§ 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.