61-4-130. Courtesy license plates -- design and issuance -- restrictions on use. (1) The department may design courtesy license plates to be issued to a new or used motor vehicle dealer for use in accordance with this section. The plates must bear the license number assigned to the dealer, an abbreviation for the vehicle type of the dealer's license, and the word "COURTESY".
     (2) Upon application and payment of an annual fee of $150 a set, the department may issue up to two sets of courtesy plates to a dealer.
     (3) Courtesy license plates may be displayed only on a motor vehicle that the dealer loans, without charge or fee, exclusively for religious, charitable, scientific, or educational purposes. A loan of a vehicle displaying courtesy license plates may not exceed 30 days in a year.
     (4) A dealer shall maintain records detailing to whom a vehicle bearing courtesy plates has been loaned, the date of the loan, the date on which the vehicle bearing courtesy plates is to be returned, and the actual date of the vehicle's return. These records must include the name, address, and telephone number of the person or entity to whom the vehicle has been loaned and the name of a contact person who will oversee the actual operation and use of the vehicle. The records are subject to audit by the department.
     (5) It is the dealer's responsibility to ensure that courtesy plates are not used by an eligible person or entity for more than 30 days in a year.
     (6) It is the responsibility of the person or entity to whom the vehicle bearing courtesy plates was loaned to carry, while operating or in actual physical control of the vehicle, adequate proof of the status of the person or entity under this section.
     (7) If a dealer allows a person or entity to operate or retain actual physical control of a vehicle bearing courtesy plates in violation of this section, the department may suspend the right to use the courtesy plates for a period not to exceed 6 months.

     History: En. Sec. 2, Ch. 385, L. 2001.