N.Y. Personal Property Law § 331: Definitions

§ 331. Definitions. In this article, unless the context or subject

matter otherwise requires:

1. "Motor vehicle" or "vehicle" means any device propelled or drawn by

any power other than muscular power, upon or by which any person or

property is or may be transported or drawn upon a public highway, road

or street. The term does not include a "snowmobile" as defined in

subdivision three of section 21.05 of the parks, recreation and historic

preservation law or other vehicles not designed primarily for highway

transportation, but which may incidentally transport persons or property

on a public highway.

2. "Retail lessee" or "lessee" means a natural person who leases a

motor vehicle from a retail lessor primarily for personal, family or

household use and who executes a retail lease agreement in connection

therewith. For purposes of section three hundred thirty-four and

subdivisions two and three of section three hundred forty-six of this

article, the term also includes a person who makes a payment to a lessor

or leaves his vehicle with a lessor pending the execution of a retail

lease agreement. Except as provided in sections three hundred

forty-eight and three hundred forty-nine of this article, the term does

not include a person who leases a motor vehicle primarily for

agricultural, business or commercial use or for the purpose of

subleasing.

3. "Retail lessor" or "lessor" means a person regularly engaged in the

business of leasing or selling motor vehicles who leases a motor vehicle

to a retail lessee under or subject to a retail lease agreement.

4. "Retail lease" or "lease" means a transfer from a retail lessor to

a retail lessee of the right to possession and use of a motor vehicle in

return for consideration. The term does not include a sale, including a

sale on approval or a sale or return, a retail instalment sale as

defined in article nine of this chapter or the retention or creation of

a security interest in a motor vehicle.

5. "Retail lease agreement" or "agreement" means an agreement, entered

into in this state, for the lease of a motor vehicle, and which may

include the purchase of goods or services incidental thereto, by a

retail lessee for a scheduled term exceeding four months, whether or not

the lessee has the option to purchase or otherwise become the owner of

the vehicle at the expiration of the agreement. The term includes such

an agreement wherever entered into if executed by the lessee in this

state and if solicited in person by a person acting on his own behalf or

that of the lessor. The term does not include a retail instalment

contract or a rental-purchase agreement as defined in articles nine and

eleven of this chapter. An agreement that substantially complies with

this article does not create a security interest in a motor vehicle as

the term "security interest" is defined in paragraph thirty-five of

subsection (b) of section 1--201 of the uniform commercial code.

6. "Additional early termination charge" means the initial dollar

amount of the early termination charge the portion of which is

recoverable by the holder upon early termination in addition to the

amounts specified in paragraphs (a) through (e) of subdivision one of

section three hundred forty-one of this article. The additional early

termination charge may only include amounts which are reasonable in

light of the anticipated or actual harm caused by the delinquency,

default or early termination, the difficulties of proof of loss and the

inconvenience or nonfeasibility of otherwise obtaining an adequate

remedy. Any fees or charges included in the additional early termination

charge may not also be included in the capitalized cost.

* 7. "Initial early termination charge" means the sum of the adjusted

initial lease value and the additional early termination charge, which

would be recoverable under the lease agreement if the agreement were to

be terminated before any of the periodic rental payments had become due.

The term does not include any vehicle disposition fee or any other

components of a lessee's early termination liability which could not

have been incurred by the lessee at lease inception.

* NB There are 2 sb 7's

* 7. "Adjusted capitalized cost" means the capitalized cost less any

capitalized cost reduction payments made by the lessee at the inception

of the lease and any net trade-in allowance granted by the lessor.

* NB There are 2 sb 7's

8. "Anticipated assignee" means the person to whom the lessor

anticipates that the agreement will be assigned and to whom the

agreement subsequently is assigned by the lessor.

9. "Base rental payment" means that portion of the monthly or other

periodic rental payment which is equal to the sum of: (a) the average

monthly or other periodic lease charge; and (b) the average monthly or

other periodic depreciation. For purposes of this article, the average

monthly or other periodic depreciation may include a monthly or other

periodic charge for any item that the lessor has included in the

capitalized cost.

10. "Conspicuous" means that a term or clause is so written that a

reasonable person against whom it is to operate ought to have noticed

it. Whether or not a term or clause is conspicuous is a question of law

for decision by the court.

11. "Capitalized cost" means the agreed upon amount which serves as

the basis for determining the base rental payment and a portion of the

early termination liability of the lessee. The capitalized cost may

include any taxes, registration, license acquisition, assignment and

other fees and charges for insurance, for a waiver of the contractual

obligation to pay the gap amount, for accessories and their

installation, for delivering, servicing, repairing or improving the

motor vehicle and for other services incidental to the agreement. It

also may include the unpaid balance of any amount financed under an

outstanding motor vehicle loan agreement or motor vehicle retail

instalment contract or the unpaid portion of the early termination

obligation under an outstanding motor vehicle retail lease agreement.

