Mo. Rev. Stat. » Chapter 301
Missouri Revised Statutes

Mo. Rev. Stat. § 301.390 (2026)

Possession and sale of vehicles and equipment with altered identification numbers prohibited, penalties

✓ laws through the 2026 session (checked Sept. 2026)
Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section MO-REVrevisor.mo.gov Justiaon Justia CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar

  301.390.  Possession and sale of vehicles and equipment with altered identification numbers prohibited, penalties — duty of officers — procedure. — 1.  No person shall sell, or offer for sale, or shall knowingly have the custody or possession of a motor vehicle, vehicle part, boat, outboard motor, trailer, motor vehicle tire, piece of farm machinery, farm implement, or piece of construction equipment on which the original manufacturer's number or other distinguishing number has been destroyed, removed, covered, altered or defaced, and no person shall sell, offer for sale, or knowingly have the custody or possession of a motor vehicle or trailer having no manufacturer's number or other original number, or distinguishing number.  Every motor vehicle and trailer shall have an original manufacturer's number or other distinguishing number assigned by the manufacturer.

  2.  Every peace officer who has probable cause to believe and has knowledge of a motor vehicle, vehicle part, boat, outboard motor, trailer, motor vehicle tire, piece of farm machinery, farm implement, or piece of construction equipment, the number of which has been removed, covered, altered, destroyed or defaced, and for which no special number has been issued, shall be authorized to immediately seize and take possession of such motor vehicle, vehicle part, boat, outboard motor, trailer, motor vehicle tire, piece of farm machinery, farm implement, or piece of construction equipment, and may arrest the supposed owner or custodian thereof and cause prosecution to be begun in a court of competent jurisdiction.

  3.  The law enforcement authority having seized it shall retain custody of the motor vehicle, vehicle part, boat, outboard motor, trailer, motor vehicle tire, piece of farm machinery, farm implement, or piece of construction equipment pending the prosecution of the person arrested.  If the person arrested should be found guilty, such motor vehicle, vehicle part, boat, outboard motor, trailer, motor vehicle tire, piece of farm machinery, farm implement, or piece of construction equipment shall be transferred to the custody of the court until the fine and costs of prosecution are paid.  No property shall be released from the custody of the court until a special number shall have been issued by the director of revenue on an application of the supposed owner, approved by the court.

  4.  In case such fine and costs not be paid within thirty days from the date of judgment, the court shall advertise and sell such motor vehicle, boat, outboard motor, vehicle part, trailer, motor vehicle tire, piece of farm machinery, farm implement, or piece of construction equipment in the manner provided by law for the sale of personal property under execution.  The advertisement shall contain a description of the motor vehicle, vehicle part, boat, outboard motor, trailer, motor vehicle tire, piece of farm machinery, farm implement, or piece of construction equipment and a copy thereof shall be mailed to the director of revenue.  The proceeds of such sale shall be applied, first, to the payment of the fine and costs of the prosecution and sale, and any sum remaining shall be paid by the court to the owner, and the motor vehicle, vehicle part, boat, outboard motor, trailer, motor vehicle tire, piece of farm machinery, farm implement, or piece of construction equipment shall not be delivered to the purchaser thereof until he shall first have secured a special number from the director of revenue, on the application of the purchaser, approved by the court.

  5.  If at any time while such motor vehicle, vehicle part, boat, outboard motor, trailer, motor vehicle tire, piece of farm machinery, farm implement, or piece of construction equipment remains in the custody of the court or law enforcement authority having seized it, the true owner thereof shall appear and prove to the satisfaction of the court or law enforcement authority proper ownership of and entitlement to said item, it shall be returned to the owner after he or she has obtained from the director of revenue a special number, on application made by the owner.

