Parking Lot or Auto Dealership?
July 9, 2010 – 5:44 am
Sean Phillips opened the Sell It lot on U.S. 11 in Radford to give people a high visible lot to display their vehicles for sale. However, a DMV spokesperson says Virginia law makes it illegal for “anyone except a licensed dealer to do anything for profit that involves any aspect of displaying, offering or attempting to sell motor vehicles for themselves or for others.”
If you want to sell your own car in Virginia, it must be displayed on the owner’s private land or the landowner must be a licensed dealer.
I am sure that the DMV spokesperson is technically correct but, in practice, this law is virtually unenforceable. Just take a second to think this one through. How many vehicle have you seen parked on the street downtown with a “For Sale” sign in the window. Have you driven by a Walmart parking lot lately? It isn’t uncommon to see 10 or15 cars parked near the street and marked for sale.
Mr. Phillips could argue that he is merely renting a parking space that happens to be in a high visibility area. At worst, by its very nature, this law is resulting in selective enforcement at its worst.