The term does not include any lease charge or any amount included in the

additional early termination charge.

12. "Capitalized cost reduction" means any payments made by cash,

check or similar means that are in the nature of downpayments made by

the lessee at the inception of the lease for the purpose of reducing the

capitalized cost.

13. "Constant yield method" means: (a) in the case of a periodic

payment lease, that method of determining the lease charge portion of

each base rental payment pursuant to which the lease charge for each

computational period is earned in advance by multiplying the constant

rate implicit in the lease times the balance subject to lease charge as

it declines during the lease term. At any given time during the

scheduled term of a periodic payment lease, the balance subject to lease

charge is the difference between the adjusted capitalized cost and the

sum of: (i) all depreciation amounts accrued during the preceding

computational periods; and (ii) the first base rental payment; (b) in

the case of a single or advance payment lease, that method of

determining the periodic earning of lease charges pursuant to which the

lease charge for each computational period is earned in advance by

multiplying the constant rate implicit in the lease times the balance

subject to lease charge as it increases during the scheduled lease term.

At any given time during the scheduled term of a single or advance

payment lease, the balance subject to lease charge is determined by

subtracting from the estimated residual value the total lease charge

scheduled to be earned over the term of the lease and adding to the

difference all lease charges accrued during the preceding computational

periods; (c) in the case of either type of lease, the periodic lease

charge calculations are based on the assumption that the holder will

receive the rental payments on their exact due dates and that the lease

goes to its full term.

14. "Estimated residual value" means the estimated value of the leased

vehicle at the scheduled end of the lease term, used by the lessor in

determining the base rental payment, as established by the lessor at the

time he enters into a retail lease agreement.

15. "Gap amount" has the meaning ascribed to it in paragraph fifty-two

of subsection (a) of section one hundred seven of the insurance law.

16. "Gap insurance" has the meaning ascribed to it in paragraph

twenty-six of subsection (a) of section one thousand one hundred

thirteen of the insurance law. For purposes of paragraphs (a) and (b) of

subdivision six of section three hundred thirty-seven of this article,

gap insurance shall not be deemed "liability insurance or insurance on

the vehicle".

17. "Group credit insurance" means group credit life insurance, group

credit accident insurance, group credit health insurance, group credit

accident and health insurance or group credit unemployment insurance.

18. "Holder" means the retail lessor of a motor vehicle under or

subject to a retail lease agreement or, if the agreement is purchased by

an assignee, the assignee. Unless and until it realizes upon its

security interest therein, the term does not include a pledgee of one or

more lease agreements to secure a bona fide loan thereon.

19. "Lease charge" means the charge to be paid by the retail lessee

for the privilege of making the rental payments as scheduled under a

retail lease agreement. The term does not include any amount included in

the capitalized cost. The term also does not include any delinquency,

default, disposition, early termination, collection, or reinstatement

charge and the amount, if any, included in a retail lease agreement for

taxes, registration, license acquisition, assignment and other fees and

charges for insurance, for accessories and their installation, for

delivering, servicing, repairing or improving the motor vehicle and for

other services incidental to the agreement, whether or not such amounts

are included in the capitalized cost, paid for separately at lease

inception by cash, check or similar means or paid for on a monthly or

other periodic basis in addition to the base rental payment.

20. "Person" means an individual, partnership, corporation,

association or other group, however organized.

21. "Precomputed lease transaction" means a retail lease transaction

in which the base rental obligation is a sum comprising the total

depreciation estimated to occur during the scheduled term of the lease

and the amount of the lease charge computed in advance. A disclosure

required by the act of Congress entitled "Consumer Leasing Act of 1976"

does not in itself make a lease charge or transaction precomputed.

22. "Realized value" means: (a) the price received by the holder for

the leased vehicle at disposition; (b) the highest offer received by the

holder for disposition of the leased vehicle; or (c) the fair market

value of the vehicle, determined pursuant to subdivision one of section

three hundred forty of this article by a mutually acceptable independent

appraiser, at the scheduled end of the lease term or, if the lease is

terminated prior thereto, at early termination. The realized value of

the vehicle may be its value in the customary wholesale market.

23. "Renegotiation" means the satisfaction of an existing retail lease

agreement and the replacement of the existing agreement by a new lease

agreement undertaken by the same lessor or holder and the same lessee.

The term does not include: (a) the substitution of the leased vehicle or

the addition or return of a vehicle in a multiple-vehicle lease, if in

either case the average payment allocable to a rental period is not

increased by more than twenty-five percent; (b) a deferral or extension

of one or more periodic payments, or portions of a periodic payment; (c)

a reduction in charges in the agreement; (d) an agreement involving a

court proceeding; or (e) any other agreement or event which does not

constitute a "renegotiation" under the act of Congress entitled

"Consumer Leasing Act of 1976" and the regulations thereunder, as such

act and regulations may from time to time be amended.

24. Words in the singular include the plural and vice versa.