Victorian Consolidated Legislation

Motor Car Traders Act 1986 - SECT 3

Definitions

3. Definitions



(1) In this Act-

Authority means the Business Licensing Authority established under the
Business Licensing Authority Act 1998;

Chairperson means the Chairperson of the Committee and includes a person
acting as Chairperson;





collateral credit agreement means an agreement-

   (a)  for the provision of finance for the purposes of the sale of a motor
        car; and

   (b)  that is arranged or procured by the vendor, or a motor car trader who
        acted on behalf of the vendor in the making of the sale;

commercial vehicle means-

   (a)  in relation to a motor car that was manufactured in, or imported into,
        Australia on or after 1 July 1988, a car-

   (i)  that is of a type that is classified as a goods carrying vehicle by
        the Department of Transport of the Commonwealth (or by any successor
        of that Department); and

   (ii) that has a vehicle category code of MD, ME, NA, NB or NC (or any other
        code specified by the regulations for the purposes of this definition)
        stamped on its compliance plate (regardless of whether that code
        appears by itself or in combination with one or more numbers);

   (b)  in relation to a motor car that was manufactured in, or imported into,
        Australia before 1 July 1988, a car constructed or adapted solely or
        mainly for-

   (i)  the carriage of goods; or

   (ii) the carriage of more than 10 passengers; or

   (iii) industrial or agricultural use- and includes a car with a carrying
        capacity of 1200 kg or more, but does not include a car of a type
        commonly called a panel van, a station wagon or a utility;

Committee means the Motor Car Traders Claims Committee established under
section 57;

Consumer Act has the same meaning as it has in the Fair Trading Act 1999;



* * * * *







* * * * *





determination in relation to the Authority or the Committee includes order,
direction, decision or declaration;

director, in relation to a body corporate, has the same meaning as in section
9 of the Corporations Act;





Director means the Director within the meaning of the Fair Trading Act 1999;

domestic partner of a person means-

   (a)  a person who is in a registered relationship with the person; or

   (b)  an adult person to whom the person is not married but with whom the
        person is in a relationship as a couple where one or each of them
        provides personal or financial commitment and support of a domestic
        nature for the material benefit of the other, irrespective of their
        genders and whether or not they are living under the same roof, but
        does not include a person who provides domestic support and personal
        care to the person-

   (i)  for fee or reward; or

   (ii) on behalf of another person or an organisation (including a government
        or government agency, a body corporate or a charitable or benevolent
        organisation);

exempt vehicle means a vehicle of a kind for the time being declared by
proclamation of the Governor in Council under subsection (2) to be an exempt
vehicle for the purposes of this Act;

externally-administered body corporate has the same meaning as in the
Corporations Act;









finance lease means a finance lease within the meaning of subsection (4);

financial institution means-

   (a)  an authorised deposit-taking institution within the meaning of the
        Banking Act 1959 of the Commonwealth; or

   (b)  a body approved by the Governor in Council by order published in the
        Government Gazette;

financier means a person whose ordinary business is not that of buying selling
or exchanging motor cars, but who carries on that business for one or more of
the following purposes-

   (a)  selling motor cars on instalment terms;

   (b)  letting or hiring motor cars under hire-purchase agreements;

   (c)  taking or enforcing securities over motor cars;

   (d)  letting or hiring motor cars with or without granting any right to
        purchase them;

   (e)  disposing of motor cars acquired by the person in connection with any
        of the purposes referred to in paragraph (a), (b), (c) or (d);

Fund means the Motor Car Traders' Guarantee Fund established under section 74;

hire-purchase agreement in relation to a motor car, includes a letting of the
motor car with an option to purchase and an agreement for the purchase of a
motor car by instalments (whether the agreement describes the instalments as
rent or hire or otherwise), but does not include an agreement under which the
property in the motor car passes at the time of the agreement or at any time
before delivery of the motor car;

* * * * *











inspector means an inspector appointed under the Fair Trading Act 1999;

licence means a motor car trader's licence;



* * * * *





licensed motor car trader or licensee means a person holding a licence under
this Act;

manufacturer means a person who carries on the business of manufacturing or
assembling motor cars;

motor car means a motor vehicle within the meaning of the Road Safety Act 1986
(whether or not in working condition or complete) but does not include-

   (a)  an engine constructed for use as a motor tractor; or

   (b)  a motor vehicle so constructed that its engine is used to drive or
        operate an agricultural implement forming an integral part of the
        motor vehicle; or

   (c)  an exempt vehicle; or

   (d)  a vehicle that is not, and is not intended to be, used on a highway;

motor car trader means a person who otherwise than in the capacity of an
employee carries on the business (whether or not that person carries on any
other business) of trading in motor cars or holds out in any way as carrying
on the business of trading in motor cars;

occupier in relation to a premises, means a person who appears to be of or
over 16 years of age and who appears to be in control of the premises;

