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Commission advances rule changes, hears update on ELT and dealer training plans from TNIDA
Summary
Staff told the Motor Vehicle Commission it will file a retrospective rules package that raises selected application fees and updates show/display rules, the department reported progress toward an electronic lien and title procurement, and TNIDA offered a dealer prelicensing education platform and a Nov. 11 conference.
The commission received a rules update and an industry presentation about dealer education and the state'led electronic lien and title effort.
Staff summarized the retrospective rule package that will be filed for the governor's review: several application fees will increase (for example, an employer-initiated salesperson transfer endorsement will move from $35 to $50 and name-change/add-line fees will increase from $400 to $600), and two smaller fees that were omitted earlier (duplicate-license fee and mobility-dealer fee) will remain at their current levels. Staff said the fee increases will take effect Sept. 15, 2025. The package also removes a separate show-permit fee and edits the show/display language to replace "show" with "display" and to delete several paragraphs, and it adds a relocation rule requiring dealers to notify the commission within 30 days of a planned move.
Staff will also seek three explicit rules in chapter 2: (1) authority to assess a civil penalty for each separate violation of statute, rule, or prior order; (2) a rule requiring licensees to comply with all applicable state and federal laws and regulations; and (3) a rule requiring licensees and entities to respond to commission communications within 30 days when staff requests a response.
Separately, the chair reported that the Tennessee Department of Revenue is close to selecting a vendor to deliver an electronic lien and title (ELT) system, with a procurement target of June 30, 2026. Commissioners and staff discussed the importance of vendor pricing ceilings and consumer protections in the ELT rollout.
In public comment Tennessee Independent Automobile Dealer Association (TNIDA) president John Davachi described a dealer-focused education platform now in beta that includes prelicensing modules and suggested it could help dealers and applicants prepare for ELT and other rule changes. TNIDA announced a state dealer conference on Nov. 11 at the Loews Vanderbilt and asked for commission review of proposed training material for state-specific compliance content (title-fraud detection, verifying transporters, licensing and zoning requirements).
Staff said the commission need not vote on the rule package at the meeting; the package is being internally reviewed and will be filed for governor's office preview. Commissioners asked staff to coordinate with Department of Revenue and industry stakeholders on ELT implementation and to review TNIDA's training modules for statutory and regulatory accuracy before any formal endorsement.
