Request By:
Ms. June Feck
Fayette County Clerk's Office
Courthouse
Lexington, Kentucky 40507
Opinion
Opinion By: David L. Armstrong, Attorney General; By Susan G. Leavenworth, Assistant Attorney General
In your letter to the Attorney General, you ask whether it is legal for a dealer to list his business address as the address of the owner of the vehicle.
KRS 186A.120(3)(a) states:
"A new vehicle, when first registered or titled in this state, shall be registered or titled in the name of the first owner for use rather than in the name of a dealer who held the vehicle for sale."
KRS 186A.060(5) states that the application form must have:
"An owner or buyer section, containing space for the owner or buyer's full legal name, mailing address . . . ." (Emphasis added)
KRS 186A.125(3), in regard to the application for title and registration, states:
"The application, when presented to the county clerk, shall contain all required information and be fully executed with all required signatures present, and be accompanied by all required supporting documentation and fees."
OAG 71-368 held that a statute (KRS 186.040) requiring the post office address of the owner of a vehicle on the certificate of registration referred to something more than a post office box number or general delivery. Citing Ausmus v. Slusher, Ky., 382 S.W.2d 395 (1964) the opinion held that if a person may be reasonably located by use of the address given, there is sufficient post office address as required by statute.
Similarly, here the mailing address of the owner required by statute must be amenable to reasonable location of the person. In our opinion, the dealer's business address is insufficient and does not comply with the statutory requirement.