 6/5/1995]

Cross Reference: Definitions: RCW 46.12.005.

16.12.080 Repealed.

Repealed.

[Ord. C31398 § 157; Passed: 6/5/1995]

16.12.101 Transfer of Ownership, How Perfected – Penalty, Exceptions.

A transfer of ownership in a motor vehicle is perfected by compliance with the requirements of RCW 46.12.101.

1.   If an owner transfers his or her interest in a vehicle, other than by the creation, deletion, or change of a security interest, the owner shall, at the time of the delivery of the vehicle, execute an assignment to the transferee and provide an odometer disclosure statement under RCW 46.12.124 on the certificate of ownership or as the department otherwise prescribes, and cause the certificate and assignment to be transmitted to the transferee. Within five days, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and state and federal holidays, the owner shall notify the department in writing, on the appropriate form, of the date of the sale or transfer, the name and address of the owner and of the transferee, and such description of the vehicle, including the vehicle identification number, the license plate number, or both, as may be required in the appropriate form provided for that purpose by the department.

2.   The requirements of subsection 1 of this section to provide an odometer disclosure statement apply to the transfer of vehicles held for lease when transferred to a lessee and then to the lessor at the end of the leasehold and to vehicles held in a fleet when transferred to a purchaser.

3.   Except as provided in RCW 46.12.120 [RCW 46.760.122] the transferee shall within fifteen days after delivery to the transferee of the vehicle, execute the application for a new certificate of ownership in the same space provided therefor on the certificate or as the department prescribes, and cause the certificates and application to be to be transmitted to the department.

4.   Upon request of the owner or transferee, a secured party in possession of the certificate of ownership shall, unless the transfer was a breach of its security agreement, either deliver the certificate to the transferee for transmission to the department or, when the secured party receives the owner’s assignment from the transferee, it shall transmit the transferee’s application for a new certificate, the existing certificate, and the required fee to the department. Compliance with this section does not affect the rights of the secured party.

5.   If a security interest is reserved or created at the time of the transfer, the certificate of ownership shall be retained by or delivered to the person who becomes the secured party, and the parties shall comply with the provisions of RCW 46.12.170.

6.   Failure or neglect to make application to transfer the certificate of ownership and license registration within forty-five days after the date of delivery of the vehicle is a misdemeanor.

7.   Reserved.

8.   Reserved.

[Ord. C31398 § 158; Passed: 6/5/1995]

Cross Reference: Definitions: RCW 46.12.005.

16.12.102 Release of Owner from Liability, Requirements For.

An owner who has made a bona fide sale or transfer of a vehicle and has delivered possession of it to a purchaser shall not by reason of any of the provisions of this title be deemed the owner of the vehicle so as to be subject to civil liability or criminal liability for the operation of the vehicle thereafter by another person when the owner has also fulfilled both of the following requirements:

1.   When he has made proper endorsement and delivery of the certificate of ownership and has delivered the certificate of registration as provided in RCW chapter 46.12;

2.   When he has delivered to the department either the notice as provided in RCW 46.12.101(1) or appropriate documents for registration of the vehicle pursuant to the sale or transfer.

[Ord. C31398 § 159; Passed: 6/5/1995]

16.12.160 Refusal or Cancellation of Certificate – Notice – Penalty for Subsequent Operation.

It shall be unlawful for any person to remove, drive or operate the vehicle until a proper certificate of ownership or license registration has been issued, and any person removing, driving, or operating such vehicle after the refusal of the department to issue certificates or the revocation thereof shall be guilty of a gross misdemeanor.

[Ord. C31398 § 160; Passed: 6/5/1995]

16.12.250 Ownership of Motor Vehicle by Person under Eighteen Prohibited – Exceptions.

It shall be unlawful for any person under the age of eighteen to be the registered or legal owner of any motor vehicle; provided, that RCW 46.12.250 through 46.12.270, or the equivalent provisions of this title, shall not apply to any person who is on active duty in the United States armed forces nor to any minor who is in effect emancipated; provided further, that RCW 46.12.250 through 46.12.270, or the equivalent provisions of this title, shall not apply to any person who is the registered owner of a motor vehicle prior to August 11, 1969, or who became the registered or legal owner of a motor vehicle while a nonresident of this state.

[Ord. C31398 § 161; Passed: 6/5/1995]

16.12.260 Repealed.

Repealed.

[Ord. C31398 § 162; Passed: 6/5/1995]

16.12.270 Penalty for Violation of RCW 46.12.250 or 46.12.260.

Any person violating RCW 46.12.250 or 46.12.260, or the equivalent provisions of this title, or who transfers, sells, or encumbers an interest in a vehicle in violation of RCW 46.61.5058, or the equivalent provisions of this title, with actual notice of the prohibition, is guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished by a fine of not more than two hundred fifty dollars or by imprisonment in a county jail for not more than ninety days.

[Ord. C31398 § 163; Passed: 6/5/1995]

16.12.300 Serial Numbers on Vehicles, Watercraft, Campers or Parts – Buying, Selling, etc., with Numbers Removed, Altered, etc. – Penalty.

Whoever knowingly buys, sells, receives, disposes of, conceals or has knowingly in his possession any vehicle, watercraft, camper or component part thereof, from which the manufacturer’s serial number or any other distinguishing number or identification mark has been removed, defaced, covered, altered or destroyed for the purpose of concealment or misrepresenting the identity of the said vehicle, watercraft, camper or component part thereof shall be guilty of a gross misdemeanor.

[Ord. C31398 § 164; Passed: 6/5/1995]

16.12.310 Repealed.

Repealed.

[Ord. C31398 § 165; Passed: 6/5/1995]

16.12.350 Repealed.

Repealed.

[Ord. C31398 § 166; Passed: 6/5/1995]