  6.  Violation of any provision of this section is a class E felony.

­­--------

(RSMo 1939 § 8396, A. 1949 S.B. 1110, A.L. 1953 p. 567, A.L. 1982 H.B. 1454, et al., A.L. 1986 H.B. 1190 merged with H.B. 1153, A.L. 2004 S.B. 824, A.L. 2014 S.B. 491)

Effective 1-01-17

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 11 cases, 1967–2004 · leading case: Werremeyer v. KC Auto Salvage Co., Inc., 134 S.W.3d 633 (Mo. 2004).
Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment
Werremeyer v. KC Auto Salvage Co., Inc., 134 S.W.3d 633 (Mo. 2004). · cites it 6× “1 The Werremeyers sued for common-law fraud and violation of section 301.390. The jury awarded $9,000 in actual damages against K.”
Bently v. Wilson Trailer Co., 504 S.W.2d 277 (Mo. Ct. App. 1973). · cites it 9× “The defendants denied plaintiff’s allegations and answered that Trooper Beal had stopped, searched, and seized the trailer in compliance with his statutory duty as set out in Section 301.390 RSMo 1969, V.A. M.S., and that Sergeant Robinson had released the trailer to Randolph…”
State v. Supinski, 779 S.W.2d 258 (Mo. Ct. App. 1989). · cites it 3× “86, for the parts of a 1975 Ford truck on or about November 13, 1986; Count II — receiving stolen property for the parts of a 1984 Chevrolet truck; Count III — receiving stolen property for a closed U-Haul trailer; Count IV — receiving stolen *260 property for a 1979 King…”
Dillard v. State, 137 S.W.3d 483 (Mo. Ct. App. 2004). · cites it 2× “3; possession of a motor vehicle with altered identification number, Section 301.390; and receiving stolen property, Section 570.”
State v. Smith, 972 S.W.2d 476 (Mo. Ct. App. 1998). · cites it 2× “Smith appeals his conviction for the sale of a motor vehicle from which the original manufacturer’s number had been removed, in violation of § 301.390 RSMo 1994. 1 Appellant contends the trial court erred in convicting him because the State did not prove beyond a reasonable…”
State v. Sollars, 706 S.W.2d 485 (Mo. Ct. App. 1986). · cites it 10× “” The defendant was tried on two counts charging violation of § 301.390 8 which provides in part as follows: 1.”
State v. Sollars, 747 S.W.2d 134 (Mo. 1988). · cites it 3× “The defendant was charged with violation of § 301.390, RSMo 1986, reading as follows: 1.”
Kansas City v. Lee, 414 S.W.2d 251 (Mo. 1967). · cites it 2× “Container Manufacturing Company (Mo.App.) 364 S.”
State v. Tinker, 980 S.W.2d 158 (Mo. Ct. App. 1998). · cites it 3× “Defendant appeals from the judgment entered on a jury verdict finding him guilty of possession of a motor vehicle with an altered vehicle identification number, in violation of Section 301.390 RSMo (1994), and receiving stolen property, in violation of Section 570.”
State v. Crismon, 914 S.W.2d 804 (Mo. Ct. App. 1996). · cites it 2× “Defendant James Crismon appeals the judgment entered upon his convictions by a jury for two counts of possession of a vehicle with a defaced vehicle identification number, § 301.390, RSMo 1994. He was sentenced, in accordance with the jury’s assessment, to two consecutive one…”
State v. Duncan, 968 S.W.2d 170 (Mo. Ct. App. 1998). · cites it 2× “080, RSMo 1994, and possession or sale of equipment with altered identification numbers, § 301.390, RSMo 1994. He was sentenced to consecutive terms of three years imprisonment for receiving stolen property and two years imprisonment for possession or sale of equipment with…”
Mo. Rev. Stat. § 301.390(2): 1 case
Bently v. Wilson Trailer Co., 504 S.W.2d 277 (Mo. Ct. App. 1973). “The defendants denied plaintiff’s allegations and answered that Trooper Beal had stopped, searched, and seized the trailer in compliance with his statutory duty as set out in Section 301.390 RSMo 1969, V.A. M.S., and that Sergeant Robinson had released the trailer to Randolph…”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.