PURPOSE: The commission has the authority to determine that an applicant for licensure is a dealer or manufacturer in fact. One of the requirements for licensure as a dealer or manufacturer is that the business owner maintains a bona fide established place of business. This rule establishes some of the criteria that may be used in determining if this requirement has been met.

1. (1) To obtain licensure under sections 301.550–301.572, RSMo, an applicant must maintain a bona fide established place of business.

2. (2) Place of business for any motor vehicle dealer as those terms are defined in section 301.550(8) and (11), RSMo shall include a permanently enclosed building or structure, either owned in fee or leased and actually occupied and primarily used in whole, or in a clearly designated and segregated part, as a place of business by the applicant for the sell-

   Rebecca McDowell Cook (2/28/92)*

ing, bartering, trading or exchanging of motor vehicles or trailers, where the public may contact the owner or operator at any reasonable time and where shall be kept and maintained the books, records, files and other matters required and necessary to conduct the business. The display area of the principal place of business and each branch location of the dealer must be of sufficient size to physically accommodate vehicles of the type which the dealership is licensed to sell. The display area must be clearly for the exclusive use of the dealer or manufacturer for display purposes only and must be in a proximity to the office of the dealership as to avoid confusion or uncertainty as to its relationship to the business. The display area or lot must provide unencumbered visibility from the nearest public street of the motor vehicles being sold by the dealer or manufacturer. An enclosed garage does not qualify as a proper display area. For dealers who hold a franchise for any type of motor vehicle, the bona fide established place of business shall include adequate facilities, tools and personnel necessary to properly service and repair motor vehicles and trailers under their franchiser’s warranty.

1. (A) Example: Mrs. W has a place of business at a shopping center containing several other retail establishments. The shopping center contains a common parking area for customers of all retail establishments to park. The shopping center’s parking lot does not qualify as a proper display area and thus the building would not qualify as a bona fide established place of business for the sale or exchange of motor vehicles.

1. (3) The applicant’s place of business, regardless of class (any one (1) of the ten (10) different classes), shall contain a working telephone which shall be maintained during the entire licensure year. There shall be an exterior sign display carrying, in letters at least six inches (6") high and clearly visible to the public, the name and class of business conducted and there shall be an area or lot (not a public street) on which one (1) or more vehicles may be displayed, except when licensure is for a wholesale dealer or boat dealer a lot shall not be required.
2. (4) A bona fide established place of business for any class of licensee (any one (1) of the ten (10) different classes) shall be open at regular business hours when the public may contact the owner/operator. To be open at regular business hours, a bona fide established place of business shall be open a minimum of twenty (20) hours per week. A licensee shall satisfy the requirements of this 12 CSR 60-2

rule by being open at least four (4) of the six (6) days of Monday through Saturday each week. Only hours falling between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. will be considered by the commission in determining whether a place of business is open a minimum of twenty (20) hours a week. The business hours shall be posted at the place of business and the licensee’s records shall be accessible for inspection during the times posted. Nothing in this rule shall prevent a licensee from establishing business hours other than those mentioned in this rule, as long as the requirements of this rule are met.

1. (5) Any licensee who changes the site of the business operation must notify the commission of that change prior to initiation of operations at a new site. All provisions of section 301.560.1(1) and (2), RSMo must be met before the application for change of location will be accepted by the commission.
2. (6) A licensee must maintain a bona fide established place of business for the entire licensure period. The commission retains the right to determine the existence of a bona fide established place of business at any time.

AUTHORITY: section 301.553, RSMo (Cum. Supp. 1989).* Original rule filed Nov. 3, 1989, effective Feb. 25, 1990.

*Original authority 1988, amended 1989.