* * * * *





owner (except in the definition of security interest) in relation to a motor
car, includes any person who is the sole owner joint owner or part owner
thereof and any person who has the possession and use thereof under or subject
to a hire-purchase agreement or a bill of sale or like instrument, but does
not include any person in whom the property in the motor car or any absolute
or conditional right or licence to take possession of the motor car is vested
under or subject to a hire-purchase agreement or a bill of sale or like
instrument but who has not for the time being the possession and use thereof;

prescribed means prescribed by this Act or the regulations;

public auction means an auction at which people other than licensed motor car
traders may attend and bid;

record includes any book, account, document, paper or other source of
information compiled, recorded, stored in written form, or on microfilm, or by
electronic process, or in any other manner or by any other means;

Registrar means the Registrar of the Authority appointed under the
Business Licensing Authority Act 1998;

related company, in relation to a body corporate, means a body corporate that
is a related body corporate (within the meaning of the Corporations Act) of
that body corporate;

security interest in relation to a motor car means an interest in or a power
over the motor car (whether arising by or pursuant to an instrument or
transaction) which secures payment of a debt or other pecuniary obligation or
the performance of any other obligation and includes any interest in or power
over goods of a lessor, owner or other supplier of goods, but does not include
a possessory lien or a pledge;

serious offence means an offence involving fraud, dishonesty, drug trafficking
or violence punishable by imprisonment for 3 months or more;

special trader means a financier or manufacturer or a related company of a
financier or manufacturer being a body corporate;

spouse of a person means a person to whom the person is married;



trading in motor cars means buying selling or exchanging motor cars, whether
as principal or agent, and offering to buy sell or exchange motor cars,
whether as principal or agent, and includes an advertisement or invitation to
treat but does not include an exempt transaction under subsection (3);

this Act includes the regulations;

Tribunal means Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal established by the
Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 1998;

used motor car includes a motor car that has, at any time before being offered
or displayed for sale, been registered under the Road Safety Act 1986 or the
Motor Car Act 1958 or under any Act or law of a place outside Victoria which
contains provisions corresponding to the provisions of the
Road Safety Act 1986 for registration of motor cars.

(2) The Governor in Council may by proclamation published in the Government
Gazette declare any kind of motor car to be an exempt vehicle for the purposes
of this Act.

(3) For the purposes of the definition of trading in motor cars the following
are exempt transactions-

   (a)  buying, selling or exchanging motor cars or offering to buy sell or
        exchange motor cars by any person from to or with-

   (i)  licensed motor car traders;

   (ii) special traders; or

   (iii) employees of the person or, where the person is a body corporate, of
        a related company of the person; or



   (b)  selling or offering to sell by a financier by public auction or public
        tender motor cars-

   (i)  that are returned to the financier by persons (not being motor car
        traders) who have entered into any contracts or agreements with the
        financier relating to them; or

   (ii) of which the financier has taken possession in the exercise of any
        rights conferred by contracts or agreements made between the financier
        and the persons (not being motor car traders) formerly in possession
        of them; or

   (c)  selling or offering to sell motor cars by a financier by private
        treaty to purchasers introduced to the financier by persons from whom
        the motor cars have been repossessed; or

   (d)  selling or offering to sell motor cars by any person to persons to
        whom the motor cars have been let or hired by the person for a
        continuous period of at least three months immediately before the sale
        or offer to sell in each case; or

   (e)  buying or selling or offering to buy or sell at a public auction motor
        cars-

   (i)  whose last owner or user was a government department or a public
        statutory authority; or

   (ii) owned by a company (not being a licensed motor car trader) which has
        been wound up, where the sale or offer to sell is effected by a
        liquidator pursuant to a power conferred on her or him by the
        Corporations Act or by an Order of the Supreme Court of Victoria.

(4) For the purposes of this Act, a reference to a finance lease is a
reference to a contract for the hiring of a motor car where, before the
contract is made, the owner acts in such a manner that the hirer ought
reasonably to infer that the owner is willing, whether during or within a
reasonable time after the period during which the contract is in force, to
sell the motor car to the hirer.

(5) A reference to a person who is disqualified from holding a licence
includes a reference to a person who is disqualified from holding a licence to
act, or from acting, as a motor car trader in any State or Territory
(regardless of whether or not motor car traders are referred to by that name
in the relevant jurisdiction).

(6) A reference to a conviction for an offence includes a reference to-

   (a)  a finding of guilt in relation to the offence; and

   (b)  a conviction or finding of guilt in Australia or elsewhere.

(7) A reference to a date, code or other marking on a compliance plate, metal
plate or metal component only refers to a date, code or marking stamped,
engraved or otherwise placed on the plate or component in accordance with a
law of the Commonwealth or of a State or Territory.

(8) A reference to a claim being admitted against the Fund includes a
reference to a claim being admitted against the Motor Car Traders' Guarantee
Fund established under the Motor Car Traders Act 1973.

(9) A reference to a person includes a reference to a partnership, unless a
contrary intention appears.



(10) For the purposes of the definition of domestic partner in subsection (1)-

   (a)  registered relationship has the same meaning as in the
        Relationships Act 2008; and

   (b)  in determining whether persons who are not in a registered
        relationship are domestic partners of each other, all the
        circumstances of their relationship are to be taken into account,
        including any one or more of the matters referred to in section 35(2)
        of the Relationships Act 2008 as may be relevant in a particular case;
        and

   (c)  a person is not a domestic partner of another person only because they
        are co-tenants.