As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:

"Car-sharing organization" means a rental motor vehicle lessor that operates a membership program in which:

1. (1) Self-service access to a fleet of vehicles is provided, with or without requiring a reservation, exclusively to members of the organization who have paid a membership fee;
2. (2) Members are charged a usage rate, either hourly or by the minute, for each use of a vehicle;
3. (3) Members are not required to enter into a separate written agreement with the organization each time the member reserves and uses a vehicle; and

4. (4) The average paid use period for all vehicles provided by the organization during any taxable period is six hours or less.

   "Department" means the department of taxation.

   "Lessor" means any person in the business of providing rental motor vehicles to the public.

   "Person" has the same meaning as defined in section 237-1.

   "Rental motor vehicle" or "vehicle" means every vehicle which is:

5. (1) Self-propelled and every vehicle which is propelled by electric power but which is not operated upon rails which is rented or leased or offered for rent or lease in this State, whether for personal or commercial use, for a period of six months or less; and

6. (2) Designed to carry seventeen passengers or fewer.

   "Rental motor vehicle" or "vehicle" shall not include:

7. (1) Mopeds as defined in section 286-2;

8. (2) Any trucks, truck-tractors, tractor-semitrailer combinations, or truck-trailer combinations, with:

   1. (A) A manufacturer's nominal carrying capacity of one thousand pounds or more; and
   2. (B) A barrier or separation between the operator's compartment and the cargo area; and

9. (3) Cargo vans with no more than two seats, including the driver's seat; provided that vans with a recreational vehicle converter package and vans with quick release passenger seats shall not be classified as cargo vans.

   "Surcharge tax" means the rental motor vehicle and tour vehicle surcharge tax established under this chapter.

   "Tour vehicle" means any vehicle, including vans, minibuses, and buses used for the purpose of transporting persons for pleasure or sightseeing trips, or transporting persons to pleasure or sightseeing cruises or destinations. The term does not include any vehicle used solely for the purposes of transporting individuals to and from a place of work or a public or private school or of transporting persons with disabilities.

   "Tour vehicle operator" means a person who owns, manages, or dispatches tour vehicles.

[L 1991, c 263, pt of §1; am L 1992, c 77, §1 and c 126, §1; am L 2014, c 110, §3; am L 2021, c 117, §28]